MattD - I agree, my assumption that parents and AAU coaches remember Michigan during the 1980s and the Fab Five era has no more evidentiary support than your assumption they do not. As a matter of common sense, though, you seriously think people in their late 30s and early-to-mid 40s who have been basketball fans for a long time don’t have a big memory of the Fab Five? You think it’s some type of mere coincidence that we now see a ton of kids named Jalen? I believe Rick Brunson specifically said he named his son after Jalen Rose. Are you seriously telling me guys like Thornton Sr. (who played for Jeff Meyer at Liberty during the early 1990s) and Rick Brunson, among others, just have no recollection of the Fab Five?
To the next argument, I did give you a very clear explanation as to why we missed out on some of our Plan A targets in 2014: playing time. When Booker committed to UK, the Harrison twins were presumed to be one-and-done guys. When Blackmon committed to IU, there was no one standing in his way. At that time (October 2014), no one had any idea Stauskas would blow up like he did and leave after the season. So, any wing recruit is going to see Stauskas, Irvin and Levert standing in the way of potential playing time.
When we landed Stauskas and Irvin, that was not an issue. Stauskas walked right into a starting role, and when Irvin committed in the summer of 2012, no one had any clue Levert was going to be so good.
The other Plan A guys were Bates-Diop (committed DURING the 2012 season, so likely saw GR3 as an impediment to playing time, and that was before people were thinking about GR3 as an early entry guy), and for awhile Blueitt. Blueitt, of course, became enamored with UCLA, committed there, and de-committed. There is zero doubt in my mind had we wanted to, we could have jumped back into the Blueitt recruitment. The staff was annoyed that he rescheduled his Michigan official to visit UCLA; much like they got annoyed with Coleman. Oh, and there has been a long-standing rift between the Irvin and Blueitt families, so that’s another reason why he was hesitant to choose Michigan.
Doyle, too, was a Plan A - we targeted him very early, along with the aforementioned guys. So was Chatman - Plan A all along. So in a “down” year, we landed two Plan A guys. Not bad. As far as Wilson, I’d say he became Plan A as soon as Looney dropped us. But if he’s only a “Plan B” guy, I’ll take guys like him all day long, as this staff has proven they can win with recruits in the 50-100 range.
2015? Kennard picked Duke. They’re a great program. Brunson? To me, that’s pretty easy - he sees Walton standing in the way of him starting, while he sees an opportunity to start from day one at Nova. Coleman? We like Robinson, and we got tired of waiting on him. I think we also see him as a pure shooting guard, who is a bit short. Davis was never staying in-state, as has long-been reported, and did not pick MSU either. Who else? Bacon? Kid was never coming here, ever. He went to FSU for a reason, and it’s not because they’re a great basketball program. Barefield? We never offered, presumably because we didn’t like the way he was playing on the AAU circuit, he dropped in the rankings, and then picked SMU. Who else? McQuaid and Ahrens? Never offered either guy, and probably get both if we had (based on their comments).
Let’s see what happens with Dozier - clearly, he’s a Plan A all the way, and the competition is stiff (UNC), like it was with Chatman (AZ). But if we get him, you have to at least acknowledge we got a good Plan A guy, which thus far you have failed to do with Chatman.
Then, there’s 2016. Let’s see how it goes. We’ve already landed Teske, over OSU. That’s a nice start.