It seems like every time I watch a college bb game there is a Michigan native killing it for his chosen team. I know that we recruited some of these kids, but a lot of them we shied away from, for whatever reason. I’m wondering what a team made up of just these kids from Michigan could do in this years B1G? Do you think they would beat this years M team? Here is the list I’ve compiled, with caveats for the ones I’m sure I missed:
Monte Morris - Iowa State
Eric Davis - Texas
Edmund Sumner - Xavier
Khalil Felder - Oakland
E. C, Mathews - Rhode Island (inj)
Jaylen Reynolds - Xavier
Paris Bass - Detroit
Yante Maten - Georgia
Jaylen Johnson. - Louisville
Needless to say, the State has some scintillating prospects coming up in the next few years ( even though many are at different locations ):
Josh Jackson
Miles Bridges
Cassius Winston
Brian Bowen
Brandon Johns
The amazing thing about M’s roster this year, is that we have 1 kid from the state of Michigan. One.
The style of high school basketball in the state of Michigan doesn’t jive with JB’s philosophy. I think this is part of the problem.
I really would like Dylan to take on the project of asking high school coaches and AAU coaches why they think Michigan isn’t landing In-state prospects under the agreement said coaches names won’t be revealed.
DISCLAIMER: I purposely left out the in-state kids on MSU’s roster, knowing full well that we will lose every one on one battle with Izzo. I find it revealing that we are often maligned for our lack of toughness and grit and a lot of these kids have just that. Needless to say the kid with the most “dog” in him on our roster, is the only Michigan kid on our roster: Walton. Revealing to me.
We took Walton over Morris. I still feel that was the right move. Happy Michigan did not take Paris Bass. He is an interesting kid to say the least.
Sumner and Jaylen Reyonalds are interesting cases. Summer is coming on quicker than anyone expected. Jaylen IMO is doing what is expected out of a 4 year player.
Respectfully disagree on Matt’s take on the kid out of John Glenn. He wouldn’t have made the 5 position any stronger than it is now. I have always felt Michigan had to find better talent than him. The issue is they haven’t.
The kid everyone will be asking about in 4 years on why Michigan didn’t get is the SG out of East English Prep who signed with George Mason. I feel strongly staff is missing the boat. Now other circumstances might be the issue on why. I’m talking strictly basketball ability
For what they ask out of a big, finish some PnR, attempt to rebound, and play some interior D, Mike is an upgrade over anyone on their roster, and equal to anyone they can get. They won’t get many top 100 bigs as they do not feed the post.
For what they ask of a big, guys like Yante Maten, and Mike Edwards, they have to identify and land. Under the radar guys with plus athleticism. They can’t keep on cycling in the type of guys they are. Obviously shooting is not a prerequisite, so why aren’t they at least plus athletes?
Hell, Gavin Schilling would be a massive upgrade to what they have.
I fully agree that Mike will not be a superstar, but considering they won’t hardly ever land a top 100 guy at the 5 spot considering the style of play and who they have to recruit against for those guys, I would take a guy like Mike over the Doyle and Davis types anyday.
The nine players I mentioned above would cause a lot of havoc in this years B1G. Amazing that all of them are from a 75 mile radius of AA. JB has his prerequisites when it comes to recruiting, but this state has put a plethora of big time players in D1 the last 3-4 years. Sumner is the one that we are going to regret, man is that kid talented.
I totally understand your point. I still don’t understand why they can’t find the Bigs who step out and shoot. Most very good mid major teams always have a center who can do this.
The fact is the state of Michigan produces tough scrappy kids. Always have and always will.
I don’t understand the strategy behind their big recruiting. They thought they were getting a skilled guy in Donnal. That obviously didn’t work out. Teske has a little skill. I have no beef with trying Teske. He can at least protect the rim a little bit. Considering the scheme and style of play, I am baffled by the skill set they are recruiting to with Davis and Doyle. They can’t shoot. They aren’t skilled in any way. Davis rebounds in high school, but it looks like they are playing 8th graders. He looks a little more explosive with the weight loss, but hard to tell what he is now considering the talent he plays against. If you are going to recruit guys that can’t shoot, and aren’t skilled, why the heck aren’t they plus athletes? Mitch was the only guy that they really did anything creative with out of the high post. The rest just finish PnR. I wish I could at least pin point a stategy to understand their thought process.
If JB would have signed more than 2 of the guys on that list, posters would have flooded the server whining about recruiting and how much it sucks, even way more than they already do. Hell, we had someone on here saying Davis was a GLIAC player or some shit.
Never seen Maten play. I think it’s safe to say yes since Donnal would struggle in D2 let alone D1
The Oracle isn’t that far off though. I saw Paris Bass up close for an entire summer. I would not of been happy with the pick up. Nothing to do with basketball either. As a basketball player he is a match up nightmare but lacked series strength in high school.
Just ONE Bryant, Davis, swanigan, or stone would make this team one hell of a challenge to beat. Yet, we find ourselves trying to stop these big boys with very little talented bigs. It’s so frustrating.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but at comparable stages of development Reynolds, Maten, and Bass are FAR superior to the M triumvirate. Not even close. Maten is having a great year at Georgia. If we’re so good at uncovering under the radar guys, we would have had to only cast our net in a 100 mile radius to net any of these locals. Instead we went to Florida, Oregon, California, and nearby Ohio.
Recruiting is no science, and a multitude of factors influence offers, but the state of Michigan is nowhere near as deficient in D1 talent as I/we have been led to believe. It might pay to look more intently at kids who dream of a M offer rather than those who had “no better offer.”