I thought it might be fun to take the 9 offerees and/or targets we currently know of (not including commits), and rank them 1-9 as to who you take if all wanted to come and you had the ultimate choice. The choice is for Michigan and John Beilein, not who you’d pick in a vacuum or for another team/coach/system, and it has zero to do with who you think we’ll get, but rather who you’d like to get.
I’ll start. Before I do, to make I clear, I think 1-3 are essentially interchangeable, as are 5-8. Also, getting certain guys would drop others way down the list–for example, if we got Jackson or Young, we wouldn’t need Livers, etc.
Jaren Jackson–his length, size and shooting ability fit best.
Brice Bowen–the most dominant, productive player we’re recruiting.
Kris Wilkes–the best athlete and slasher.
Kyle Young–the quintessential stretch 4 and the best motor–think Novak plus 3 inches of height and 6 inches of vertical jump.
Isaiah Livers–If we haven’t gotten one of Jackson or Young, he’d fill the bill.
Justin Smith–slightly better upside than Cain.
Jamal Cain–A slightly better fit than Smith; these 2 are truly interchangeable IMO.
Nojel Eastern–the best player in this group of 4 by a fair amount, but the least needed given current roster and commitments.
Anthony Gaines–Very productive–not yet sure about fit or how his game translates.
Jackson
Bowen
Wilkes
Cain
Young
Smith
Eastern
Livers
Gaines
My dream is the three LaLumiere guys in one class. Poole seems like the kind of kid who could somehow make that happen if the scholarships are still around.
Jackson + Bowen would be my 2. Though I would be thrilled with any combination from that list, including taking 2 from the “3” grouping (except Wilkes + Cain).
I’m mystified as to (a) why you think I believe that any of Jackson, Bowen and Wilkes will attend Michigan, and (b) what that has to do with the topic of the thread. We currently have 9 kids out who either have offers and haven’t eliminated us, or don’t have offers but have us in their final group nonetheless. I asked how people would rank those players from a Michigan perspective. I specifically said that the ranking has “zero to do with who you think we’ll get, but rather who you’d like to get.”
For the record, I am very dubious that we’ll get any of Jackson, Bowen or Wilkes. However, since they haven’t eliminated us (and in the case of Wilkes, has put us in a large final group of 11), I find it somewhat silly to do a ranking which doesn’t include them.
Jaren Jackson - if we get him, we could bank a schollie, IMO
Kyle Young - nice size and shooting and would hopefully challenge Wilson for starting role
Kris Wilkes - like his height, athleticism, and length to play right-side wing
Nojel Eastern - this high because I’m still not sure who on the '17-'18 team will have the ball in their hands the most and I am comfortable with Eastern with the ball in his hands
Brian Bowen - might be best scorer of whole group? Maybe too low here?
You are probably right about Jackson, Bowen and Wilkes not coming to UM, but we are in on more than just Young and Cain. We have very good shots at Smith and Livers for sure and possibly with Eastern and Gaines.
So does Livers eliminate anyone else besides Young? Really wish we could get Eastern on board early, he could be the guy with ball in hands. We have enough shooting with Livers now, need someone skilled at create for themselves and others.
I’d guess it eliminates Tillman and Jackson. I could see us still going after the latter but I think it would be a bad fit with both him and Livers and would leave a hole at the 3.
Should be really interesting to see what happens next. Does Smith still visit and is he offered? I would take one of Cain/Smith and be pretty content with it. But that’s just me.
I don’t love UM’s chances at any of the “supers” still out there enough to gamble without taking another kid in the fall.
We should find out sooner than later though with Smith scheduled to visit this weekend.