It seems to me that since beilein for a few years did a good job at finding under the radar recruits and turning them in to plus players and to the NBA. Of coarse while they were winning it was great and fun to watch, but has he become to reliant on that? It seems we spend time watching mediocre guys and spend little time on big time guys and just hoping one of them picks us. I don’t understand why we recruit guys that we hope progress greatly over a few years and by the time they’re juniors and seniors, become good players. The higher the skill level coming in to college, the less hoping we have to do as the floor for that player is much higher than a guy who needs years to develop. The two great years we had, our team was lead by freshman and sophomores, not upperclassmen. Do it makes even less sense website getting guys who need years to develop. What does everyone think, do other people see this program too reliant on low ranked players becoming great instead of recruiting guys who are already good players? Next year, MSU has 3 guys coming in that the second they put on a jersey they are plus players and we will be relying on juniors and seniors to greatly improve.
One more thing, why on earth do we have 6 centers on our team next year? I u demeans one will redshirt, but wow. No matter how bad donnal plays, beilein is still going to keep playing him too much, so why even have dj Wagner and/or teske on the team? Wagner does have a good post offensive game, but the rest of his game is lacking quite a bit. So we find ourselves waiting for ALL FIVE bigs to improve greatly next year. It’s tough to build a program hoping these less talented kids are going to work hard and get a lot better when their futures don’t involve playing in the NBA.
You must be with the fans that believes recruiting is an even playing field…
I do like the question you pose in your second paragraph… I also can’t understand the need for so many 5’s. My guess is that the staff believes some of them are 4’s?? I think it is tough as a fan to understand why a team that plays 4 guards at all times has 6 scholarships going to 5’s.
I am hopeful Wagner will improve enough to play the 4.
I cannot stand when people make this assumption that Beilein “looks for mediocre players.” During the last couple cycles we were hard in on Battle, Thornton, Brown, Langford, Dozier, Winston, Leaf, and others. They simply landed elsewhere. It’s not like the staff didn’t spend enough time on them. The complaint should be that he can’t get them, not that he doesn’t try. This basically addresses your next couple sentences so I’ll skip to…
Ok? And why do you think a younger team is better? There’s a new stat on kenpom called “minutes continuity.” It determines what percentage of a team’s minutes are played by the same players from last season to this season. Currently, the top 6 teams on kenpom are ranked 10, 94, 32, 105, 13, 18, . Do you think it’s a coincidence that all of them are in the top third of the NCAA? People need to accept that we’re not going to sign top 10 classes with any sort of consistency without cheating. Therefore, less impact freshmen will be in the program, making experience a very valuable asset to being a contender year in and year out.
I’m not even going to try and decipher this.
That’s an assumption, not fact based. Look at the 5 stars we missed out on from the last cycle. Derryck Thornton is averaging 8 points and 2 assists on 38% shooting and 34% from 3. PJ Dozier is averaging 7 points on 37% shooting and 17% from 3 and 51% from the line with 2.1 assists and 2.5 turnovers per game. Only Jaylen Brown is making a huge difference to his team, and he is an elite prospect on a whole different level than MSU’s commits. Hell, look at the only 5 star currently on our roster, Kam Chatman. Not quite an immediate impact. My point is that sure, they obviously can be plus players from day one, but that’s asking a lot from freshman, regardless of hype. To say what you said with complete confidence is unrealistic.
PLEASE don’t tell me this is serious. PLEASE. Donnal is far and away the best post player on this team, whether you’re using the eye test, per game stats, or metric stats. He is the only competent post defender and the only 5 who knows where to be on the pick and roll. Playing him more than 35 minutes a game is the only way you’re playing him too much at this point while we’re fighting for our tournament lives.
By no means do I think Beilein is without his issues, in fact I’ve been quite critical of him this year, but in my opinion you’re reaching way too far to find things that are out of his control.