robby carmody

via Endless Motor, also about a year old

June 15th is annually a notable day for Michigan basketball because John Beilein play it by the book and you're not supposed to offer rising juniors until that date, and this year was no exception: Michigan offered and picked up an immediate commitment from instate big Taylor Currie. Ace described him as "American Moe Wagner," and that would be just fine with me.

Great visit to Michigan for Mark "Rocket" Watts (@kingJay79) & Coach Cov...Coach Beilein & staff really showed them a Great time...#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/msbxwl408p

— Ravens Basketball (@oldredhoops) September 25, 2016

Two more offers went out as well, both to instate players: New Haven SF Romeo Weems and Redford PG/SG Rocket Watts. Both are high-level prospects and names, so… yeah. Very Important Recruits, they are.

Nobody's talked to Weems yet since he's in Argentina with the USA U16s but Andrew Kahn caught up with Watts:

“I’d be open to anything. But I’d like to stay home. If I stay, my family could come see me play a lot.” …

“I don’t want to come in and play behind somebody. I want to get good minutes and play.”

Michigan's ability to offer immediate playing time to a guard in the 2019 class depends on how much and how rapidly the gents currently on the roster develop. They'll lose both backcourt starters (Simmons and MAAR) after this year; Eli Brooks and Jordan Poole will be sophomores; Xavier Simpson will be a junior. That may be a difficult situation to sell early playing time in, or the curse of Beilein could strike and someone ends up in the draft. Lotta ins, lotta outs.

Meanwhile in 2018

Nance

Next year's class appears to be rapidly sorting itself out. PG David DeJulius—a new member of the ESPN 100 at #84—will likely be joined by two or three players in the next few months as Michigan sets its sights on a five-man class. The most likely addition at this juncture appears to be OH PF Pete Nance, who is more or less down to Michigan and Northwestern with Ohio State trying to get back in after their coaching change. Scout's Brian Snow asserts that while Nance is one of those ghost recruits who doesn't do much talking, expectations from the plugged in folks are that Michigan "will be very tough to beat." He looks set to make a decision after visits to Northwestern and Michigan at the end of this month, so there will not be much time for OSU to get back in.

Snow also asserts that Nance is more of a jumbo wing than a post, mitigating some concerns he is not a swaggy dawg who will eat rebounds off your face. I agree with that based on this UMHoops scouting video:

Nance's offensive game is very very Zak Irvin. He's got enough handle that his HS team uses him as a press breaker on occasion; he can drive but his lack of quickness means he's often pulling up for a jumper unless he catches someone closing out way too hard. He's looks much more like a Michigan 4 than a post. Caveat: Nance is very far from a finished product physically and his father and brother were both posts; he could continue expanding until the 5 is his home. Wagner was supposed to be a wing when he committed, after all.

I wouldn't get too worried about Nance not filling it up at NBPA. He's a developmental guy with a lot of skill a la DJ Wilson. Beilein's turned guys like him into first round picks repeatedly.

Michigan will take at least one more wing sort and possibly two given the names on the board. One who is no longer on that board: RI PF Cole Swider, who got offered by Duke and rejiggered his list. Michigan did not make his final four. Happy trails.

Canadian combo forward Ignas Bradzeikis told Evan Daniels that he won't cut his list down until the end of summer, whereupon he'll take a suite of visits. Michigan was the first name out of his mouth when asked for a list of schools coming after him, FWIW. Daniels manages to get sort of a top three-to-five out of him by asking about coaching relationships: Michigan, Florida, and UConn followed by Baylor and Vanderbilt.

OH combo forward Jerome Hunter is the second top level wing target; he is fresh off hitting the top 50 in the most recent ESPN rankings release. His recruitment hasn't moved recently.

For the longest time, Hunter had listed Michigan, Xavier, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Butler among his top schools. Ohio State had offered previously but did not pursue Hunter aggressively again until after Bazley de-committed in April.

“It’s still all the same schools,” Hunter said … Asked if he has a timeline to make his college choice, Hunter said, “No, it’s wide open right now. I’m not sure when I will be ready.”

It would have been nice for Michigan to scoop up Hunter in the midst of OSU's turmoil; now they'll have to fend off a guy in a stable situation. Snow thinks Xavier has a slight advantage right now.

East Lansing combo forward Brandon Johns is coming off visits to Indiana and Purdue; like Hunter he's not tipping much of anything in public.

“People definitely mention that I’m locked into [staying in state]. That’s definitely not true,” he said. “I’m still open. It’s kind of iffy if want to leave or stay. I’m not really sure yet. That’s what I’m trying to find out, why I’m taking these visits … to see what I'm more comfortable with.”

Snow actually thinks that MSU is amongst the less likely choices for Johns right now. Admittedly fuzzy situation.

Michigan seems confident that they'll get at least two of the above players. Instate combo forward Gabe Brown has been surging up recruiting boards. He picked up an MSU offer two days ago. Brown visited Ann Arbor on June 5th… and left without an offer in hand. Brown, like DeJulius, just cracked the ESPN 100. Michigan's hesitancy there hopefully portends good things.

The guard situation is less salutary. With the Stanford commitment of Cormac Ryan, the only guy currently on the radar with a shortlist featuring Michigan is Robbie Carmody. Carmody recently visited Purdue; Notre Dame is also a strong contender. Yea, Michgian must sway him from the dark side:

But there's also a lifelong affinity for Notre Dame — "I've always been a huge, huge Notre Dame football fan," he said — and Michigan has made a compelling case as well."

Michigan is unlikely to be the favorite here. As of a month ago he'd set up trips to ND and Purdue while the Michigan official was still in the "probably" phase.

Michigan's expanded their search, bringing in KY SG CJ Frederick. Frederick didn't get an offer per Josh Henschke:

- While he was not offered during the visit, the coaching staff told him that they need to see him live in July before making a decision, says he feels like he's in a good position to receive an offer.

He's more likely to than Brown since Carmody seems like he's headed elsewhere and Michigan doesn't have many other fish on the line.

Michigan will have just Jordan Poole as a pure SG after this season—Ibi Watson and Charles Mathews may or may not be good fits there—and may wait for a late riser if they don't get Carmody. It worked out okay with MAAR.

Commit Watch: Milton Close to a Decision

Four-star FL QB Joe Milton is ready to make his decision:

With recent visits to Florida, Georgia, and Michigan in the books, Milton is looking to possibly pull the trigger and commit to a school in order to focus on his spring campaign.

“I am thinking this week one day or like the start of next week,” Milton explained. “I am not trying to put a specific date on it but sometime soon. I just am looking for the right school that fits me.”

According to the four-star passer, his finalists are Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee. 

At this point, all signs point to Michigan, which has every pick on Milton's crystal ball made in the last month. Florida was the one-time favorite but Milton mentions in the article linked above that their contact with him "sometimes falls off." Georgia, the other school thought to be in seroius contention, just extended an offer to quarterback Tyler Shough, which Steve Lorenz says is indicative of where Milton's recruitment is going. Milton could drop any day now, though in a video interview with Scout's Jacquie Franciulli released today he mentioned he may think on it for a couple more weeks. 

Michigan is still pushing for Shough, as well, and he told Lorenz he's not worried about any potential competition in the class:

"The coaches have talked to me about possibly taking two guys," Shough told Wolverine247 on Wednesday. "I am more than willing to compete for a job anywhere no matter how many guys I am up against."

Sounds like a Harbaugh guy.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

No More Visits For Livers

Four-star Kalamazoo Central forward Isaiah Livers, who grew up in an MSU household, caught many people off-guard when he committed to Michigan over the weekend. Following his commitment, however, Livers told 247's Zach Shaw won't take visits to any other schools, and he also went into detail about how he'll be utilized by John Beilein:

“When I visited there in June, they pulled up highlights of like Zak Irvin and Caris LeVert, they want me to play a position like that,” the 6-foot-8 Livers said. “Kind of like a combo forward and when we get on a run still be able to drop down to the ‘4,’ guard the ‘4,’ hit the corner 3 and bang with the big dudes.

“They like when I’m super aggressive. They like when I’m active, cutting, trying to get the ball, taking it to the rack, drawing fouls, and just shooting it.”

Livers's commitment apparently caught even his AAU teammates off-guard, including one of particular interest to Michigan fans:

Insiders weren’t the only ones surprised at the news. 5-star prospect Brian Bowen, who played with Livers all summer and has been a long-time friend of Livers, thought he was heading to State, but was thrilled that he chose Michigan instead.

“At first he was just like ‘what?’ He didn’t think I was going to go there, he thought I was going to State too, he was shocked too,” Livers said.

MSU is the presumed favorite for Bowen. Hopefully his friendship with Livers will play a role in his recruitment. Shaw—a Daily alum and welcome addition to Wolverine247's coverage, I should note—also posted a pretty comprehensive (and free) overview of where Michigan stands with their main 2017 targets following Livers's pledge.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]