tyus battle

unironic deployment of Michigan Man is authorized [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

2/28/2019 – Michigan 82, Nebraska 53 – 25-4, 14-4

Even this year, Charles Matthews gets referred to as The Kentucky Transfer from time to time. This is a little off-putting since there are few players that have embodied the Beilein era better than Matthews, personality-wise. On the court, Matthews has a smile that doubles as trash talk.

Off the court, he could say "we had subs, it was crazy" and you wouldn't blink twice. After he hit an improbable game-winner against Minnesota his post-game interview was almost apologetic—yeah the ball fell to me and I got a shot off but it could have been any one of my teammates and I'll take turkey on Italian please. He asked after Ace this  year.

That dichotomy has come to define Michigan basketball, so when you call him the Kentucky transfer that places him outside a program he is in the dead center of.

But it still does make some sense. The Kentucky Transfer does immediately communicate several things about Matthews. He can jump, and long after you, a practiced observer of people jumping, expect that he will start to descend he continues going up. That's the Kentucky part. The transfer part is that his offensive game is a rickety thing. He hovers around 30% from three; he's worked hard to get his FT percentage north of 60; he still does a few things in every game that make you clap in frustration.

Also Kentucky is a program built around having various dinosaur-sized people lock you down defensively until the point in the season where all the freshmen turn into something resembling a team. Matthews entering the program at the same instant Beilein hired a defensive coordinator, and his first game also being Luke Yaklich's first game, are serendipitous events. The program was ready for him.

So the individual transferred to the whole. Michigan, the program, has been The Kentucky Transfer for the last two years. Sometimes it feels like someone entirely different wearing the program as a second skin, but the results are undeniable: a Big Ten Tourney title, a three seed, an appearance in the final, a pending two seed and the possibilities that unfold from there.

There's no better emblem of this mini-era than the kind of guy Michigan never gets coming over as somewhat damaged goods and making it work anyway. Matthews leaves the program better than he found it.

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bench functionality projects to be improved [Campredon]

A preview of next year. DDJ and Castleton got a fair amount of run in a game without Charles Matthews in which Livers started and played 33 minutes. With Poole and Iggy currently tracking towards returns, about which more later, the minutes distribution in this game is probably pretty close to what we'll see next year except for the absence of a backup on the wing. Presumably one of Johns/Nunez/Wilson/Bajema will be able to emerge into a 10-15 minute player.

You may have noticed that things went pretty well. Livers was up to the task of checking James Palmer, who finished 3/15 from the floor and was one of the Nebraska starters to get yanked for the first eight minutes of the second half. That's not far off Palmer's usual level of performance this year—he entered the game shooting 34% from two in league play—and should probably not be taken as a sign that Livers is going to be able to match Matthews stop-for-stop on the defensive end.

But he's not bad there, and he was able to collect 12 points on 20% usage here. Ideally Livers is able to add a few more points of usage next year to keep an undue burden from falling on folks around him.

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not pictured: the chastened version [Campredon]

A chastened Poole. Jordan Poole's halftime shooting stats: 0/0. He put up four in the second half, but the numbers that pop off the box score: 5 assists, one turnover. Most of those assists were dumping it down against post mismatches after switches, huzzah. So was the turnover, which is fine. At no point did he take a stepback three against a big.

Poole drew Thomas Allen as his primary defensive matchup and held a pretty decent player to 1/5 from the floor. This was a reserved, in control version of Poole. But even then some of the swag pops out:

Poole just needs to tamp down the wild swings. He's got it in there.

[After THE JUMP: Castletons of fun]

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Five-star former basketball pledge Tyus Battle (Hello!) (Goodbye) has ended his recruitment; despite the sanctions, he's going to play for Boeheim.

So that sucks. Michigan was hard after both Battle and similarly ranked (just outside top 10) Alabama SF Josh Langford, and Battle pulled the trigger in May when it appeared Langford was about to take that option away from him. Beilein apparently thought that decision was earnest enough that he cut off pursuit of Langford, who committed to Michigan State three days after Battle reopened his recruitment.

When you play the game of thrones… There's of course going to be a lot of Michigan fans upset at Battle, and Battle's family, and Syracuse, and the world in general.

How Michigan went from a near-guarantee of one game-changing talent to none with a richer rival isn't complicated: Beilein is operating with honesty in an environment where most everybody else is just trying to get theirs. Because of the nature of basketball—small rosters and the sure effect of pure talent—winning a guy like Battle or Langford is highly likely to substantially change your team's prospects. Once you're into the extreme edge of 17-year-old basketball ability distribution, there aren't enough humans out there to start getting picky over which ones have nice families, a firm handshake, and a head for marine engineering.

This is known. We have a "basketball recruiting is dirty like dirt in a dirt sandwich" tag for this reason. When you make a play for a guy who could make any team better, you're entering a cutthroat world where any weakness—including trust—will get exploited.

So we got Lannister'd, and it was cruel, and possibly avoidable. But before you go advocating poison (or worse, tweet at a recruit) remember that highly sought teenagers have to navigate the same sea of bullshit.

Obviously Battle was pretty serious in his interest in Michigan, since there seems to be little reason otherwise to keep the option open. Obviously Langford wasn't guaranteed to come here if Battle didn't commit, since an end to pursuit on Michigan's end was enough to push him to Izzo. Obviously if the same had happened to Izzo and Michigan was the beneficiary we'd be laughing right now.

How much do you wish this was different? The more people you meet, the more you'll realize they tend to expect everyone else to operate the way they do. Dishonest people expect dishonesty; the operating factor in "nice guys finish last" is nice guys tend to be surprised when the competition isn't so nice. Beilein has lost enough battles to Kentucky to know how the world operates outside his program, but the essence of Beilein is he's ready to trust because he's trustworthy. Sometimes this gets him burned, other times Mr. Basketball of Indiana finds it astonishingly refreshing. Take the good with the Battle.

What now? Michigan is still pursuing 2016 PG Cassius Winston, which hasn't changed, and has a scholarship offer to PG Quentin Goodin. They'll probably offer another wing now. That Beilein recognized Battle and Langford early enough to be a major player for their services speaks to a scouting ability that hasn't lost its edge. That same ability has served him well with late pickups Spike, MAAR, Dawkins, LeVert, and…

I trust he'll be a good one.

Ace is still on vacation.

Hawkins at two

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NJ WR Brad Hawkins announces in a minute here. Recruitin' heuristics and the Crystal Ball suggest Michigan fans will be happy. South Carolina seems like the other option, but even their experts at 247 are saying all signs point to M($).

More detail on Xavier Kelly

KS DE Xavier Kelly just announced a top eight with Michigan in it. That could mean anything, but the way the Kellys are talking Michigan seems like one of the strongest contenders. Via Sam Webb, the paterfamilias($):

“It was great,” the elder Kelly said of the visit.  “They had a lot of great things about it, but I was expecting big things from Michigan.  I went in there kind of biased already, but it was real good. We had a good time.  We kicked it with the coaches, had lunch with them, and toured the facilities.”

"Kind of biased already" is a good thing to hear. Kelly also gave a lengthy interview to Rivals—availability is good for your prospects to land a kid. Brandon Brown($):

"It's a pretty big deal that my dad is from Detroit because I have a lot of family there," Kelly said. "They support me and Detroit's not very far from Ann Arbor so they could come support me and I could go visit them so that's always good."

Kelly wants to get down to a top five before the season. Michigan is a near lock to make that list. Long way to go, otherwise: he plans on taking his officials and committing at the Army game.

Moar 2017 rankings

Scout jumps in with rankings for rising juniors. Thanks to Magnus, a list of the instate kids who made it:

#25 Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR, Cass Tech
#116 Ambry Thomas, CB, King
#126 Josh Ross, LB, Orchard Lake St. Mary's
#194 Ja'Raymond Hall, OT, Oak Park
#216 K.J. Hamler, WR, Orchard Lake St. Mary's
#239 Allen Stritzinger, RB, Warren De La Salle
#266 Corey Malone-Hatcher, DE, St. Joseph
#269 Hunter Rison, WR, Skyline

Looks like a pretty good year in Michigan. Yes, Hunter Rison is that Rison's kid, so I wouldn't get too excited about the fact he's at Skyline. Aside from that, Michigan is in good shape with Ross, Hall, and Stritzinger already. They have been pursuing Peoples-Jones with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind and he seems to be responding, but he's going to be a major national recruit and it's hard to get a read on him this early.

Other 2017 receivers to keep an eye on

Early offer Joshua Palmer is moving from Brampton, Ontario to Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas this fall and tells Scout that he is "feeling Michigan the most". FL WR Daquon Green tells Scout that OSU and Michigan are at the top of his list, with OSU slightly ahead. Green is planning a visit to OSU in July that may turn into a swing through Michigan if he gets it set up with the coaches… and then he plans to decide before his junior season.

Basketball re-set

Tyus Battle has changed his relationship status on Facebook to "it's complicated" and removed mention of Michigan from his social media stuff. The previous sentence caused a brand of old and crotchety Michigan fan to shake his fist at the screen.

In any case, the is-he-or-isn't-he gone seems to be resolved. Michigan could get him back. I wouldn't count on that. The parents seem to be pushing him to reconsider, and when that happens it's a long, long way back. Unless Battle is absolutely dead set on Michigan I don't see this resolving pleasantly.

So. Moving on, OH SG Jarron Cumberland visited and seemed like a very good bet to be plan B. Then he suddenly committed to Cincinnati. Premium scuttlebutt said that the lack of an offer had something to do with a transcript hiccup; for whatever reason Cumberland decided not to wait around to see if he would get one.

On to the next. Michigan was looking at NY combo guard Kevin Huerter as a 2017 when Battle was in the fold; without him he is a very viable option as a 2016 recruit. Huerter announced he would take a set of five unofficial visits to Michigan, Syracuse, Villanova, Notre Dame, and Maryland. That is an impressive top five; Huerter has a rep as a kid who seems like a Beilein recruit. They will almost certainly go hard after him now.

Michigan is also back in with KY PG Quentin Goodin, who has replaced Louisville with Michigan in his final five. The other schools: Xavier, Florida, Miami, and Western Kentucky. That's a much more tractable list than Kentucky, Duke, and Duketucky if Michigan can overcome whatever reasons they were left off the list in the first place. Goodin, at 6'2", is probably mutually exclusive with in-state PG Cassius Winston. Good to have multiple options in any case.

Battle remains an option. Rivals says it's on the table and there should be a resolution pretty soon here($)—like within a week. I'm just guessing but I think the Syracuse visit and optimism was a product of recruiting gentlemen talking to his dad—and the lack of a commitment from that visit was the death knell for the Orange. At that point he's looking at UConn and Duke, but Duke apparently has moved on. UConn is a good program in a terrible league. So it's that or start all over or try to get back.

Etc.: CA WR Dezmon Patmon says Michigan would be at the top of his list($) with an offer. He is the nephew of DeWayne, FWIW. Sam talks with Rashan Gary's mom in two parts. OSU's head recruiter "is not Chris Partridge" so they don't have that going for them.