MBB (1990-Present): Recruits that left you wanting more
Seth's front pager (Link, here: http://mgoblog.com/content/hokepoints-beilein-vs-all-time-recent-guys ) where he opined on recent Michigan basketball coaches included a component highlighting the future NBA players each coach recruited.
That piece led me to thinking - there were a ton of great recruits that came in with hype and expectations that didn't end up having the impact many expected. Some are more obvious than others - Jerod Ward being the #1 national recruit in 1994 for example. But who are the guys you really thought would have brought about the current Basketball Rennaisance on an expedited time table?
Talking strictly about recruits that were thought to have NBA potential - this is not your time to throw out Avery Queen/Dommanic Ingerson references.
My choice: Albert White. I saw this guy in High School while he was playing for Inkster and he was an unstopable scoring machine. His senior season at Inkster High, White averaged 31 points, 15.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.7 steals and 3.0 blocks. He was a McDonald's All-American when that used to mean "virtual lock for NBA stardom". While he was "ok" as a freshman at UM (9.0 ppg/4.7 rpg), he wound up being jettisoned by Fisher and transferring to Missouri for a variety of reasons (relationship with Fisher, ties to Martin, etc). At Missouri his stats were very good, but mostly empty - and he never even got a sniff in the NBA.
Who you got?
Essentially everyone in the Amaker era. And Jamal Crawford cause his stay was so short.
Amaker's player development can certainly be questioned, but outside of Lavell Blanchard, Amaker wasn't exactly bringing in the world's most sought after guys. He did get more than his fair share of "2nd tier" players like Lester Abram, Bernard Robinson, etc - and did virtually nothing with them though - so I think your criticism is fair.
Coach B would have taken Blanchard, Abram and Robinson to the Final 4.
The idea of Bernard Robinson with the current coaching staff is scary
I would tend to agree. With all due respect to Zack Novak and Stuuuuu, who squeezed every last bit out of their talent and are among my all-time favorite Wolverines, Coach B ended the no-tourneys streak with guys that would have been sitting on the end of Amaker's bench.
A backcourt of Horton, Dion Harris, and Lester Abram with Beilein and Jordan coaching them could have been amazing.
It's funny that Lester Abram came to mind really, because when I think about the stats he could put up when he was healthy (significant portions of his junior and senior years were lost to injury, as I recall) combined with some the players that he might have around him under someone like Beilein (possibly some of the same ones, as you mention), that would have made for something special perhaps. As it is, of course, he's still on the Top 20 lists among Wolverines in a few categories, I believe, which still isn't bad at all.
Amaker didn't bring in either Blanchard or Bernard Robinson - those were Ellerbe recruits. But he did sign Daniel Horton, Dion Harris, Chris Hunter, Lester Abram, Courtney Sims, Brent Petway, DeShawn Sims, Manny Harris . . . all top 100 guys. Recruiting really wasn't his problem. Player development, much moreso.
Dude could jump and hit his head on the ceiling of Crisler, but could never reach his own ceiling.
(Horton, Les, Graham, Hunter, Courtney, Dion, Petway) but then his recruiting really dropped off. That led to a non-existent bench. If he'd just hit on another of his point guard targets I feel sure he would have broken through. Amaker wasn't great at teaching fundamentals(Watching Michigan's turnovers in the era would surely turn Beilein's hair white) and when Horton was injured or suspended or getting a breather there was just nobody to put in for him.
Joe Dumars.
Because he left me wanting more Trey Burke on my home town team.
Definitely has to be Epke Udoh for me. That man could've been a great Wolverine. We all kind of knew that he had that potential, but no one truly believed how close he was to accomplishing that until he blew up in a big way at Baylor.
As a Wisconsin native:
That being said my first thought was "Defensively gifted Post"
Seeing how Beilein and staff have developed players, it seems like leaving Michigan was a big mistake for him. He's not really lived up to expectations in the NBA.
I gotta say, I remember being pretty excited about Kevin Gaines, Jamal Crawford, and Maurice Searight. They had a lot of hype. Were any left after their sophomore season? There was so much young talent on that team that all seemed to dissolve away.
It was worse then you remembered - all three were gone before the START of their sophomore seasons.
jerod ward.
Definitely Jerod "Hot Rod" Ward. He came in as arguably the #1 player in the country and never met those lofty expectations, although partially due to injury.
Ben Cronin. Moreso because we were getting obliterated on the boards with a freshman Zack Novak. Glad J-mo stepped into the center position, when injuries ended his career.
Michael Talley. Although, he did have to compete with the Fab Five. So...maybe more a casualty than disapointment.
no more than...on the bench. I still fault him for CWebb calling ill-fated timeout.
Mr. Basketball, was highly regarded. He made tons of mistakes on the court and as you mentioned, mistakes from the bench too.
Talley got lots of PT in the 90-91 season, pre Fab 5. That was the year of never-ending mediocrity. Talley, Tony Tolbert, D. Calip, Sam Mitchell, Easy E Riley, Rich McIver. A young Voskuil and Pelinka. That team had some talent, but just never put it together.
The season before Fab 5 arrival...he'd play major mins. But once they hit A2...to the bench he went. Kinda salty about it too...
February 22nd, 2017 at 12:52 AM ^
Ha ha. Rich McIver. So many memories. Calip actually evolved into a good player by the end of hte year but he wasn't a B1G first option type.
Eric Riley had to be the skinniest motherfucker in history.
I know he was our go-to guy and there were certainly things beyond his control...but he had a ton of potential.
daniel horton falls in that basket too. never became a dominating player.
I don't know, I'd say his senior year was very good (17.6 ppg, 5.3 apg, 1.9 steals, .447 FG /.391 3FG /.906 FT). Those numbers are pretty similar to Stauskas's this year.
I think Horton was the highlight of the Amaker era. He may not have played well every game, but he was fairly consistent and a leader on the court.
declares for the draft he will probably be my answer. The tourney run was amazing with him in the lineup but if all we get from our most heralded recruit since Chris Webber is like 3/4th of a season I will be somewhat disappointed.
Other than that, probably Courtney Sims. The guy actually seemed to regress every year he played for Michigan.
I think the run to the title game is enough of a contribution for Mitch. Obviously he flashed some dominant potential during that time, and we want to see that over the course of a season. But without him we have no chance at all against Kansas and Syracuse. Plus he's been awesome on the bench during his injury.
Agreed about Courtney Sims. He was huge and pretty skilled but just never asserted himself.
Sure but compared to expectations when recruited you wouldn't say "Oh great we got the #2 prospect in the nation, now we're set for 6 games and some sweet bench mob GIFs!"
You say six games like it could be six non-conference games at the start of the season. Those were games that many Michigan fans will remember until they succumb to senility.
Also, much of his recruiting hype was severely dampened by the time he entered college fresh off of being the sixth man on his high school/ basketball academy team. Sure, he just had to regain the form that made him the #2 overall recruit previously, but a lot of guys never do.
Finally, don't downplay the importance of the sweet benchmob GIFs.
C Webb. If he stayed one more year that's an easy NC.
was supposed to have been the easy NC. If C Webb came back our matchup against Arkansas would have probably been in the NC game instead of the Elite 8. Probably would have been a real battle.
nothing worse than being the object of "fat boy" trash talk by of all people SCOTT SKILES!
Nobody dogged it like "The Judge".
He was good when he wanted to be, but for some reason he seldom wanted to be.
He was the anti-Novak. Got the least effort out of the most talent.
His play surely didn't measure up to it. Thank gawd we had Gary *Black Oil* Grant playing in backcourt with him.
I don't remember Joubert, but up until my Dad's (a huge Michigan Basketball fan) death two years ago he would say things like "even Joubert could make that play" after easy misses and mistakes.