YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

April 16th, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^

Just got off a plane and stunned at this hello. Watched the film - even more confused. Why now? He has a year to land this level of recruit. What are so many of us missing? He certainly knows a lot more than any of us, but it's odd that UM has missed on so many guys and resorted to unheralded recruits and now signs one 9 months early.

Joined: 11/01/2012

MGoPoints: 18085

IjustBluemyself

April 17th, 2015 at 7:48 AM ^

I think he looks a lot more like a Sam Deker kind of player, and that would be amazing! However, I think this is done more JB wizardry in the making. With him and Teske in the she class, I imagine Austin red shirts while Teske gets minutes as the third big. Either way, I'm excited to see all of the size that we are going to have!

Joined: 03/16/2015

MGoPoints: 33

TESOE

April 17th, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^

there's stuff going on that is not common knowledge.  I think this will turn out well in the end.

I confused on  fit - given the needs of the team.  This will make sense though soon enough (excuse me for talking to myself.)

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 8545

Trader Jack

April 17th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^

I'm as surprised as everyone else, but I think this definitely signals that there's going to be some attrition this offseason or next. I'm not going to throw anyone's name out there, but it's possible that a post player would transfer due to a lack of playing time or whatever else this offseason or next, and we would use that scholarship on a Guard.

As it stands right now, in 2016-2017 (Davis and Teske's first year on campus) our roster would look something like this:

Post Players: Doyle, Wilson, Donnal, Teske, Davis

Wings: Dawkins, Robinson, Wagner, Chatman,

Guards: Walton, Irvin, MAAR

If you take away one of the post players due to a hypothetical transfer and give that scholarship to a 2016 Guard recruit, we'd have 4 Post Players, 4 Wings, and 4 Guards. Depending on if Hatch is still on scholarship at that point or not, you might even have an additional scholarship for a 5th Wing or Guard. Plus, that's assuming the only attrition between now and then would be one Post Player. If no attrition occurs between now and the 2016-2017 season then the roster at that point would be really unbalanced. If even one post player leaves the program or Hatch is not on scholarship at that point though, the 2016-2017 roster isn't really that unbalanced.

Furthermore, Davis seems like a decent prospect to me. I understand the disappointment from a rankings standpoint and I expected the 2016 class to better reflect our recent success, but it's not finished yet and Davis has time to continue to develop.



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Joined: 04/27/2010

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MGoChippewa

April 17th, 2015 at 2:48 AM ^

Per the DraftExpress measurements database:

Jusuf Nurkic 23" vertical

Nik Vucevic 25" vertical

Brian Butch 26.5" vertical

DeMarcus Cousins 27.5" vertical

Cole Aldrich 28" vertical

Brendan Haywood 28.5" vertical

Greg Monroe 29" vertical

Jeff Withey 29" vertical

Pardon me if I think all the bitching about how he can't jump is way overblown. There's more to basketball than being able to jump over a Kia. As a 6'10, 250 pound 16-year old who has good touch and range out to 18 feet, I think he's due for a rankings adjustment this summer.

Joined: 01/06/2011

MGoPoints: 11560

mgoBrad

April 17th, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^

Pains me to say this, but the Freep had a nice little write-up on him. To spare you from clicking over there, here are the highlights:

- Coach B has been impressed with his extreme work ethic

- Last time they talked, Coach challenged Austin to get better at running the floor. Austin took this to heart, working with a family friend who is in SWAT to increase his running stamina 

- Spent his spring break running the beach in Florida while his family vacationed

- Hard work paid off, as he showed very well at an AAU tourney in Texas recently, where coach B witnessed his improved running of the floor

- Carries a 4.1 GPA and a 30 ACT score 

- Averaged 26 points and 17 rebounds a game last year.

- Lifelong fan of U of M

Extremely hard worker and extremely smart guy? Sounds like Coach B's type of guy.

Congrats Austin!

 

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 2026

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

April 17th, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^

Great info.

I think people really underestimate the student portion of the student athlete.

I have no doubt we pass on guys because the academic numbers aren't there.

Demanding more academically is something to be proud of.

Joined: 02/06/2015

MGoPoints: 4077

db

April 17th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^

With all the hand wringing over the Davis Signing, I wanted to pass along a conversation I had directly w Coach Beilein regarding defensive philosophy/recruiting. In following posts and radio, it seems to me that the angle everyone is missing on this is from the defensive side, as opposed to offense.

I had the pleasure of meeting Coach B in NYC during the coaches tour two years ago as well as last year.  There were not a lot of people there so I got some quality time to ask questions.  I asked him about Ricky Doyle and if he was regretting the fact that he had signed Doyle so early in the process and well before their major tournament runs. HIs answer was interesting. He voiced a lot of concern with the recent rule changes on offensive charge calls. He said that rather then going after guys that can shoot from outside (aka Pittsnagle at WVU and his first few big men at u of M) , he had decided to go after bigs that cold defend the low post by really altering /blocking shots, rather then trying to take charge calls in the JMo mold. He mentioned Doyle's wing span and ability to block shots and that was what he was going after to counter the moves by the NCAA that make it much harder to draw charge calls. So his signing of Austin Davis and Teske is no surprise to me.

One can argue about how many bigs you need in this mold, but my faith is in Coach B.

Had not really seen this covered anywhere or discussed on the radio from this angle so thought I would share.

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