Hoops Hello: Kentucky Transfer Charles Matthews
Per Jeff Goodman, Michigan has picked up a wing:
Kentucky transfer Charles Matthews is headed to Michigan, source told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 21, 2016
Matthews was a freshman at Kentucky last year, where he played sparingly. He'll sit out next year and have three left.
As a recruit he was #59 in the 247 composite and the #16 shooting guard; at 6'6" he could play the two or three at Michigan. His ranking dropped over the course of his recruitment from five-star territory (he was #17 on the composite at one point) to the mid four-star range. The most recent scouting report comes from his freshman year:
Good: Matthews has been a pleasant surprise this season finishing at the rim and along the baseline. With some development, he looks to be a valuable asset to the program in the years to come because of his length, athletic ability and defensive prowess.
Homework: Must continue to round out his game and become a more consistent outside shooter.
This is not a typical Beilein recruit. He's the platonic opposite of Duncan Robinson:
"Last summer, they tried to play him at point guard--that’s not what he is," Calipari said. "He’s a playmaker off the ball. He’s a slasher, he’s a finisher." … At 6-foot-6 and 175 pounds, Matthews possesses many of the qualities that Calipari typically covets: he's long, athletic, can get to the basket and has the ability to defend multiple positions.
"He's a tireless defender. He can guard multiple players … He can get to the basket anytime he wants but he could always become a better shooter," DeCesare said. "He needs to work on his free throw shooting."
Mathews is super athletic and defensively oriented, which will thrill Billy Donlon. He might be something of a bricklayer, which won't thrill Beilein. Beilein is renowned as a guy who can teach offense and shooting; this will be a test.
GRIII but a little shorter?
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Caris - shooting + defense?
As best i can come up with
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Glenn is a much more apt comparison. Caris' big plus is his ball handling at his length. Matthews doesnt strike me as much of a dribbler.
I think a slightly smaller and less explosive Glenn but maybe a little quicker?
Outside shot TBD
My initial thought was a taller MAAR with better finishing and defense and maybe worse shooting.
This is a huge pickup for us. I'm not going to be one of the "I thought Beilein couldn't recruit?!" guys, but I do hope that a recruiting victory like this quiets some of the negativity around these parts about Beilein and the basketball program. This is a really good thing, and Beilein and Co. deserve props for making it happen. Hopefully this speaks to the recruiting ability of the new assistants too.
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The 2017-18 team badly needs some starpower/NBA caliber talent. Matthews may be that guy or not, but at least he is another candidate.
It's more likely he's just a glue guy, which will probably be fine. Simpson, Poole, and Watson are all promising offensive prospects. Robinson spaces the floor and we'se seen MAAR show signs of rounding out his game.
It could be a solid team but until a star player emerges it's hard to set expectations too high.
In 2017-18 there is no obvious replacement for Irvin on the defensive end. My hope is that Robinson can gain some strength and transition there. Irvin and Novak have stand as examples of 3s moved to the 4. Defending 4s would mitigate Robinson's issues with perimeter defense. If you believe it's easier to add strength than athleticism, I think it makes sense.
Oh boy! This is wonderful. It's nice to see them recruiting a player with his skill set. Hopefully JB can help him develop a decent stroke.
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This pleases me.
An athletic wing shocking Beilein could actually convince someone like that to join the team
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This is a stupid comment. Why are you using a really good pickup like this as a reason to bash Beilein? He's landed athletic wings before and he just did it again.
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Hardaway, Stauskas, Irvin, Robinson III, LeVert, Poole, etc.
Actually out of all those players one of the knocks on them was their athleticism minus GR3 and LeVert. They were good to great college players however.
Hahahahahaha you have to be kidding me.
Hardaway? https://youtu.be/aWXJEDUe60s
Stauskas? http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25540055/watch-sixers-n…
Irvin? Couldn't find the video, but here's that dunk he had against Syracuse where his head was at the rim. http://a.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/NCAA-BK/images/2014/12/0…
In short, fuck off troll.
First off learn the definition of a troll
Second being 6'6 and being able to dunk to me should be considered average for an NBA player. I said the knock on them was they don't have elite athletisicm which they don't nor does Trey Burke nor do a lot of guys coming out of college. When the first main attribute to Matthews game is Athletic its different than when compared to other good Michigan wings as of late. The first thing that comes to mind about THJ or Stauskas isn't athletic. They're athletic say compared to you or I but compared to the rest of the NBA they aren't more than average.
Note Nik's draft profile weakness
Note THJ's outlook and weaknesses
It's a good thing Michigan plays college basketball.
Okay while they do they are also being compared to other college players that they play against.
Yes. And their athleticism was never a problem against any of the college competition they faced.
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the only guys on that list with plus athleticism were Lavert and GRIII. The other players were all skilled players with varying degrees of athleticsm, but certainly not as athletic as Matthews. I'm not sure why that is such a controversial viewpoint.
Dawkins was looked at as having elite athleticism. Maybe being an elite athlete isn't as good as, you know, being a great basketball player
Actually out of all those players one of the knocks on them was their athleticism minus GR3 and LeVert. They were good to great college players however.
Hardaway was a fine athlete. so basically half of the wings were regarded as good+ athletes, and Robinson was an amazing shooter and a transfer to boot. Beilein recruits decent athletes; sometimes they just don't work out, same as most programs.
A snide comment from you regarding the basketball team. Shocking.
This is a very nice addition. I'm cautiously optimistic about next year and the year after.
I think too much is gettig made of the shooting issues. Beilein has succesfully utilized non-shooters in his offense (Harris, Morris) and recruited people who can't shoot very well (Brundidge, GR3, Rahkman). Anyone thinking Beilein only wants guys who hit 3s isn't paying close attention.
Great news. Welcome to M. We need guys like this who can already get to the rim. With JB's coaching if he develops outside game, look out.
Why is he transferring?
Stuck behind the one and done machine type players.
The "played sparingly" thing is mostly true, but he was 8th in minutes played at Kentucky last season (as a true freshman) and one of four guys who played in all 36 games. So it's not like he was totally glued to the bench.
Is that Aaron Paul? Hilarious.
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What is this so-called "defender" thing of which you speak? I am intrigued.
Something the head coach can't figure out either.
Is this guy just a troll? I've responded to another one of his jackass comments already but there's no way anyone is actually this dumb.
Michigan's defense team rankings at the conclusion of each season
2015-2016 168
2014-2015 204
2013-2014- 153
2012-2013- 97
2011-2012- 176
2010-2011- 140
2009-2010- 129
Average ranking 152
Total # of D1 teams in 2015-2016 is 351
175.5 is the middle of the road there so just slightly better than the average D1 team.
What does this have to do with landing Mathews, a player who can help with those defensive issues? Even when Beilein does something really good, you bash him. Go away.
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Matthews might be his most athletic player yet and he could greatly help out on defense where he excels because Beilein isn't considered a good defensive coach.
Why can't you just say that instead of talking about how you're "sick of Beilein" after he lands a really solid transfer?
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Because Beilein won't win a National Championship ever and I'd like to win one. It's kinda like dating a girl to date her you know you won't get marreid to her but you still date her anyways because you just need to date someone when you could actually go maybe try something different vs. getting mediocre results.
Lol. And not at your analogy
NEAT!
Then go get another girl to date. I'm sure I speak for most when I tell you that we'd be more than fine with you picking a different team to root for.
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Nope I won't ever I'll cheer Beilein and the players and hope they win and prove me wrong nothing would make me happier. I'm never going to stop supporting Michigan athletics. I just want better, I want to win a National Title.
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I'm sure your insistence on bashing the coach, team, and program even when good things happen (like this) is going a long way towards making that happen.
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He'd be a lot more impactful if Beilein actually recruited him sucessfully out of high school or another player of similair caliber would have also worked.
are now some "fans" that hate Beilein and will never be convinced otherwise. He is not a troll, he is a Beilein-hater. There are several more on this site as well.
I don't know what the fuck kind of rankings you found but they seem to have no basis in reality compared to reputable kenpom's adjusted efficiency stats which has us on *average* 77(!) spots lower PER YEAR.
2010: 58
2011: 37
2012: 61
2013: 48
2014: 109
2015: 107
2016: 109
As I've said, I trust kenpom a lot more than I trust your unsourced random number generator type stats. Also of note is the fact that one of the best defenders on the team, LeVert, was injured for 2 of the worse than 100 years, and the other year we set the kenpom record for offense EVER to that point and were a chucked up 3 away from playing overtime for a 2nd straight final 4. Just face it, you're flat out wrong.
LeVert isn't an elite college defender he's the best Michigan had to offer which isn't saying much. Okay so kenpom's stats look better and you're right they look better on paper than what I looked up. I was wrong something I have no issue ever in admitting. I was looking at defensive efficency vs kenpom's adjusted D. They both give two different rankings as ranking teams defesnively isn't black and white. My entire point is while sure Michigan plays defense, they are not ever elite in defense. Ever, they are very pedestrian when it comes to playing defense. Beilein himself admits he isn't the best defensive coach.
No posted depth chart of 2017-2018 yet?
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Biggest question, to me, is who will play the 4?
Wagner/Davis/Teske rotating at the 5.
1-3 spots will be some combo of Duncan, MAAR, Poole, Simpson, Matthews, Ibi, and, hopefully, Carmody (?). Maybe Duncan bulks up enough to play the 4?
If we add Cain and/or Livers, they'd have a chance to get some run at the 4 I'd imagine.
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