basketball recruiting
cassius winston
xavier simpson
john beilein does in fact know what he's doing

Hoops Hello: Xavier Simpson Comment Count

Ace

So the Cassius Winston situation cleared up in a hurry.

As it turns out, Michigan had a top-100 prospect ready to commit, and 2016 Lima (OH) point guard Xavier Simpson did just that this afternoon after a late push by the Wolverines. Simpson originally planned to choose today between finalists Illinois, Iowa State, Miami, and Wisconsin. Increased attention from Michigan's staff in the wake of Winston's shifting visit plans changed the outlook entirely.

Simpson is the fourth commit in the 2016 class, joining wing Ibi Watson and big men Jon Teske and Austin Davis.

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 247 247 Comp
4*, #12 PG,
#55 Ovr		 4*, #87 Ovr 4*, 84, #12 PG,
#66 Ovr		 3*, 92, #13 PG,
#80 Ovr		 4*, #13 PG,
#69 Ovr

The four services are in general agreement on Simpson, all listing him in the bottom half of the top 100 overall prospects. He's the #12 or #13 point guard prospect in the country on the sites that bother with positional rankings; Rivals, for some reason, not only fails to do those but lists players only at G, F, or C unless you click on all their profiles.

Simpson is diminutive. He's listed at 5'11 and 165-170 pounds on three of the four sites; Scout has him at 5'10, 155.

SCOUTING

Here's Scout's free evaluation:

Evaluation

Simpson isn't the most physically gifted player in the class, but he is one of the most effective. Standing only 5-foot-11 he shows absolutely no fear on the basketball court and has set his team up for a lot of wins during his high school and AAU careers. He needs to continue to refine his jumper, but his leadership and ability to run a team make him an in demand prospect.

Strengths

  • Basketball IQ
  • Big-Game Player
  • Toughness

Areas to Improve

  • 3-Point Range
  • Athleticism

I'll have much more on Simpson tomorrow in an updated post. Football duties beckon for now.

Comments

Ronnie Kaye

September 9th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^

Shades of the ridiculously condescending Battle commitment thread ("Where are all you assholes you say he can't recruit NOW" or some other variance was said roughly 200 times).

It's a good pick-up and I'm glad. But fans like you who lay in the weeds until you find something to bend your narrative to are really annoying. 

Joined: 05/09/2015

MGoPoints: 104

Ronnie Kaye

September 9th, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^

Simpson came out of nowhere, which is incredibly rare for this staff and their approach. When Winston cut us from the list, it was a safe assumption that we were not getting a top 75 recruit, which is very complain-worthy. Sorry to rain on the parade and I'd prefer not to do this in Simpson's Hello thread but the retrospective fan-shaming is incredibly lame.

Joined: 05/09/2015

MGoPoints: 104

Smoothitron

September 9th, 2015 at 3:19 PM ^

Not that safe of an assumption, apparently.

Beilein has pulled in a top-25 level class every single year since his pre-final four miracle haul in 2012(excepting last year, an unranked class with a single international commit, commonly regarded as a 4-star level talent).  

It would have been more of an upset if he hadn't pulled in a 4-star PG.  Beilein got the recruiting bump everyone wanted, the problem is that he got it before his final four run, not after it.

Joined: 05/15/2012

MGoPoints: 3575

Smoothitron

September 9th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^

I can deny it, vehemently.

The chief difference between a top 10 class(2012, 2013) and a top 25 class(2014, 2016) has been the presence of a single 5-star recruit.

You are telling me that Michigan, a school with basketball tradition but decidedly not among the blue bloods of college basketball, is having recruiting problems because they can't bring in a 5-star player every single year?  Where did these expectations come from?

Michigan was never going to start raking in one-and-dones because they watched us make(and lose) a title game once.  Beilein has been recruiting at a top-25 level for years, overachieving sometimes.  Michigan is a top-25 level program(now, thanks to Beilein).  There is no disconnect.

Joined: 05/15/2012

MGoPoints: 3575

Stringer Bell

September 9th, 2015 at 4:00 PM ^

Then you're denying the facts.  We had a 5 star recruit in 2014 too, yet that class still wasn't as highly rated as the two preceding ones because that class didn't have multiple top 50 players.  The next best player from the 2014 class was Wilson, who was a fringe top 100 player.  This class now has 1 top 100 player and will probably finish that way.  So you're wrong in your assessment of the differences between recruiting pre- and post-2013.

Joined: 11/06/2014

MGoPoints: 52835

Smoothitron

September 9th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^

This is really dumb.  Anyone who thinks Beilein is regressing as a recruiter must not have been watching before 2012.

Anyone can see that is an upward trend from his hire.  His current class is right about average compared to recent classes.  2015 is excluded because obviously.

One or two deep tourney runs won't change this.  A handful of draft picks won't change this. Michigan isn't fighting schools that DON'T put players in the lottery for 5-star players.

Michigan is currently recruiting as a top-25 level program, they top out at top-10 classes, they bottom out at top-30 classes.  Only a years-and-years long consistent stretch of nationally relevant teams will put them up with the Dukes of the world every year.

Beilein has fulfilled every reasonable expectation and more from a recruiting standpoint.

Joined: 05/15/2012

MGoPoints: 3575

Rabbit21

September 9th, 2015 at 4:16 PM ^

Given that attrition(in the form of transfers or early departures to the NBA) or a reclassification of Austin Davis to the class of 2017 will have to happen to get below allowed scholarship numbers, I'd say, yeah, it's likely we're done.

I've been wrong before, of course.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

Moonlight Graham

September 9th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^

about his weaknesses. One huge key will be that he can make free throws after he fearlessly drives the lane. At 5'10-ish he seems like Tum Tum or Yogi type without the cartoon character name. 

Joined: 09/12/2011

MGoPoints: 7559

Sopwith

September 9th, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^

gets about 5 minutes as top post on the landing page, then we sit for days with gloomy posts for a couple of days at a time. Give them some time in the sun, man, it makes us addicts happy to have a Hello be the first thing we see every time we refresh.

 

Joined: 06/29/2010

MGoPoints: 61017