Another Reason to Appreciate This Basketball Season - Football Recruiting
As if coming close a national championship wasn't fun enough in it's own right, Michigan got the added benefit of even more exposure with top football recruits. Not that these kids don't like Michigan, but Trey's game is incredibly entertaining even if you're not a fan of any particular school and just like watching basketball.
A few examples that have popped across my twitter from following various Michigan football outlets, as I find the idea of following a high school junior on twitter slightly disturbing unless it's your job (or you're a high school junior). Yes, interest in the tweets vs. following them directly is a fine distinction, but one that lets me justify my Michigan Football addiction. If I were Dantonio and company, I wouldn't get too comfortable about Lawrence Marshall just because he's had some kind words to say about MSU, that recruitment is far from over.
Here's top defensive end prospect Malik McDowell
It's already over Trey about to go nutz.
— Dream Team LEEK (@D1_LEEK) April 9, 2013
Fellow top DE prospect Lawrence Marshall
"WE ON"
— Lawrence Marshall Jr (@ESPN_Lo) April 9, 2013
April 15th, 2013 at 11:16 AM ^
that there's tremendous excitement about the sports future in A2.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^
The Duke football program would like to respectfully disagree.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^
But Duke football has never been relevant, nor has the school ever put much effort into promoting it beyond a glorified DIII level. UM football has a bit higher of a profile.
(And I presume this is said with a healthy dose of sarcasm. :-))
April 15th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
April 15th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
I do find it fascinating how many of the blue-bloods in college basketball are just abysmal at football.
- IU
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Duke
The only blue-bloods I can think of that have decent football history are UCLA and Syracuse and they're pretty hot and cold (mostly cold lately)
April 15th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
Michigan is not that far, historically, from blue-blood status. We've been to the national title game six times. Unfortunately, we've lost five of them. If we'd just won that game a couple more times, the perception of our program would be very different, both nationally and locally (we probably never would have de-emphasized the program like we did for a decade after Ed Martin).
What sucks is we have drawn terrible matchups in the five losses. Teams we caught:
-UCLA in the midst of their 10-title dynasty
-Indiana in what is still the last undefeated campaign Div. I college basketball has seen
-A Duke squad that is in the argument for the best champion of the past 30 years (only '90 UNLV and '12 Kentucky even compare)
I'll call the Louisville game a toss-up (they had more experience/chemistry, we probably had more overall talent). North Carolina was the only team we lost to that we truly should have beat. Donald Williams was just in a total zone from behind the arc and carried that Heels squad to a place they didn't really deserve to be.
And Louisville was the #1 overall seed. Obviously, there's one of those every year, but it often doesn't make it to the final.
Right. I just don't view Louisville as the mountain that Duke, IU and UCLA were. They were the favorite going in but if McGary played like he did in the tournament all year and we got better breaks in the regular season, the #1 overall seed could of very well been us.
April 15th, 2013 at 11:36 AM ^
As I recall, there was a thread perhaps several months ago where the potential for the then in-progress basketball season to help football recruiting was discussed at length, so it is nice to see this actually occuring to a certain extent
I do think that success can breed success in recruiting across the spectrum if you have a few programs that are simulatenously doing well. One thing that might help even more is that the programs at Michigan have been helping out and supporting each other by going to one another's games. If you are a football recruit taking in a game at Crisler, your chances of reaffirming your relationship with current football players and staff (as well as other recruits) is still fairly substantial - the success combined with that sense of community certainly has worked in our favor, I think.
April 15th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
A fine ambassador for the University, for its basketball program, and for performing artists.
April 15th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
Many are not aware of this, but basketball success can also help with basketball recruiting.
/s
April 15th, 2013 at 12:13 PM ^
As the two highest profile sports in college today the football and basketball programs can either feed off of eachothers success or fight with one-another under the same roof. Fortunately it seems that Michigan has a big enough fanbase, budget, and heart to support both on the national stage without compromising eachother. The support that the football players and staff have showed basketball this year helps both programs immensely and helps to build a sense of community. I can only guess that the basketball staff and players similarly support football, but given the massive scale of that crowd, were lost in the grandeur.
Hopefully we'll see some acknowledgement of Beilein or McGary or something at one (or many) of the football games. The sense of community in Michigan athletics is slowly growing into a sense of family; visible to the entire college sports nation. That has to be exciting and encouraging as a high school player when you're thinking about your college choices... And that's without factoring in the traditions and academic excellent that Michigan offers. Maybe Hoke is right when he says that Michigan "sells itself" to recruits. ^_^
April 15th, 2013 at 12:32 PM ^
Well, football recruits have been coming to basketball games since forever, so, I dunno. This is far from news.
I feel this (football recruiting) is one of the last reasons to appreciate the 2012-13 Michigan basketball team.
April 15th, 2013 at 12:38 PM ^
It can definitely help football recruiting. Consider that the 1997 team was recruited in the years after the Fab Five played here.
There was a stretch during the Ellerbe years (and possibly also some of the Amaker years) where we regularly took football recruits to hockey games instead of basketball games on their official visits in the winter, because we couldn't guarantee that they'd get to experience a good atmosphere at Crisler. Nothing against hockey, but that may not have excited a lot of out-of-state kids. That was a missed opportunity for us.
the question "who is your favorite Michigan player?" with Fab Five guys. They couldn't be the Fab Five playing another sport, but they certainly created an interest in the program to a new level.
I mean even regular applications to the University went up, so how can it NOT help with other athletes? And the flip side, where the hell do you take recruits on visits December through March when your basketball team sucks? Empty arena with a team getting waxed isn't exactly a fun experience.
It helps to have good recruiters. But the synergy of a successful athletic department lifts everyone.
I think it was pretty clear that there was a lot of touring activity going on at the Big House during the tourney run. It must have been fun.
"Hey, Recruit XYZ, any chance you want to tour the newly renovated world's largest football stadium, the Bill Davidson Player Development Center, a brand new Crisler Arena, and the Al Glick Field House . . . and take in a few epic Great 8, final four and National Championship basketball games."
"It's also 2004 and I was wondering if you wanted to buy some stock in Google."
maybe Marshall's a UM basketball fan and MSU football fan?
the possibility alone of Mike Valenti's head completely exploding makes this a situation to monitor