Evan Smotrycz now 4**** and #65 overall on Rivals
in the interests of reducing the angst around these parts.
Fantastic. M hoops future so bright i got to wear shades!
is there any chance that a bigger school (Duke, UNC, etc) might pull him away from Michigan? Does he have any big offers already? I would just hate to lose him because his stock shot up and other teams started to take notice.
UNC, Pitt, Notre Dame so hopefully he's here b/c he thinks it's the best fit. Hopefully, "offers" won't change that.
Early signing periods cut down on that. Plus, jb offered him before he blew up, and I'd think any recent recruiting efforts would fall a little flat, sort of "where were those offers when I was a meh 3 star?"
I suppose you would rather have him ranked low instead of believing that UM can keep him...You obviously need to reinvest in some UM arrogance that we fans are routinely cricitized about.
Noticed the 2011 top 100 has Williams, Kearney, Brundidge, and Gibson as 4*
And on Scout, he's also a four-star prospect and ranked #49 overall. I think Beilein's ceiling just went up another foot ;).
He's also moved up to #45 on Scout, apparently, and with ESPN already having him in that area he's now a consensus top 50-ish player. What a find.
we have a 4 star im lookin for the beginning of an era
Joe Alexander mold. Beilein made an Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen with him.
Trey or CP were to pull the trigger...this class would be a very solid one.
This is already a good class. Adding Zeigler would make it a great recruiting class, imho.
What timing. The kid was nobody...but soon to be headed onto the big summer stage. JB swoops in, judges him a better player that Will Regan, which left me scratching my head and confused (like I really know anything), and snaps him up. Three months later and the whole Eastern seaboard would have been slobbering all over this kid.
Beautiful.
to RR and the 3-Stars?
Hmmmm. RR and the 3-Stars. Sounds like some kind of Motown band or something.
I am hopin'. This fall on the high school gridiron will be interesting to see if his 3 stars (and no stars) start to climb.
RR did not get to where he is without being an excellent judge of talent and how to develop it.
This may not be the most exciting of classes, but I do think it will be very solid.
Edit: And damn, my allusion to Jr. Walker and the All-Stars drew a big fat zero. I too old to be around here.
players than they were before being recruited?
players than they were before being recruited?
and conveying that value these recruits have on the "masses."
That's us. Only to ease our minds. We will not know until they take the field.
thats awesome
A few months ago I was in consternation regarding Will Regan cooling off on us and our sudden interest in a guy no one was that excited about; as always, I should just have faith that the coaches have a decent idea as to what they're doing. A good reminder when lamenting the 3* the football coaches are going after.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Manny, D Sims, Morris, and Smotrycz. Too bad they won't ever see the court together, that could be quite a foursome.
But possibly 3 of them...
Almost certainly 3 of them. Morris is our guy at the point this year.
If this doesn't legitamize Beilein then I don't know what will. Talk about an incredible find and incredible evaluation of talent.
Hardaway has a decent chance to climb - the pedigree will get him exposure this Fall. I remember fainting when JB nabbed a 4 star (Morris) and a year later he has a chance to get three of them (if he can close Ziegler/McCallum or Hardaway climbs).
I know. A lot of half-assed assumption there, but the point being he's in the game. And with his coaching ability, that's all he needs.
I also think he will earn another star this year.
One overlooked aspect is that many coaches like to "feed" senior stars and give them every opportunity to shine during their final year.
+1,000,000.
I am now 999,999 points behind MichiganStudent.
I was trying to keep it close, but it just got away from me.
Basketball is different. You don't have as much flip flopping going on. It pretty rare. I wouldn't worry about him leaving UM.
The only exception to this rule is the "John Calipari clause." This causes players to switch on a whim
Clau$e.
Hoops recruiting is more stable, but the kid's also a great fit for the UM offense. I would be real surprised if he left.
Nice to hear!
That is awesome! I can't wait for the seasons to start!
to start calling him Evan Metrics since I have a hard time spelling Smotrycz without looking it up. Again, terrific find by Coach B!
Perhaps when he starts putting up big numbers we can have a weekly feature called "Evan Metrics" where we recap his contributions.
Good idea. I can't wait to watch him on SPUN.
Honest question:
Anyone have any idea how to pronounce this guy's last name? I've been reading about him for months and just pronouncing his name as "Shamwow."
i've been saying it like smote-triz
I think it is SMAHT-RICH
I think it is pretty much like Ostrich, but with 'sm' at the front....and no second s obvs...
This is correct (can't remember who I heard pronounce it this way, but they seemed to know...).
The way I heard it pronounced was Smot(like rot) Triss(like Chris)
Beating the same old drum, but this is why coach evals are so critical. For JB (& RR) to evaluate talent early, along with personality, coachability, etc., is so much more important than who gets good press/4-5 stars.
On a related note, I'm pretty tired of the football "are we recruiting Michigan?" angst. It seems clear to me that UM fans living in-State overvalue in-state talent. It is critical to be in the game with top talent (Campbell, Trey, et. al.,) but too much in-state talent doesn't really stack up well.
There is some video of Smotrycz up on Scout and he looks really athletic. Can run the floor and has excellent handles for a big man. Dylan from umhoops even said his handles "make [him] drool" (via twitter) I think it will be really interesting to see just how good this kid can be.
Especially, given the fact that we are actually starting to see some players develop their talent as evidenced by Manny at the Paul Pierce camp where PP himself complimented Manny's midrange game. If Manny can add midrange game to his strengths then watch out.
The positive reviews on Darius Morris from elite camp especially regarding his toughness is making me really excited for this next season. With our schedule, there is some opportunity to really start establishing ourselves as an elite program again. Hopefully, this leads to positive results with the very strong 2011 in-state recruiting class.
I've already made my "You've been Smotrycz-ized" signs.
is the best coach in the whole wide world.