MBB Hello: Ibi Watson
A little out of the blue, but I'll gladly take a SG from Pickerington:
I'm extremely blessed and excited to announce that I'm officially committing to the University of Michigan!! #GoBlue #MichTape
— Ibi Watson (@ibi_watson_2) July 28, 2015
John Beilein (to Ibi Watson): Mr. Watson, come here! I want you!
So I take it that Bridges spot is now taken? Great. Hope this kid pans out and makes the most of his time at Michigan, but it doesn't make sense why we only get these under-the-radar types, especially at wing where Beilein's track record of development is impeccable.
Agreed. Hopefully we can still get Bridges if he wanted to go here. Hopefully we don't get too complacent as other big ten teams are starting to get better recruits and lose our foothold in the league.
and those interests don't often align with what most high level bball recruits are looking for, they all think they'll play in the NBA some day. That and Gary Battle is a douche bag.
He mentions Michigan, but has never even set foot on campus. His family lives an hour away and he's made multiple trips to MSU. That's a strong indication that he has no interest in coming here.
He has an offer, no? That would imply that he has stepped foot on campus. Also, he couldn't stop talking about Beilein and co.'s player development, turning lowly rated recruits into NBA players, blah blah blah. I know, it's all recruit speak, but given his ties to the state, his talent level, and our need for a big time wing after Battle royally f'ed us over, I was hoping the coaches would make Bridges a priority. Though based on what I read, Michigan wasn't contacting him nearly as much as MSU and UK have been, which disappoints me (supposedly Thornton cooled on us for the exact same reason).
He canceled every planned trip here. Honestly, I don't think he's ever had any interest. He only talks about us because we're the other in-state school. It's great that he has nice things to say, but the coaches must surely have a good idea of his level of interest.
My mistake then, it says on every recruiting site that he does have an offer from us. Still though, it disappoints me that the coaches don't even try to change a kid's opinion, especially one as good as Bridges is. He's a game changer, which I don't see with Watson.
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Do you have insight into what they've tried and what they haven't? I assume they've thoroughly vetted the mutual interest/situation with Bridges. For whatever reasons, it didn't add up.
considered a longshot. Remember that his spot was taken by Battle for awhile. If they felt better about their chances, probably they hold off on offering Watson. The problem is that their plan B guys aren't going to wait forever. They decided not to offer Cumberland and he comitted to Cinci. They just just went through the eval period and didn't offer Watson until it was over. He was planning to commit soon too.
It is disappointing to miss out on him. We're picking up solid prospects, but not obvious game changers. That being said, you can never be certain how the roster will shake out. There's always the possibility of unexpected attrition. I don't think Michigan is completely done recruiting Bridges. He can still schedule an OV, even if there isn't room for him at the time.
Yeah, I guess I just don't understand why we're missing out on all of our plan A's. I think it's shy recruiting, personally. I know the coaches work tirelessly to evaluate players but I'd like to see them work just as tirelessly to sell Michigan to the great talents, which I'm just not sure has been the case. Michigan basketball got so close to the pinnacle, and since then we've been moving farther and farther away. It's frustrating, because I think we should be elite.
You must've been living under a rock last season. Or did you just forget that we missed the postseason altogether? How about the fact that we were 11-7 before Caris and Walton went down, including losses to powerhouses NJIT and Eastern Michigan?
They don't need to sell the shit out of Michigan to the under-the-radar guys, because Michigan is their best offer. When you're talking about guys with a who's who of offers, yeah, you need to sell them on why Michigan is better for them than everyone else. I thought that didn't require explanation, but apparently I was mistaken.
If you honestly think that this year's roster is more talented than the team that went to the championship game, then I dunno what to tell you. Maybe you should stop calling other people stupid though if you really think that.
Trey Burke was a composite 4 star, Tim Hardaway 3 star, McGary 4 star, GR3 5 star, Stauskas 4 star.
Compared with: Walton 4 star, Levert 2 star/unranked, Dawkins 2 star/unranked, Irvin 4 star, Doyle 3 star. I don't see the similarities there.
But ignoring the stars, I'm talking about coveted players. Not guys that are wanted by a few mid majors. How many top 50 players? I dunno, I'd like the number of top 50 players to exceed the number of unrated players though. I don't want 5 stars up the wazoo, but I do want to hit on the occasional Plan A recruit, not miss and then keep going down the list until you get to the guy that was being recruited by MAC schools.
Depth wise, this year's team is equal to that 2012-13 team. The difference is this team needs Derrick Walton, not to be Trey Burke, but to be healthy and productive all season. Something like 14/7/5 would be great.
Eh, the depth of this year's team relies heaviliy on guys like Chatman, Donnal, Wilson, and Wagner stepping up. If 2 or 3 of those guys become contributors then yeah this team will have a ton of depth. But the starting 5's aren't comparable.
I didn't miss his point about Chatman. That makes 3 top 50 players on this team. Some guys like Dawkins and MAAR have shown flashes of being much better than their rankings, but a big time program like Michigan doesn't have 3 top 50 players total by choice. That's the result of having to go down the wishlist frequently.
Sad to say (or happy depends on the way you look at it) but the Nike deal is really going to open up things in-state for Michigan recruiting. The majority of The Family kids weren't willing to possibly ruin that relationship with Nike by signing with an Adidas school.
The funny thing is though, Norm from the Michigan Mustangs (Adidas) is hell bent on sending his kids to Tom Izzo, breaking ranks. The Adidas grassroots organization managment went to crap once Sonny V went to Reebok.
which is obviuously not a bad thing. It is still pretty irksome, however, the way the Battle thing played out. I think we need more top end talent if we are ever going to reach another final four beyond this year.
Love the potential Walton-Winston-Watson backcourt rotation in 2016-17! Errr, I mean Walton-Winston-Watson-Abdur-Rhakim rotation.
Watson looks like a good player. Fits the Stuaskas/LeVert/Hardaway mold of versatility. Shame about Battle, but with how good these coaches are with player development Watson could easily end up being the better player in the end.
If they can land Winston, this should be a highly rated class with several big-time talents and excellent program fits. '16 has the potential to be the best class since 2012...but a lot rides on Cassius.
http://hoopseen.com/index.php/news/headlines/item/3317-ibi-watson-states-his-case
There wasn’t a more impressive player at Best of the South than 2016 All-Ohio Red shooting guard Ibi Watson.
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard rose his stock as much as anyone did during the event. In fact, the summer riser came away with the MVP award.
His game is smooth. I like this pickup.
He and DJ will need to have a hair-off to decide who starts.
Haven't heard of the kid, but looks like a good pickup from the videos.