MBB Recruiting: '18 G/F Jerome Hunter to Indiana

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

Per his twitter account. Crap.

Was the top target on Michigan's bball recruiting board. He is a very good player with a high ceiling who will now be playing against us regularly.

DCAlum

July 17th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^

JB has literally been at every AAU tournament game Hunter has played in this summer, and most of them from last summer. 

 

I fucking hate the "JB can't close, can't recruit, won't work hard to get recruits" theme on this site. We've got three great 2018 prospects (including one ranked higher than Hunter on some sites) and are in on a bunch more. JB has learned his lesson from previous years and is offering more players and making more backup plans, because he's seen how bball recruiting has changed.

Tater

July 17th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^

JB refuses to pay players and AAU handlers.  That is why he "can't recruit."  The only time Michigan ever got a lot of top ten and top twenty guys was when Ed Martin was paying them.

The only real answer is to lobby for the removal of the rules against paying players.  Let the players get whatever they can for their services during what, for some of them, are their peak earning years.

Maizen

July 17th, 2017 at 1:45 PM ^

Not true. First of all Ed Martin wasn't a Michigan booster, he was a Detroit high school booster. Kids that went to Duke, UNLV, MSU, Mizzou, etc from Detroit all got paid by Ed Martin too. Second of all Tommy Amaker signed Daniel Horton, Lester Abram, Dion Harris, etc who were all big time recruits. He also had Joe Crawford and Al Horford committed at one time. Not bad for a guy with no support on sanctions with crap facilities.

This isn't to say anyone is yearning for the Amaker years, just that the idea Michigan basketball can't recruit 5 stars is a misnomer. John Beilein can't recruit 5 stars. The reasons for this are multitude. 1)I believe he loathes the idea of one and dones 2)He doesn't like coaching kids with any semblance of an ego 3)Some recruits simply aren't recruitbale and 4)He's terrible recruiter ie not relatbale and borderline lazy.

In other news, 5 star Reggie Perry committed to Miss State today. But I guess they are a basketball school so that explain that.

Brian Griese

July 17th, 2017 at 1:51 PM ^

wasn't a booster." Fisher illegally gave Ed Martin a team issued hotel room for the 1992 Final Four. Martin then turned around and gave the room to Mayce Webber, free of charge, and also Illegally. If that's not "boosting" than WTF is?

Matte Kudasai

July 17th, 2017 at 2:07 PM ^

Illegal Boosting is when you pay/steer kids to a specific university.  Martin was different.  Even though he liked UM he had ties with kids at places all over the country as previously stated.

Martin just wanted to be "in" with these kids.  

I'm not saying we didn't' screw up but I'll always maintain that the situation wasn't one where Martin was steering kids or paying them to go to Michigan, which is why in the end we paid too severely for his sins.

 

 

Brian Griese

July 17th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^

let's just say Recruit X has never met Booster Y. After X enrolls at Michigan, Booster Y meets him at a luncheon and likes him so much he gives him $100,000 under the table. You wouldn't classify that as "illegal boosting" since his intent wasn't to steer him to Michigan? Seriously?

cletus318

July 17th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^

It would definitely be an illegal benefit, but the term booster in NCAA parlance has a specific definition that is tied to attempting to help an individual institution. In the case of Ed Martin, he was shelling out money to kids who went all over the place.

ColeIsCorky

July 17th, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^

Borderline lazy? Seriously dude? Some of your arguments CAN actually be argued, like #1 & #2. Unfortunately, the further down you get on your list the more ridiculous and personal feelingsish aka emotional you sound.

John Beilein being lazy is your worst argument there. Missing a recruit does not mean you're lazy. It can mean many things, but that sort of argument needs a bit more of an explanation if you want to be taken seriously. And might need a Diary's worth of information as there is a plethora of evidence out there suggesting the opposite.

Now go do your research and come back and share your findings. If you want to be taken seriously, stop ranting and start giving facts.

remdog

July 17th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^

JB doesn't recruit 5 stars well for multiple reasons but "laziness" doesn't seem to be one of them.  I can name several reasons that are unavoidable if you want to have a program with inegrity:1. he only recruits high character players (although this isn't always predictable) 2. he recruits students (so one and dones who only pretend to play school are out) 3. he doesn't engage in sleazy recruiting tactics.

If we had a less sleazy system without the one and dones, he would have greater success with top recruits.  But we don't.  And he runs a high integrity program.

Are there other factors?  Does he have trouble connecting personally with some recruits?  Does he have trouble pulling in high level bigs given his coaching style?  Perhaps and quite possibly.  But this is conjecture while the prior reasons are all known facts.

I'd love to have the recruiting success of a Kentucky, UNC, etc. but we have a much higher level of integrity than most of these programs.

 

 

 

 

93Grad

July 17th, 2017 at 3:49 PM ^

all of the kids they have offered and heavily recruited but missed on over the last few years. Do you think JB would have gone after those kids if they were on the take? That is such a lame excuse that probably only applies to a dozen or so recruits ever year that we aren't even offering in the first place.

DCAlum

July 17th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^

I'm obviously not claiming Beilein is the best recruiter in the world, or even that if Michigan had another coach we might not get in on some guys we can't now. But there is a theme on this site in particular (umhoops forum is much more realistic, IMO) that he's absolutely terrible at it.

 

Michigan IS NOT a blue blood basketball program that recruits want to come to because of its long-time success. The last 5-6 years have been great, and maybe that'll pay off in the long run (especially with the record of putting kids in the NBA), but Beilein has much less of a recruiting advantage than I think people assume. 

 

I think MGoBlog is too used to the recruiting success of our football team, which is a totally different story. If Brady Hoke could get top ten classes, you know that recruiting comes down to more than just the coaches. Beilein could be better; but he isn't operating with the advantages everyone assumes.

WorldwideTJRob

July 17th, 2017 at 1:41 PM ^

If he was battling Duke, UNC or Kentucky for this kid your point would be more valid. Indiana has a new coach and has been mediocre recently. If he can't out gun them for a recruit he's been on longer, that's not a great sign! Hunter also is from an area we've recruited well recently.

WorldwideTJRob

July 17th, 2017 at 1:54 PM ^

He was still in contact with the staff and according to Matt D's reports was very interested in us despite the coaching staff shake up. Yes historically IU is a prominent program but recently it can be argued that we're better! And I think that should mean more to current recruits

pescadero

July 17th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^

"Michigan IS NOT a blue blood basketball program"

 

Correct - and we can't expext to recruit at a top 5 level.

 

Problem is - we barely recruit at a top 25 level. We regularly get out recruited by teams that are even less historically successful than Michigan.

MGOTokyo

July 17th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^

JB having to attend 'all' of a kid's games to prove himself to him (and us) is ridiculous. I didn't even go to all of my own kid's games. Yes, going to a few is good, get him on campus a few times. That should be enough to sell our program.

Maizen

July 17th, 2017 at 1:11 PM ^

Beilein couldn't close a screen door. Being a better in game coach than your peers only takes you so far in college. Another year, another whiff on a top target. 

Maizen

July 17th, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^

Brandon Johns is an exception to a very troubling recruiting pattern that has now stretched out a number of years. If you can't see that, then you simply don't want to.

JBE

July 17th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^

Yes. If I see you in the street I'll rip off one of your pediatric shoes and toss it up on a power line, where it will hang for generations to come as a stark reminder.

JBE

July 17th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^

Exactly. Pay attention, Maizen. You might learn a thing or two about how to be admitted on the bus and sneak into McDonald's with only one shoe. It's tough, but it can be done.

BigBlue02

July 17th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^

Didn't you just say when Johns committed that this class could be the best since 2012 and get us back to the final 4? Now he sucks at closing? That isn't very consistent

93Grad

July 17th, 2017 at 1:29 PM ^

otherwise it is hard to explain why we continually miss on the vast majority of our top targets despite on court success, player development, top notch facilities, etc.  

I like JB, but he is not a top notch recruiting closer, particularly when it is a long drawn out recruitment.  

Matt EM

July 17th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^

is the issue most cited to me by prospects/coaches with regard to Michigan recruiting - in other words Michigan doesn't beg. Does it cost us at times, yes it does.

That said, this was not the issue in the Hunter recruitment, he simply loved IU.