MBB: Recruiting overview, upcoming visitors, 2016 offers, per Sam Webb
Sam Webb offered a good overview of where Michigan basketball recruiting currently stands on today's recruiting roundup (podcast), which I'll try to summarize here. I think one of the big takeaways is that Sam believes Michigan is in great shape with several big-time 2016 prospects, which the coaching staff needs to take into account when working on the 2015 class. This means that they might limit themselves to just one 2015 combo guard/wing, with Sam including Eron Harris in that category, along with:
- Brevin Pritzl, 6-3 shooting guard from De Pere, Wisconsin — visiting Michigan this Sunday
- Eric Davis, 6-3 combo guard from Saginaw Arthur Hill — visiting Michigan on May 15
- Jalen Coleman, 6-3 combo guard from Indianapolis — slated to bring his recruitment into greater focus in the next couple of weeks
Limiting the 2015 class to one combo guard/wing would enable Michigan to take a big plus perhaps a point guard (e.g., Jalen Brunson), although Sam said yesterday he believes a point guard is more of a luxury in 2015, especially because of Michigan's position with some top 2016 point guard prospects.
Speculating on which 2016 prospects would get offers come June 15, Sam mentioned the five below. He believes Michigan is in terrific shape with the first four of these.
Seth Towns: 6-7 forward, Columbus Northland HS (Trey Burke's HS). Visiting Michigan today, which will be his fifth or sixth visit to Ann Arbor. Towns believes this latest visit is a precursor to a June 15 offer.
T.J. Leaf: 6-9 forward, Foothills Christian (El Cajon, CA). Visiting Michigan on May 19—his second U-M visit (blown away on his first visit, which was for the Notre Dame football game). 247 composite ranking: #21. EDIT: Found this regarding Leaf from Sam on a thread on the free Scout board:
He and his dad love the offense and this will be his second visit to Ann Arbor in less than a year. Plus mom and dad are originally from Indiana and the majority of both sides of the family still reside in the Midwest.
Derryck Thornton Jr.: 6-2 point guard, Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV). 247 composite ranking: #19.
Tyus Battle: 6-5 shooting guard, Gill St. Bernard's (Gladstone, NJ). 247 composite ranking: #8. Thornton and Battle may be a package deal.
Cassius Winston: 6-0 point guard, Detroit Jesuit (Jordan Morgan's HS). 247 composite ranking: #29.
Although Michigan is in great shape with several of these prospects, Sam doesn't anticipate any will quickly jump to accept a Michigan offer once extended. He thinks they all will take some time before making their college choice.
EDIT: In that Scout thread I noted above, Sam also mentions a new 2016 prospect that Michigan has "jumped in on": Dennis “Junior” Smith, a 6-2 point guard out of Fayetteville (N.C.) Trinity Christian—"an explosive athlete that also recently began garnering attention from Louisville, Duke, and North Carolina thanks in large part to his stellar showing in Dallas a few weeks back (Michigan was also in attendance)." He's ranked #15 in the 2016 class per the 247 composite rankings.
I don't think Leaf has been mentioned much on this site, so here are a couple of videos:
Kid has a long way to go before he can compete with Finnish products, like Angry Birds, Nokia phones, and Linux.
Thornton/Battle package deal would be huge. Finally some recruits taking notice to the fact that Beilein guards end up in the NBA. If im not mistaken, they're both visiting on June 7.
Here's video of Smith, the new 2016 point guard prospect:
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh... DO WANT!!
Was really liking that Zimmerman was looking at Mich as Beilein seemed to be looking more for that shot blocker type than charge drawer. I hope Donnal has a special year just to show other bigs it can be done.
Coleman just seems like a lock to go pro.
MM was not a shot blocker.
...every MBB recruiting post is just MOAR guards. Or if a big is mentioned, it's a "guy who can step out and hit the J" as opposed to "dominant force on the block." I realize it's not Beilein's style, but its as if having a bunch of good shooters/finesse players is mutually exclusive to having a banger/rebounder/shot-blocker down low.
That said, #InBeileinWeTrust
for a title this year? I guess a team without dominant bigs could never win in the physical Big Ten either.
guards and wing players. But, we really need to go after some big body guys in the middle. Depending on pure hustle and boxing out to get rebounds will only get you so far. Sometimes it comes down to pure size. (no off-color jokes here please!) I think some games where we had big negative rebounding discrepancies cost us the win.
at this point, why wouldn't you want to play for Beilein? Great guy with an excellent staff, makes everyone into NBA players, and wins a lot of games in a fancy new arena.
We didn't take one in 2014, and only have two on the roster. What if Walton blows up and leaves after next year?
Not every player is going to blow up. If that did happen, I think they'd be fine for one year with Albrecht, Chatman, and Abdur-Rahkman all able to play point guard.
Yea, I definitely wouldn't mind a Senior Albrecht running the show.
I am with Raoul onthis one - Walton had a solid Freshman PG year but nothing to show he is going to be a NBA first rounder early entry [yet]. Frankly that was not his role on last year's team. Maybe he will explode next year but Burke was a once in 20 year player at his size. Morris did go early but was 6'5.
Walton Jr is a 6'1 PG (maybe, usually they add an inch in college) and unless his production goes up dramatically there is just not a line of players out there for 6'1 PGs. And unlike Burke, Walton will be option #2 or #3 in this offense. Plus he does not 'excel' at anything yet - his penetration is not like that of Burke, he did not faciliate a pick and roll game like Burke did, and some of his decision making is in question - all perfectly normal for a freshman PG.
Like everyone I expect him to improve but a guy like Irvin who is 6'6 is far more likely to blow up into a 1st rounder. Chris Paul is the only premier PG at Walton/Burke's size - most of them like Wall, Lillard, Irving are 6'4-6'3 types. Shabazz Napier is a much better player than Walton Jr at this point and is projected to go 2nd round as a 6'0 PG.
Doesn't mean Walton Jr cannot or is not a solid to good NCAA player but right now it seems like everyone thinks any starter of ours who is a G or SF is going pro after 2 years. We've had a crazy run of early entries here, but it is atypical and one of them was "forced" out by the NCAA - we had more guys declare this year than Kentucky to put it in perspective. It's not normal to lose 3 players a year so extrapolating to do so it a bit over the top.
but I don't think anyone on this board would have predicted that Stauskas was going to blow-up the way he did this year and enter the draft either. Again, I don't think it will happen, but you never know with coach B.
My wish list is Jalen Coleman and Eron Harris for our (functionally) 2015 class.
class where does michigan stand with Josh Jackson???
He apparently has no interest.
Successful, honest head coach, personable assistants, high profile program, conference titles, tournament success, recent history of sending players at his position to NBA, 1-hour drive from home, strong academic school and a smart kid/good student. Survey says? No interest. Weird.
...he considers the last couple of years of Michigan success to be abberations. He's mentioned that Michigan wasn't good for most of his life.
To have a clear advantage with an in-state recruit, a key factor is whether that player grew up a fan of the program. So it could still be at least a few years before Michigan's recent success pays off with in-staters. I can't recall many recent Michigan recruits noting in interviews that they grew up Michigan basketball fans.
BUt sometimes people are actually looking to get away from home. So being in close proximity to your home town can actually be a detriment. I know I wanted to put some distance between me and my home when I went to university. I'm not saying this is the case with JJ, but it's a possibility perhaps. Now if he choses MSU we'll know I'm wrong.
Backyard 5* who isn't interested in instate schools.
I think James Young had some issues that made him a...bad fit for Michigan (which is why we didn't even offer him).
stating that fact. But,his coach said different. What we do know...us and msu took a pass on him.
Winston just said he expected it to come at the end of the summer.
http://www.umhoops.com/2014/05/07/2016-pg-cassius-winston-expects-michi…
It sounds like Thornton will get a chance to commit first.
Impressive list! It's so exciting to think about the future of Michigan basketball right now!
Coleman shoud hop on an offer soon or Eron Harris, DeJounte Murray, Dwayne Bacon, PJ Dozier or Brevin Pritzl will. Heck, we might take 2.
Hard to "hop on an offer" when you don't have one.
Jalen Coleman has had an offer for a year.
I was talking about guys like DeJounte Murray, Dwayne Bacon and Brevin Pritzl
And my point was that Coleman should accept the offer soon or he will be leap-frogged when more offers go out.
He and Brunson are the only uncommitted 2015 prospects with ones so far, something that's likely to change soon.
I never would of guessed my high school would produce a top ten D1 prospect. It's Gill St. Bernard's by the way (two l's). The graduating class is like 60-70 people total.
By the way, the Michigan women's hoops program was for a time in serious contention for a top 2014 prospect from your school, Taylor Rooks. She ended up picking Stanford.
yeah our women's hoops program has been better than the guys. We also had the son of the coach, Jared Sina last year or two years ago who was a top 100 type.
They've gotten a lot better since I was there (class of 07).
I coach AAU down here in North Carolina. Junior is REALLY good. Better than Seventh Woods good. Might be the best pg in the country regardless of class good. With that said I doubt he leaves Carolina.
