Michigan basketball in top 10 for recruiting in 2012 class
rivals released their basketball team ranks for the 2012 class and michigan came in 8th so far with 2 top 100 recruits including glen robinson III in at 50 ( already noted in another thread). What I enjoyed most about the rankings is that are 4 B1G teams in the top 10. glad to see that for sure. still early in the process but beilien is doing a great job with this class.
Link: http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1223142
Any idea when the last time was we had a top 10 recruiting class in basketball?? Fab 5 would be my only guess, but I know they didn't have the hardcore recruiting sites they do now.
1994 We had a top 5 class a couple years after that with Albert White, Maurice Taylor, Willie Mitchell, Maceo Baston, T Conlan, Jerod Ward
Then a year later Albert White (loved his game, too bad about the smarts), Louis bullock.
Followed By Tractor Traylor (RIP).
So we had some serious recruiting going on through 1996.... of course lots of asterisks in the record books around those guys.
Edit: Damn, scooped by... everyone.
Albert White!
I loved his game as well. I think he had more (wasted) potential than any Michigan player that I can think of.
Meant to reply to this comment, but posted a new one on accident. 1999 was the last time Michigan had a top5 recruiting class, 2003(Sims, Harris, Petway) was the last time we had a top10 class according to the RSCI.
Tractor, Mo Taylor, Bullock, Baston & Ward? Were they in the same class?
While I hated the down years in hoops and the last few in football, it will be incredible to watch both rise to prominence side by side.
I think you're thinking of 1994: Maceo Baston, Travis Conlan, Willie Mitchell, Maurice Taylor, and Jerod Ward. That certainly would have been a top 10 class--Ward was ranked #1 in the country.
that's right, thanks. Traylor was a year or two later.
level hype. It took all of two games in the Maui Invitational that year to figure out that he was not going to live up to it. Closed his career is decent style after developing a rather deadly corner 3 ball, but man, you want to talk about a guy that just never lived up to his billing, he is the one.
Ward was clearly overrated coming out of high school, but you can't ignore the injuries he suffered when assessing his overall career at Michigan. Injury-free, he would have been much better.
Ward always showed flashes of what made him so hyped. He was long, athletic, and skilled. Problem was he didn't have the mental makeup to make full use of his gifts. Not that he was a bad guy, he just never seemed comfortable/confident enough to assert himself against higher competition.
The guy had a decent professional basketball career, he just never quite had what it took to reach an elite level...but the potential always seemed to be there, expecially his freshman and sophomore years.
It didn't help that he tore one ACL his freshman year, then tore the other ACL his sophomore year. Then, after finally recovering and turning in a solid senior year, he reinjured one of his knees in the NBA predraft camps.
Ward, who had good size and perimeter skills, could have been an outstanding 4 in Beilein's system.
But I remember one recruiting service saying "Wards scores like we breath". Yeah, if "we" had asthma.
1994 - Conlan, Ward, Mitchell, Baston, Taylor
1995 - Bullock, Traylor, White
I imagine both classes were top 10
(edit: scooped by Raoul)
I think both of those classes were actually #1 overall. And it could have been even better, if Kevin Garnett had qualified academically. We were an absolute machine in recruiting then, and I don't think it was just due to Ed Martin. We pulled Ward, the #1 player in the country, out of Mississippi and he was never linked to Martin.
This is crazy and I like it.
It won't last.
Rivals lists Texas 10th in the nation because of one player - the 12th best in the country. What happens when the other 10 guys between him and the #1 player in the country (making up the #4 class all by himself) commit to schools. Answer - Michigan drops.
We do have one more scholarship potentially available in the class but it's unlikely to result in a top 50 caliber player. Basketball recruiting is very dependant on landing one (or more) of the top 20-30 players in the country.
I like where our program is headed, and Bielien's made steady improvement but we're not close to bringing in top 10 talent...yet.
Hopefully GRIII can work some magic on Mitch McGary for us. That would certainly keep us in the top 10.
and the other big guy from the east coast also had some interest in Michigan but...seems likely they're going somewhere else.
This is absolutely true. We have a nice class, and a decent chance at being a top 25 type class if we can land a big man. That would be a tremendous accomplishment and another sign that we're in the right direction. But we won't have a top 10 class unless we manage to land McGary.
With only 9 of the top 40 recruits having selected a school, and, as you point out, with how much weight Rivals puts on landing 5 star recruits in their team rankings, I wonder why they even bother ranking teams at this point.
Using ESPN ranks:
2008 - zero top 100 players
2009 - #100 (Morris)
2010 - #84 and #93 (Smotrycz and Hardaway)
2011 - #74 and #82 (Burke and Brundidge)
2012 - #50 and #89 (Using Rivals numbers b/c ESPN isn't out past 60 yet - though it doesn't look like they're as high on our guys right now)
Beilien is going from fringe top 100 guys and projects (McLimans, Christian) to consensus top 100 guys plus getting in on some top 50 caliber players as well.
The good news is if they re-ranked the 2009 and 2010 classes, Morris and Hardaway would be ranked way higher. Hopefully Beilein will continue to evaluate talent much better than the recruiting services.
Mitch McGary is the #5 recruit in the country and by all acounts is still considering michigan. So according to rivals we have a chance to bring in top 5 talent.
I f he commits, we almost certainly stay in the top ten.
As excited as I am for Robinson and Stauskas, it's worth noting that a huge swath of the higher-tier recruits aren't accounted for - our class almost certainly won't end top 10 unless we pick up another BIG time guy. That's certainly possible, and we're after that type of player, but...lots to happen from here on out.
Very true, however JB might not be done recruiting for 2012 just yet. If they can't get Hancock to transfer (lots of other teams on him too), they still have a couple names on the board for 2012 they were recruiting earlier. Sherron Dorsey-Walker and Javontae Hawkins are both in the 90s of the top 100 as well as Jordan Hare - all instaters. If they were to grab any of those 3 guys with Darius' open spot, they could probably hold on to a top 15 ranking.
I believe that the 1999 class with LaVelle Blanchard, Jamal Crawford and Kevin Gaines was also a highly ranked class. http://statsheet.com/bhsb/recruiting_class/1999/college Statsheet had it as their 2nd best class, and SI had them as the #4 class in the country. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/recruiting/news/1999/05/21/prepstar_rankings/
EDIT
Everybody should open the Statsheet link(1st one) and view the name of Virginia's top recruit. Fantastic name.
Majestic Mapp was the younger brother of the even better-named Scientific Mapp.
It looks like the B1G will continue to be the dominant league for NCAA basketball.
Beilein cant recruit or put players into the pro ranks
The program is so doomed
And he keeps running that crazy 1-3-1 defense