PG Xavier Simpson Skyrockets Up ESPN Final Rankings
Michigan hoops commit Xavier Simpson who was a mid-level 4 star before the season started, is now rated the #48 rated prospect and #4 rated point guard in the country on ESPN after averaging 26.3 points, 6.6 assists, and 3.9 steals per game. For his efforts, Xavier took home Mr. Basketball in Ohio. I remember folks were somewhat disppointed in Beilein when he commited because they felt there were better (higher rated) point guards on the board. I think this is another job well done in Beilein finding a blossming gem. The last Mr. Ohio winner that came to Michigan was Trey Burke. Trey's performance against Kansas in the NCAA tournament still gives me chills.
He didn't find Simpson. He was highly rated before. Top 100 player.
the big fish.
Harvard bringing in 3 top 100 recruits!?!?!
amaker brought the last mcD all american we've had...danny horton
beilein has never had one; ever.
I'm partial to team success over personal accolades. How many Final 4s does Amaker have?
Yeah, and it's not like the Martin scandal could have possible had any negative effects on the program during Amaker's time.
A Tommy Ammaker apologist has graced the board.
Damn.
End thread.
That's right, I think Amaker is a good coach and got fired too quickly from Michigan. Beside's the two years Belein had Trey Burke, he and Amaker have done about the same at Michigan.
Amaker's recruiting was fine. Also, the Martin scandal only cost us one scholarship per year for four years, not that big of a deal.
That's huge in basketball...by the final year of the restrictions that means there would only be 8 scholarship players on your team. Amaker wasn't great but he did have a hell of lot more limitations than Beilein has. He was coming off the shameful Ellerbe era with a ran down basketball arena and no practice facility. The fact that he even convinced a McDonald's all-American and a couple Mr. Basketball winners to come there is pretty remarkable when you think about it now.
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the fact that many of those highly rated players didn't improve (some seemed to regress) under Amaker was the problem. That, and an offense that seemed to consist of passing the ball around the perimeter followed by one guy trying to get off a pull up jumper...
Doesn't sound a whole lot different from the offense we've run the past 2 years
You obviously know very little about basketball if you think that is the case.
You are the ultimate judge of basketball knowledge
In other words, I said something dumb and was called out on it, so I will just fall back on "I know you are but what am I"
April 27th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^
No one has yet shown how the offense the past 2 years wasn't what I said. They just resorted to calling me a dumbass. So you can go back to your Kentucky blog.
April 28th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
While the offense the last couple years hasn't been what it was with Burke and Stauskas, it is sitll way more advanced than what Michigan ran under Amaker. JB's offense has pick and rolls, dives to the basket, and ways to draw the defense away from players to get them open. Execution hasn't been as strong, but there is a system in place to try and help generate open looks.
Amaker's offense was maddening. Literally, players would just swing the ball around the perimeter the majority of the time with no off the ball movement. There was very little cutting, they did nothing to move the defense, and that would be followed by a dependency on someone (Daniel Horton, Dion Harris) with a decent amount of talent trying to create a decent look out of desperation on almost every possession.
JB knows X's and O's while TA couldn't coach out of a paper bag even though he can recruit.
April 26th, 2016 at 11:11 PM ^
JB has broken the kenpom offensive efficiency record 2 separate times at Michigan. You have to be a real dumbass to say he doesn't know how to run an offense.
April 27th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^
Notice I said the past 2 years, which weren't years he broke the offensive efficiency record. Reading not your specialty?
That last sentence is exactly what happens in the current offense. I wasn't a fan of A maker but he at least ran a motion offense.
Instead of being able to carry 13 players, Amaker could only carry 12 scholarship players for the 4 yrs, and IIRC, he wasn't really ever even close to maxing out on his scholarships anyway, making it a moot point to begin with.
Amaker's problem was lack of development, and a sloppy, disorganized offfensive bball team. Guys like Horton, Harris and Lester Abram were virtually the same players as Seniors as when they were freshman. His big men never seemed to take the next step either, whether it was Chris Hunter, Courtney Sims, or Brent Petway, their games were stagnant while under Amaker, the only one who got noticeably better was Graham Brown.
All that, and they always seemed to lose the games when great stakes were on the line, the final game of the year against a IU team at home that would have set them up for the tourney, the Big Ten Tourney game against an atrocious Minnesota team, again when they needed a win to make the tourney, Amaker's teams could never get over the hump, and he was deservedly fired for it. Amaker is in a better spot now, he was loathe to promote the program at UM, and he doesn't have to do that at Harvard, and he's in a much easier league as far as competition and coaching go.
You can have his great recruiting classes, I'll take Beilein's ability to put together great teams.
April 27th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^
That's huge in basketball...by the final year of the restrictions that means there would only be 8 scholarship players on your team.
No, what happened was that we had 12 scholarships a year (instead of 13) for four seasons.
(EDIT: duh, missed the post above mine.)
Well...
...apparently the scandal has had negative effects on the program during JB's entire tenure.
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Shit, how many tournaments has Amaker made?
I am partial to being squeaky clean and keeing the NCAA away from the program.
but beilien has 1 final four- - not a lot to brag about
April 26th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^
Amateur did have those two NIT Final Fours though, just because he never made the Tournament in 6 years shouldn't overshadow his great recruiting, great studs like Jerret Smith, Kendric Price and the unforgetable K'len Morris.
Amaker really could recruit well. Unfortunately, he could not get those studs to, you know, win many games or make it to the tournament.
He was and is a very good recruiter in that sense. He wasn't good at building a roster, though. He recruited a lot of guys that didn't fit well. It felt like he didn't really have a plan. Then he had Jerret Smith as the only scholarship PG for two years.
His recruiting arguably got worse evry year he was here. And he was a terrible game coach. Wow--time really does heal.
we said he brought the UM up a notch from the Ellerbe years and then moved on? The whole "not a good in-game coach" thing is belied by a lot of great wins at Harvard.
also lowered the standards to get the players he wanted to play for his team at Harvard. That is a fact.
He's winning with talent at Harvard. Not X's and O's
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April 26th, 2016 at 11:45 PM ^
this topic didn't start by people bagging on TA. It started by someone suggesting he was really good and implicitly better than JB. Anyone who watched M bball during the Amaker era knows that he just was not a great game coach.
He brought in the 2 pillars that got JB to his first NCAA tourney
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that TA almost didn't want to recruit Manny Harris? He was all about either Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. His assistant coach eventually convinced him to recruit Manny Harris. Imagine TA going after both and lose out on all three of them? Yikes
This is short-sighted in a lot ways. Amaker picked this program up from the lowest spot it has literally ever been. He actually would have made the tournament (I believe it was Horton's freshman year) had we been eligible for the post-season. Furthermore, he certainly would have been dancing on probably multiple ocassions had he stuck around longer. An Epke, Sims, Manny team I am certain would have found it's way to the tournament.
Now all that said, I am of course happy we upgraded with Beilein. My biggest complaint was lack of player development, e.g., Blanchard. My other biggest issue was pretty bogged down half-court offense. Still, Amaker left the program in much a better place than he started. It's not debatable. He's since gone on to do well at Harvard.
I think real hoops fans, who actually would attend games during the Ellerbe era have a strong appreciation for TA. And I'm not surprised people who bandwaggoned on when Manny and Sims took us dancing have no respect for TA.
April 26th, 2016 at 10:00 PM ^
I don't agree. Ekpe, Manny and Sims are no better of a trio than Horton, Harris and Sims. He coached during one of the weakest eras of B1G bball and could not get over the hump.
I don't mind TA. Left the program in better shape than when he found it. But let's be honest, the roster he left JB was bare. The three players you named were the only quality players he left. And one was an incoming freshman. He inherited a bad situation. Doesn't mean he didn't underachieve
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McGary was a Parade All-American. Not McD's but whatever.
Parade ain't got shit on McDonalds.
It's definitely got less trans fat. So there's that...
mitch was too old to be a mcD
And Beilein got us to our first Final Four since the Fab Five. People have ridiculous expectations given the how awful the entire program was for the decade preceding him.
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My expectations of this program have little to do with what happened in the past.
Look forward my friend.
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at least ten times here.
It is actually 4.
Four, actually: http://espn.go.com/colleges/basketball/recruiting/school/_/id/108/class/2016
Amaker really seems to have hit his stride after he left Michigan. Good for him.
He's all signed up right? No take-back, do-overs or changes of mind allowed anymore? He's signed, sealed and delivered (for one year anyways) at this point for the 2016-17 season.
Ok if that's the case I wont feel nervous if somebody at Kentucky or Duke reads this article.