MBB Recruiting: 2015 3* Kyle Ahrens commits to MSU
Ohio shooting guard Kyle Ahrens commits to Michigan State: Ahrens, a 2015 guard from Versailles, Ohio, wrapped... http://t.co/TXAtaqOymt
— Spartans News (@SpartansMLive) June 6, 2014
Ahrens looked like a contingency plan if Grandstaff went elsewhere (as he did), but with the MAAR/Dawkins signings, the developments surrounding Eron Harris, and the glut of 2016 talent UM is in on, I think the coaches' plans changed. I really like Ahrens and think he'll be a good one. Knock down shooter with plenty of athletic upside. If he makes a full recovery from his broken leg, I think he could be thorn in our side down the road.
And here's a bit regarding Derryck Thornton Jr.:
'16 6'2 PG Derryck Thornton thoughts on Michigan visit. "I love the Michigan campus and the coaching staff is very impressive" #recruiting
— PoP (@PremierBall) June 6, 2014
Interact with folks on twiiter regularly.
Izzo never develops his white boys...aint no thang...
I'm not going to start a thread because I can't find anywhere else confirming it yet, but Dan Dakich is reporting Eron Harris committed to Michigan State today. We will see I guess...
Izzo always finda a way to ruin my day...
Not that I don't believe you, but it isn't on his twitter feed (of course could be elsewhere on the web or his radio show). And that would be super weird considering Michigan is hosting Harris for a visit this weekend.
He said it on his radio show. I had the same thought regarding his visit to UM. He is actually at UM right now, I believe. I think he might have jumped the gun on this one.
He is supposed to be at Michigan's camp this weekend and this was posted two minutes ago on twitter.
Michigan will host a top transfer this weekend. WVU guard Eron Harris, avg 17 ppg. Video and scouting here: http://t.co/8JdDnTU5uH
— Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) June 6, 2014
confusion between Eron and Ahrens.
Rumor mill suggests that they have already received a commitment from Cleveland St. PG transfer Bryn Forbes. Maybe the confusion is there too. Either way, it would come a surprise to me if Harris already "committed" to Michigan St yet still went on his Michigan visit this weekend.
Expect Eron Harris to make a college decision on Monday. West Virginia transfer, Lawrence North grad.
— Kyle Neddenriep (@KyleNeddenriep) June 6, 2014
Funny how MSU is on everyone we show an interest in. It happened in the past with Byrd, Costello, and Draymond Green among others. Now Ahrens....Oh well, good luck to him. We certainly have many big timers on the radar so this is matter of UM not being able to take on everyone they like...
I'm sorry. Who?
exactly
LOL..we sound like an MSU football board all of a sudden. A few years of success in hoops and suddenly we are light years ahead of MSU.
Come on guys as long as Izzo is at MSU it will always be a battle and we have had a nice little run but lets not act like MSU is now some down trodden program.
Much like we shouldn't assume Hoke and company will suck forever.
Izzo became IZZO while Michigan was down and he had no competition and he pulled a lot of talent from Flint. He hasn't had to compete with a strong in state school until recently which also corresponds with when his recruiting classes seemed to get a lot less stellar. He will compete because he gets 4-5 year players but he's not drawing the same talent.
thats right... and you'd think that Izzo would have sent a Xmas gift to our AD at the time, who decidedly to self-punish ourselves.... for the punishment easily could've been at PSU level and a much quicker recovery.
he refeused to cooperate and admit his role things which dragged out the investigation period and the period of de facto sanctions. That has always been my gripe with Weber more so than his taking money from Ed Martin as a 16 year old kid.
Their basketball program has been better than ours for 15 or so years, then we have a few good seasons and we're out recruiting them
On the football side, they just won the Rose Bowl and have soul-crushing defenses every year while Michigan struggles to get to 8 wins....and Michigan recruits vastly better than them still.
I imagine they and Wisconsin sit around and wonder to each other "Why doesnt anyone want to come here?"
Part of the reason I love being a Michigan fan. At least there's hope for us when we aren't doing well where as with MSU under JLS or Bobby Williams, or Wisconsin in the 80s they had no hope for the future. At least we're still bringing in top players like Peppers who could possibly lift us to the upper echelon of CFB.
Three Star Tommy.
This may help us get Harris.
and I've seen variations of them a number of times on this site. Izzo's recruiting is not falling off, or declining, and he's still pulling in really good (highly ranked) players. Here's his last few classes:
2011
Dwaun Anderson - 4 star (transferred for personal reasons)
Branden Dawson - 5 star
Brandan Kearney - 3 star (transferred likely due to playing time)
Travis Trice - 3 star
2012
Matt Costello - 4 star
Gary Harris - 5 star
Kenny Kaminsky - 3 star
Denzel Valentine - 4 star
2013
Alvin Ellis - 3 star
Gaving Schilling - 3 star
2014
Javon Bess - 3 star
LouRawls Nairn - 4 star
Marvin Clark - 3 star (committed, not signed)
2015
Kyle Ahrens - 3 star
Deyonta Davis - 4 star
So a 5 star and two 4 stars as recently as 2012, then a really small class because he had a senior-heavy team and was chasing some of the top recruits in the country. MSU was considered a leader for a long time for both Jabari Parker and Cliff Alexander and comments by Izzo suggest some of the "handlers" for those guys may have steered them elsewhere. I live in Chicago and it's a poorly-kept secret that the recruiting circuit is pretty dirty. Yeah, he didn't get his guys, but it's probably not because his recruiting abilities had somehow slipped off.
Meanwhile, Bess is being talked about as the best player in the state of Ohio, and Marvin Clark is rising too down at Bel Aire in Kansas. These are almost certainly underrated guys worthy of 4 stars (Bess has an outside shot at ending up a 5 star). Kyle Ahrens had interest from a lot of programs until he hurt his leg, and given that his MSU offer was back in October, that doesn't feel like a "plan B" recruit to me. Deyonta Davis has absolutely exploded this year dominating the AAU and is now considered a top-50 recruit nationally and rising. He's likely to end up a 5 star and some people are calling him a top-10 player overall for the class. Frankly, Izzo is doing what Beilein has done the last few years and that's identify under-the-radar guys with room to develop and fit the system.
I just don't think it's accurate to say that "Izzo hasn't done much of anything on the recruiting front the last few years". He's recruiting just fine.
He went from having consensus 5 star guys like Gary Harris and Dawson to nobody similar in recent years. Costello and Valentine were 4 stars but they weren't being recruited by Duke or Kentucky like the guys Izzo previously got. It seems like ten years ago Izzo would get 3 mcdonalds all americans in a class and now they are going to Duke or Kentucky. He's not really developing anybody like Beilein is either. His starters have pretty much been 4/5 stars Payne, Harris, Dawson, Appling. Guys like Byrd, Gauna, Trice haven't been big contributors.
Valentine and Costello were in the same class as Harris, so I'm not sure what your point is. He went after a consensus 5 star and got him as recently as 2 years ago. And he landed two other really good prospects at the same time. And this is Izzo somehow losing his recruiting mojo?
Last year he knew he needed a small class given the lack of attrition (graduation or otherwise), so he went after big dogs and let the pack or was among the top at one time or another on Parker, Alexander, Okafor, and Tyus Jones. He wasn't after other guys because he wanted the one-and-done guy to give him the best chance to another national title. It didn't pan out.
This year's class probably ends up with three 4 star guys, and next year's already has an elite player and another really nice complementary piece that average 30 ppg as a sophomore.
The narrative that Izzo has slipped recruiting-wise just doesn't hold.
Izzo whines about everything else, why not whine about dirty recruiting. Lose top recruits, bitch about handlers. Steal 5 star away from purdue, not a peep.
And 5 three star recruits with no five star recruits in the past 3 years is down for Izzo I might add. Plus, one of his 2 four stars is a 5'9 PG who can't shoot. If you don't notice a downswing in recruiting, you've got some green glasses on
was class of 2012, which was two years ago so "no 5 stars in the past 3 years" isn't accurate. I've covered 2013, and the 4 star who can't shoot is also one of the fastest PG in the country with the ball, an outstanding leader, and he's a hard-nosed defender. There's more to basketball than shooting and Mateen Cleaves couldn't shoot either (not that Rawls is Cleaves). His 2015 class has a 5 star-to-be in Davis.
Only Ellis, Schilling, and Kaminski are for-sure 3 star recruits in the last 3 classes. There is still time for Bess, Clark, and Ahrens to add stars (and I'm betting those first two guys get their 4th star).
Call it green glasses if you want, but Izzo is recruiting just fine.
You just made my point. The 3 "for sure three star recruits" plus three star Trice and four star Costello will be taking most all of the minutes vacated by the 2 Mcdonald`s All-Americans and a five star lottery pick.
your point was "a downswing in Izzo recruiting" which I've shown is a narrative that doesn't hold. He had one mediocre class because the top-10 guys he went after that year didn't pan out and it was only a 2 person class. It was a different approach in recruiting for Izzo and it didn't work.
Your last statement above is basically arguing that the 2014-15 team won't be as good as the 2013-14 team. I don't disagree, but that's not what the discussion was about. The guys Izzo recruited for 2014 and 2015 aren't on campus yet so they don't have much to do with next year's team even if they are highly regarded players.
remind me of something. Oh yeah, MSU had a lot of injuries.
Izzo tried something and it didn't work out. He went all in trying to land a one-and-done guy to give him a better shot at a national title. He knew that he would be left with a mediocre class at best, but decided it was worth the risk and was willing to live with the consequences. Too bad for us it didn't work out but oh well.
Otherwise, Izzo has recruited just fine.
So where are excuses being made?
I don't think MSU recruiting has really fallen off, but Michigan's recruiting has defintely picked up so their classes are a lot more equal than they once were. IMO
Beilein has done a terrific job, and his last few classes have been better than Izzo's, IMO. I think a couple of his 2014 guys will get a bump in stars too, namely Chatman and Dawkins.
Izzo and Beilein go after different players due to their systems, but they are bound to bump heads on the same guys a fair amount. Beilein's system (and the players he gets to fit that system) probably means he continues to put more guys in the NBA for a while, Izzo is running complicated sets on offense and emphasizing rebounding and defense, things the NBA doesn't really care about. By the time that goes full circle and those things matter again in the NBA Izzo will probably have retired. My $0.02.