MBB Recruiting: 5* G Tyus Battle to officially visit this Thursday
Tyus Battle, who is clearly #1 on Michigan's board at the 2-guard spot, will use his 4th official visit to come to Ann Arbor this Thursday.
His Crystal Ball is 82% Duke and 18% Syracuse at this point, so I think it's clear that he'll be headed to Ann Arbor for the fall of 2016.
I let myself get way too excited because of Jaylen Brown's balls. I'm never looking at the balls ever again.
those crystal balls are worthless, especially when it came to Jaylen Brown's crystal ball.
I've still got a little bit of a Jaylen Brown hangover, not sure I can handle many more drawn-out five star recruitments at my age. I'm just too old for this...
This one shouldn't be drawn out. I think his dad wants him to make a decision pretty soon after his official visits are done, which would mean some time in June or July.
...I'm not going to pay attention. Basketball recruiting is just not worth my time now.
but having a parent influencing the decision/timeline has been known to cause its own issues. I feel like the 'so-and-so's mom/dad loves Michigan' thing never works out for us, but hey what the hell... if he's visiting we've got a chance.
Thanks for the update. It will be good for Duke or Kentucky to have their class more finalized by July.
so... blue balls are bad, yes?
His Crystal Ball is 82% Duke and 18% Syracuse at this point, so I think it's clear that he'll be headed to Ann Arbor for the fall of 2016.
...or Hofstra....maybe Austin Peay, the way the Crystal Ball seems to work.
In all seriousness though, that's quite the offer sheet - in addition to Duke, Louisvulle, Syracuse, Connecticut and us, Kentucky, Arizona, Virginia and Villanova just to mention a few (full ist HERE). In the Big Ten, Ohio State, Maryland, Indiana and Rutgers also offered.
Obligatory....
Jaylen Brown was a unique situation. He literally said nothing during his recruitment except to refute that he had eliminated schools (which it turned out he probably had eliminated).
I was cautiously optimistic about Brown BECAUSE he was so quiet. Obviously my confidence was misplaced, but I don't see him as a reflection on the CBs. They can be useful.
I know he didn't say much publicly, but there was a report weeks before his final decision that said Michigan and Cal were his top (or final or whatever) 2... and in the end, we know for sure Cal was in the top 2, so someone was getting information.
i wasn't very optimistic until the williams kid cancelled his visit a day after setting it. i figured something was in the air and headed to UM. not to be though.
he's Blue.
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Even this guy said to not hold breath.
They are a useless gimmick that 247 uses. I never want to hear Player X is currently 75% to team Y.
After witnessing Jaylen Brown's "trend" towards UM, I think these guys who do the Crystal Balls often base their predictions on what their fellow prognosticators do rather than on "insider" info.
but that's also often true for 'insider' information.
The kids who don't talk are particularly likely to create an echo-chamber effect for recruiting info.
I actually find them useful as they tend to be more up to date than the favorite, warm, cool listings that the recruiting sites use themselves. They will never be 100% accurate but it gives a decent sense of where a recruit is looking and what teams are in the running. Even the best recruiting reporters aren't 100% right on where they think kids will go.
seriously tho, i can't follow hoops recruiting anymore. most guys we get have never even been discussed on this site...
I'm still a bit surprised that we haven't won a couple of these battles. Doesn't it seem like we are always a close second to these 4* and 5* types? I wonder if there is a certain type of player that just doesn't want the "golly gee, shucks" type of coach that JB sometimes comes of as. Some kids want the edgy/hip/flashy type of coach and/or program. That, we are not, nor should be. Just a thought.
But, my belief has always been that a lot of other coaches (fill in the familiar names) will tell these kids basically anything that it takes to get them to sign up. That includes making unreasonable promises and telling them how great they are. I'm 99.9% sure Beilein won't do that. He's a straight shooter who will always be fair and even with everyone on the team no matter who they are.
Our watch begins.
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Towns ain't coming here unless there's attrition at the 3 or 4 spot. We have two, maybe three scholarships left to give for 2016. One of those is guaranteed to be a PG, one is guaranteed to be a 2-guard, and the third, if it materializes, will probably go to someone who can play the 2 or the 3 (Towns can't play the 2).
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Time to move on. He doesn't fit what we need in any event which is ball handling and quickness on the perimiter.
Feel free to disagree, but Brendan Quinn just wrote an article for MLive that said the coaches contacted Towns and told him they were basically going to stop recruiting him for now since we're full at his position.
with what is the best-case reasonably-feasible scenario too!
Supposedly Towns is no longer being recruited, but any scenario where we get Winston and a top 100 recruit to go with him is a MASSIVE success for Michigan relative to the struggles of '14 and '15 recruiting.
http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2015/05/report_2016_…
Just call me a crystal ball because I have no idea if that means anything.
That's one option. The other is to take these things FWIW and with the appropriate uncertainty, skepticism, etc.
Michigan needs to get an elite talent to make it back to the Final 4. Battle's one of our best bets. If some of the ballz turn (maize and) blue after his visit, I'll consider that a positive development, but not earthshattering. If they don't, I'll consider Battle a (very) long-shot.
we just aren't going to get 5 star kids unless they commit early before they blow up (GRIII), or there are a ton of existing connections (McGary).
We probably would be better served going back to finding the top 100 guys with big upside and hope they produce early (like Burke and Nik) or they stay for 3-4 years and develop over time.
have the detroit area produce more top 50 kids; like they used to pre-2000.
the state just doesn't produce enough elite talents to support both us and Sparty.
Because it's dumb.
Michigan will lose more than it will win with these guys but that's the nature of the game. They've come close on several and landed one under Beilein. Beilein will keep trying, rightfully so.
I wish I wasn't feeling so negative about MBB recruiting, but there it is.
I think we really should Battle for this guy...!
Brandon Ingram committed to Duke. Ingram is supposedly tight with Battle. Duke will need a SG next year. Duke will land Battle. Unless Battle is oneanddone. And that likely makes no difference because, you know, Duke will need a SG. Hope I'm wrong, but it seems pretty simple at this point.
top ranked kids commit to Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. Jaylen Brown was the outlier who chose to go to some other school - unfortunately not us. So discouraging to see him choose Cuonzo Martin over John Beilein. Yes, I realize there were other factors. But if I were a top recruit trying to pick a school, it seems the track record, experience, and skill of the head coach would be a huge factor.