Cassius Winston wins Michigan Mr. Basketball; Austin Davis second
Cassius Winston, the one-time Michigan recruit and current MSU pledge, took home the Michigan Mr. Basketball award today with 4,286 of the voting points. Austin Davis, the Michigan commit from Onsted, came in second with 2,829 point. Spenser Littleson, a Duquesne commit from Rochester Adams, came in third with 1,640 points. Corey Allen from the beautiful city of Ypsilanti came in third with 1,597 points, and Kamari Newman from East English Village came in fifth with 1,024 points. Allen will head to UD Mercy and Newman is heading to George Mason.
Seems like a bit of a down year for basketball talent in the state, although probably worth taking into consideration the fact that a lot of the best players these days are heading to out-of-state prep schools for their final year or two (Josh Jackson, Miles Bridges, Brian Bowen, etc).
sigh
Wouldn't worry too much. X is of equal caliber. Some like him more than Winston and some less, but the two will be a great matchup to watch in the future.
Xavier will be better than Cassius. I think Tejon Lucas (illinois commit and one time Michigan recruit) could be better, too, depending on how he recovers from his injury. Winston is just a little more college ready right now than those two due to size.
He is the one, when it looked like we led, that i would not have cared an extreme amount if he went somewhere else.
He reminds me more of a better version of Carlton Brundidge (who was rated higher than Burke the entire 2 years while we recruited both) and i kept saying that ranking should flip flop.
Those who trash Walton - well IMO Winston is a mix between both Walton and Brundidge.
X is definitely the better recruit IMO.
Now, the other recruits MSU landed - Grrrrrr/Uggggh. Very high on them.
When Izzo made his comment about doing "what it takes to recruit in this era" after his blowout loss to Duke last year, I knew it meant we would be "looking up" at yet another dirty school. That is why he was able to get commitments from two 4-stars and two 5-stars in the subsequent months.
Those who complain about Beilein's recruiting should be thanking the heavens that he was able to get a recruit like X and a class like the one coming in while maintaining a clean program.
As for the kids who take the money: I can't really blame them. If you want to see Michigan get better recruits, cheer for the NCAA to stop pretending players who bring in over $1 billion a year are "amateurs."
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He actually probably would have come to Michigan, but after we accepted X's commitment, he wasn't going to come since they play the same position. Cassius' parents even said that he would have flourished and had a better career at Michigan since he fit the system better. There was one point where he and his parents didn't feel like they were getting recruited as hard as by other schools because Beliein expected him to want to come to Michigan and that was a bit of a turnoff for them.
He could have commited if that was the case. He didn't, X did. Time will tell who is better.
My apologies
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I'm just passing what I've been told pretty much directly from his parents (a guy I play ball with has been a close family friend for many years and also coaching Cassius for a little while too). I'm not saying that he wasn't recruited hard either, just that there was a duration of time during his recruitiment where that was the feeling he and his family had comparing the type of contact and conversations they were having with our staff vs. other schools.
He didn't and Beilein learned his lesson and accepted the commitment of X. Cassius made his bed and now he has to sleep in it as Marcus Taylor 2.0.
I agree it all comes back to the Battle recruitment and what happened there. Basketball recruiting is always a path of falling dominos because of the numbers crunch and it all becomes a "what if?" game at some point. Just giving some internal perspective from people actually close to the situation.
They get mostly 2 and 3 star kids, but they know how to develop and coach them up!
March 22nd, 2016 at 12:21 AM ^
with chips on their shoulders? Do they feel disrespekted?
They didn't slap the floor nearly as well as the MSU commits. But it worked out.
I find it fecking hilarious but completely agree with your notion that Beilein wouln't recruit anyone on MId Tenn State ???? Amazing when you really think about it, after that team thrashed your RIVAL with a schoolyard PUNKING. Just like your rival did to you a month before yet we all know after watching the BLUE RAIDERS smash SPARTY that Beilein was watching and scratching his head in utter bewilderment!!!
This is the problem with Michigan hoops and the program for over 20 yrs, we do not have an IDENTITY. At least Sparty n IZZO will damn well sure be back in the drawing room trying to figure out the problem and adapt a plan next year!!!!
Beilein doesn't know how to adapt because he's all about his "process" that mad genuis! who check his career stats HASN'T WON SHIT and has a piss poor record for the NCAA's given his lengthy career, Yet we at Michigan are supposed to feel LUCKY to have him and feel so grateful he has brought us back ????
I for one HATED the Beilein hire because I actually follow college hoop, I knew he was a "middling milk toast " coach who had just found his DREAM job.....Almost carbon copy of Brady Joke who said he'd walk here to coach. we are and have become a "middling" basketball program. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR (actually Beilein & Joke were OVERPAID quite well for the services rendered)
but the way you said them sounds childish
There's no point to that rant except that he knows better
And thus, Cassius (who I would have loved to see in A2), will go to the strip mall known as East Lansing where he can continue to the path of the many point guards Tom Izzo has developed there. I've attached a list of the same.
Onsted is a school and a community that I don't think you see on these lists very often, I will say that at least. That being said, congratulations to these kids for being the best of the best in basketball in Michigan.
Don't count Lenawee County out when it comes to sports - after all, Honus Wagner played for the Adrian Demons for a few weeks anyway, and Mike Marshall - the former Dodgers pitcher - is a native of Adrian as well. Former Wolverine fullback Bob Westfall is from nearby too, I believe.
but moved to Ann Arbor as a child. However, after he retired from pro football, he founded a company in Adrian in 1953 that my dad has worked at since 1987. Thank you Bob!
I would add his son, Harvey, was a very good guy as well, and retired from running the day to day aspects of the company about 11 years ago. Great family.
Also - Kellen Davis and Steven Threet went to Adrian High.
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Congratulations are in order for all of them.
Regarding Winston not coming to Michigan, I'm not a coach, but I trust that they are happy with Xavier. Interestingly, Michigan took the top two basketball players from Ohio (Xavier and Teske). You win some and lose some.
As for MSU and Izzo, I don't like the team, and want to beat them all the time. But I can't bring myself to hate Izzo. Yes, the loss to Middle Tennessee was horrendous, their "Appy State," so to speak. You can mock them. But imhe, Izzo was very gracious afterwards, and was clearly in his kid's corner. I dislike Calipari and Pitino and Coach K and Huggins and Bo Ryan and Boeheim and Tom Crean a lot more, although each for different reasons.
I'm still not sure he's going to fit what Beilein likes to do all that well, but I'm really impressed with the way he's changed his body over the last year. He looks like a different guy than the one who committed to Michigan.
I like Simpson a lot, but the obvious problem with giving up on Winston was that him picking MSU ended up giving them Bridges as well. Things almost could not have gone worse for Michigan this recruiting cycle.
Davis will be the next Kevin Pittsnogle, but I have seen him play and am convinced his near 80% free throw percentage reflects he can knock down jumpers at the next level.
that is what they said about Donnal!
Used t play in the same AAU program as Littleson. I don't now how he makes a list like this but good for him.
There would have been a rip in the space-time continuum if we had players named Cassius and MAAR on the roster simultaneously. The universe really dodged a bullet when Winston chose Staee.
could suit up for the men's team next season? Having Miss Michigan's Miss Basketball playing alongside X-Man would give us quite a scoring punch. Plus, she's a lot easier on the eyes than anyone on the current roster not named Mark Donnal.
I'm sure he's a great kid but I'd rather see Wagner or Kyrse any day.
Seems like UM and others are taking most of Ohio's good recruits. OSU was a joy to watch this year as they often played with no heart or brains. Their two 2016 recruits wont offer immediate help for next year. Based on the big recruiting and winning success they had up until recently I am surprised how average Thad and Co. have become.
I agree that is a down year for Michigan talent. Best players are playing out of state and the general high school population playing basketball is decreasing in basketball and football.
Gotta suck that Thad has lost the 3 top talents in Ohio and they are all going to Michigan schools.
Davis improved so much, is there any film of him playing in his Senior year?
Surprised Neely out of Detroit Western didn't get more love. Unless Im off a year and he graduated last year? I remember him last year being a big part of Western's state title run.
What is sad for me at least is the lack of talent in the Saginaw/Flint area. Once Tugs Bowen left the area we have taken a huge step down in talent.