Michigan No. 22 in ESPN's Way-too-early MBB Top 25
I can't imagine going through life as angry as you are everyday.
This is the funniest comment you've ever made.
It'll be interesting to see how Deyonta Davis turns out. Jumped after his fresh year and isn't doing anything.
Gary Harris jumped after two and has become a really good player however.
what's smart about Izzo's method isn't that they aren't developed well enough compared to Michigan's players. Izzo doesn't recruit a lot of prototypically sized pro players, actually.
Branden Dawson was a 6'6 PF. Ward even is a little short probably to be a post player in the NBA. Costello, Nix, Paul Davis, and most of his bigs don't have and never had the length and athleticism to be NBA players but had the motor and size and toughness to be really productive college bigs. You could make the argument that he should be teaching his bigs to shoot to help their development, but that's like recruiting a dual threat QB, and trying to make him a better passer to help him get to the NFL even if it's bad for your team.
Drew Neitzel, Travis Trice, Kalin Lucas, almost all of his PGs, were never going to physically (too short, not athletic enough) to be pros, but were good, skilled college players. He purposely finds these guys that are/can be highly effective in college but have warts that NBA scouts won't touch. Beilein doens't turn those guys into pros either.
The few he's had come through that have been prototypically talented and sized - Richardson, Randolph, Harris, Deyonte Davis have done just fine in a short period of time and left and all have been very good pros (jury out on Davis) - as opposed to Beilein players who have admittedly not been good pros...so far. Richardson and Randolph are probably the guys that led him to stop recruiting future pros.
Beilein's brilliance is the exact opposite. He recruits a bit like an NBA team drafts in the second round. He goes for skill and physical potential. Looks for length, youth, pedigree and guys that can shoot and then figures they'll develop the physical tools and learn to be tough and physical (whereas Izzo bigs/wings are basically football players when they step on campus). The Beilein way is a brilliant way to get NBA players that aren't clearly NBA players coming out of high school. They're raw with high ceilings. Izzo gets guys that are far more physically mature with higher floors but typically lower ceilings. The tough part about it, is that we spend a couple years developing raws projects and if/when they take off, they're gone.
Izzo is one of the best at turning 5-star players into 4-year players. It's that type of coaching that gets you into the Hall of Fame.
I don't get either especially because player development has not been one of his strengths during his run at MSU.
Well Izzo would win every year if he wasn't the only coach to have to deal with injuries. He always manages to slide the fact he has some injuries into his comments whenever they lose or underperform.
Psychological abuse, stockholm syndrome, something like that.
Bridges would be foolish to stay.
Just as Wagner/Wilson would be foolish to leave.
Pretty obvious on all 3.
A couple factors for those weighing leaving or staying this year are a) the draft next year should be substantially less loaded and b) the new CBA - from what I've read - will have a large bounce for rookie salaries. So you may lose a year of earning, but you may go higher next year with a substantially higher salary. Then again, injuries, injuries, injuries...
Personally dig any player staying. Just makes the college hoops game better. Mo and DJ seems to like Michigan and it'd be cool for them to stay. Bridges is interesting since he's a legit lottery talent, but seems to love his team and wants to create a legacy. He should go, but props to him if he stays.
I'll be pretty surprised if he stays. Once the emotion of the season wears off, the guys who are projected to go highly almost always do.
Seems to be right.
The bubble was just horrible this year. MSU was incredibly average, but deserved in.
The biggest difference for them next year - if Bridges stays - is they will actually have size. Instead of having the two bigs be a true fresh (Ward) and a preferred walk on (Goins) they'll have Ward, Schilling, Jackson Jr., Tillman, and Goins. They are also recruiting Brandon McCoy still. They'll then be able to use Bridges at SF.
The biggest difference will be that Ward and Winston won't be freshman so Izzo won't require himself to sit them on the bench more than half of every game.
You'll see it next week, right after Bleacher Report releases its slide show of the ten teams it thinks will be sleepers in 2032.
Also, you'll have to give Joe Lunardi a little time to revise the Way Too Early 2051 brackets, since it will be an interplanetary tournament by then.
Duncan Robinson.
I think I'll be more accurate than the article.
ESPN right on top of everything as usual. /s
I know they lose great players but they should still be solid enought to make it to the top 25....
Most NBA draft analysis suggest that this is a very deep draft, and top heavy. Bridges is a top 15 pick, however if he comes back he can be top 5. DJ can also be a first round guy if he comes back and continues to work on his strength and passing is what I have read and heard on nba sites. International players will exceed 10+ this year, along with 8-12 guards just off the top of my head (Fultz, Fox, Smith, Monk, JJackson, Ball, Sumner, Hart, Morris, and Kennard) and 8-12 big men (Tatum, Isaac, Leaf, Markenen, Giles, Lyles, Swanigan, and BAM. Translation = If DJ goes he will regret it, and very likely not be drafted. I expect the entire team back, MAAR going to work very hard on his handle and pg duties in off-season, and our starting 5 will be able to hang with anyone. Rumblings suggest the bigger loss and more likely is actually Wagner returning to Germany to play in pro league next year before entering the draft in 2018.... Don't kill the messanger, go blue!
Morris will be a second round pick. Just doesnt have the outside shot or elite athleticism to go in the 1st round.
Bridges is a top 15 pick, however if he comes back he can be top 5.
It's pretty rare for something like that to actually happen. More likely, his stock won't appreciably change.
That's crazy. He'd go in the second round at worst. I believe those aren't gauranteed contracts so he definitely shouldn't go unless he is promised by a team to be taken in the first round (which is unlikely I believe). But he'd absolutely be drafted if he goes.
Sporting News has the Spartans #5 and M unranked. NW is 25 for them I think.
that walton carried this team on his back and made everything for everyone else go right?
PG play is a big question mark going into next season and all of our great teams under Beilein (Morris, Burke, Stauskus, Walton) had a PG/Point forward we could run the offense through. As of RIGHT NOW, we can't say what that looks like for next year.
just dont know who our most consistent late shot clock guy will be
i would say great teams have 2-3 options, but still need an alpha
Chad Ford now has Wagner in his 1st round in his latest Mock Draft. #25 to the Jazz.
http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/19067767/chad-ford-nba-mock-…
Also has Wilson as "one foot out the door".
http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/18875530/2017-nba-draft-out
Doubt we are Top 25 without those guys.
...we should put a stone tablet in Crisler that says "Beilein can't catch a break."
#Can'tRecruit #FireBei...
It's 2017 and people are still citing Chad Ford. LOL.
come down to point guard play next year. The "X" factor...
That Battle commit was so out of nowhere that it felt shaky from the beginning. I wish we would've kept the full court press on Langford.
with Irvin this year and Matthews next year, I don't see how Langford helps us much. Unless we put him at the 2, but even then, he wouldn't have been an upgrade over MAAR this past year and probably doesn't crack the starting lineup this coming year either. PG is the biggest ? by far for next year.
and we probably shoot up to top 5-8.
Forward D.J. Wilson's game flourished down the stretch to the point that the NBA seems like a foregone conclusion, and that's a heavy blow, at least relative to the opportunity cost of a fully realized Wilson back on a college floor for one more season.
Since when?
Even after the draft decisions, check out last year's--including us not even getting honorable mention, Duke #1, UVa #5, and Sparty #10.
have us as honorable mention coming into this year.
Derrick Walton turned into a completely different, incredible player halfway through the year, and DJ Wilson went from benchwarmer to NBA first rounder and we still spent almost no time in the top 25 (even though we were a top 10-15 team for the second half of the season). We also finally, and fortunately, had no problems with injuries. Other than a stretch in which opponents couldn't miss three pointers, this season probably exceeded even the most optimisic observers best-case scenarios.