Michigan Basketball Commitment today?

Submitted by bouje on
From Dylan @umhoops (via twitter) "Stay on high alert for a Michigan basketball commitment very shortly. Should be today, maybe tomorrow." Who is it? My money is on Sykes.

UMICH1606

May 11th, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^

My guess is Christian. Too many odd vibes from the Sykes camp after he received his offer. He was hyped about the possibility, and as soon as he got it has all sorts of questions and reservations about the program ( At least based on what Sam has been saying) It was almost like he was hoping a UM offer would springboard his recruitment.

I guess either way, I was hoping it could get banked for next year to go after a wing with more upside, and a big man, or two big men depending on how our current big men pan out this year.

Raoul

May 11th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^

Must be Colton Christian. Just did a Google seach for "Colton Christian" under Blogs and the first item is from UMHoops and says: "Tulane decommitment Colton Christian committed to Michigan last night after making an official visit to Ann Arbor over the weekend."

The link doesn't work, so maybe it was posted prematurely in error.

spacemanspiff231

May 11th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^

Shawn Conway not having any offers and this kid.  This is well after signing day and Colton Christian has had TONS of time to get offers.  Shawn Conway committed extremely early on in the process without even having finished his junior year of high school.  The lack of scholarships for Conway is explainable for being talented.  The lack of scholarships for Christian can only be explained by lack of talent or every coach that has received video on him somehow completely misjudging his talent, leaving Beilein as the only coach that somehow sees what no one else could.

Brick

May 11th, 2010 at 1:03 PM ^

Actually it is a bit similar to Conway. He commited fairly early and kids don't tend to pick up offers after they commit. He recently reopened his recruiting and picked up two quick offers from Cal and Penn State. Both are a step up from Tulane. At least watch some of the video on the kid before you write him off. Every time a shot goes up, you see his head near the rim and he's looking for a rebound. We kind of need that on our team.

johnvand

May 11th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^

With our hoops system, I think it's less about what other schools are recruiting the kid, and how he fits the system.

He's a 6-7 forward who is long and can hopefully cause havok in the 1-3-1.   He also has impressive rebounding numbers.  He also spent a year in prep school, so he's one year older than your typical incoming freshman.  Hopefully that translates to an ability to step in and contribute some minutes right away.  Something we desperately need this season.

Trepps

May 11th, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^

and he couldn't get 1 minute of floor time on a team starving for big men.  So I will employ my usual skepticism for unheralded recruits with zero major offers in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised down the road.  If it were me I would have banked the scholarship in the hoops of better things in 2011, but what do I know? 

wishitwas97

May 11th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^

a definite redshirt long before the season started.  He is way too skinny to be able to play the 4 position.  Next season, he'll probably start or come off the bench at the 4 position.

Jordan Morgan is probably more ready to play right away because of his bulk, but his injury has robbed him from playing in his freshman year(probably for the best IMO).



Michigan will have Morgan, McLimans, Smotrycz and Horford.  Horford is likely a redshirt due to his bulk.  Novak will have to play the 4 sometimes to help out the front court depth, and I can see Novak move to the 3 occassionaly.

Tater

May 11th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

Due to Christian being 6-7 and McLimans being 6-11 or whatever, it does not follow that Christian will struggle as McLimans did.  Often, bigs struggle to grow into their bodies, while the two and three types don't have nearly as much of a problem. 

Kids who are "bigs" in HS often score solely on the "merit" of their size; those closer to the Bell Curve have to work a lot harder for their points, and have a tendency to be much closer to "finished products" when they get to college.

At any rate, I am willing to trust JB to get the right people to fit his system.  Whoever it is, my operative phrase will be, "welcome aboard." 

Trepps

May 11th, 2010 at 11:33 AM ^

means that Conway will follow the same path at UM. 

My only point was that the same arguments for why McLimans might outperform his lackluster ratings and play right away (i.e. good system fit, played a year or prep school, long player, etc.) were all invalidated when he actually got to campus so I will take the same arguments about Conway with a grain of salt.  Sure the kid could surprise and play early and often but his low rating and scant interest from other programs suggests not. 

victors2000

May 11th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^

Once I was sick and on Day-Quil-or a generic, or something close to it- and I e-mailed a reply to  a gal pal of mine- who is a bit on the trashy side and writes like it- but I sent it to the wrong girl. In the immortal words of Brady Quinn, 'F&%* me!'. That sucked; things between girl 2 and I haven't been the same since.

Smitty D

May 11th, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^

I hope he is a diamond in the rough and John B can polish him up baby..... but yeah Tulane Sacred Heart after a year of Prep School. I have also read he has offers from Penn St. and Cal but we will see

Shalom Lansky

May 11th, 2010 at 10:52 AM ^

I get excited whenever I hear Tulane's name mentioned in the sporting world, even if it be for a decommit, after all if you're a decommit you had to commit in the first place, and for Tulane to land any kind of commit, well, wow. 

CincyBlue

May 11th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^

I guess he signed with Tulane and must of backed out due to a coaching change or something.  Here is a link with his stats.  The story is from Nov. 17th so maybe many schools backed off after he signed.  Got to love his former HS nickname.

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/sports/70302847.html

 

Colton Christian, a 6-foot-7 former Bellevue Wolverines basketball player, has signed with Tulane University as part of its class of 2010-2011.

Christian, who averaged 16.2 points and 10.4 rebounds last season, helped Bellevue to a 26-3 record and a third place finish in Class 3A.

2014

May 11th, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^

Colten Christian is close enough to Cullen Christian that I'm sold on this kid. That's the kind of logic only a Michigan education can buy...

Raoul

May 11th, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^

Assuming it's Christian, does that do it for this class and Beilein pulls Sykes's offer?

I have to think that's the case because otherwise Beilein is left without any scholarships for 2011 (other than the one going to Brundidge).

MGlobules

May 11th, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^

that will open up Beilein's offense. He can rebound and he's tall, not a bad ball-handler. He's had an extra year to add muscle. Solid add.

Zone Read Left

May 11th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

The fact that he committed so early to Tulane made other teams back off him and the recruiting sites ignore him, hence the lack of offers/ratings. Beilein is good friends with the Hargrave coach, so I bet he told Beilein that this kid is a sleeper.

Maize and Blue…

May 11th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

We seem to be in on some extremely talent bigs next year (Amir, Plumlee).  While I know there is no guarantee they end up at Michigan I would have rather taken that chance.  That said, welcome Mr. Christian I hope you succeed on the court for the Maize and Blue.

Sam Webb has been saying lately that he would have pulled the offer to Sykes because he thought that he was using the M offer as leverage towards other programs.  His safety net is now gone.  I guess being the first offer from a local school that could offer immediate playing time wasn't good enough for Mr. Sykes.

UMfan21

May 11th, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^

I wasn't too excited to wake up and hear this news.  But I went to umhoops.com and viewed the video that Dylan posted, and well...Christian looks to be a serviceable big man.  We could have really used him last year.

Will he be a replacement to DeShawn (approximately the same size)?  No.  But he looks plenty athletic.  I would have preferred a star player over a role player, but let's face it, we need size.  Now we've got 5 new guys over 6'7 (incoming or redshirted).

Nieme08

May 11th, 2010 at 1:09 PM ^

The scholarship breakdown is pretty terrifying for next year. 3 juniors 2 sophomores and 6(!) freshman.  Let's pray that a couple of the freshman are the real deal or it might be a long season. That being said, I have faith.