Cassius Winston Drops Michigan
Michigan's recruitment of 2016 four-star MI PG Cassius Winston appears to be over after a few recent, surprising developments. News came out earlier this week that Winston planned to push his official visit, originally set for September 19th, back a week; then a report from MLive's Brendan Quinn threw the entire visit into doubt. Winston confirmed this morning that he's no longer considering Michigan:
My list of schools is now down to 3. Msu, Pitt, and Stanford (no order). Umich no longer an option
— Cassius Winston (@cassiuswinston) September 9, 2015
I'll have more on this in tomorrow's recruiting roundup as the fallout becomes more clear. It sounds like Michigan's staff got uneasy when Winston tried to push back his visit; they need a point guard in this class and couldn't afford to wait on Winston and then miss.
Top targets going forward should be New Jersey four-star Bryce Aiken and Wisconsin three-star Te'Jon Lucas. Lavell Jordan is already in Milwaukee watching Lucas today.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
I think the staff is moving on because they have someone ready to commit. Otherwise it would make no sense moving on just for the sake of moving on. They have spent almost 4 years recruiting the kid.
September 9th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
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September 9th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^
Beilein and co. should've used the NCG and E8 run to springboard their recruiting. Instead it's taken a nosedive and we seem to be missing out on all of our top targets. Sure Beilein will probably get a decent player as a fallback but said player was a fallback for a reason.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
It is slightly odd that recruiting was on an uptick before the national title game appearance but has since dropped off. As much as I love MAAR and Dawkins and Doyle, Michigan should not be recruiting against mid major programs as frequently as they are. I think we all would love to see JB do more with more ala 2013, not more with less as is the case now.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
Slightly odd? It is inconceivable. I hope Ace's tone tomorrow reflects the frustration it is now rational for everyone to feel. Seems like him and Brian have been big on the "everything's fine" wagon re basketball recruiting. It's not fine. Something is deeply weird here the last couple years.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
I was trying to choose my words carefully and not come across negative. But you're right, I've never seen a team have so much on the court success with literally the opposite correlation off it. Hopefully the staff adjusts some things going forward.
September 9th, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^
And you'll say what when Xavier Simpson commits and it turns out that we dropped Cassius?
[EDIT* And...now that he's committed? What say you, caller of childish names?]
September 9th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
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September 9th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
Sure, Lucas will probably turn into a good college player (if we get him, which is no guarantee anymore). But Beilein could've very well turned Winston into a great college player. There's a reason that Lucas doesn't have the offer sheet and credentials that Winston has. Doesn't mean he won't be good, but we've all seen what Beilein did with the likes of Mcgary, Stauskas, Robinson, Walton, Irvin. Even Burke was a top 100 player on certain sites, so he wasn't the complete diamond in the rough that people make him out to be. He did a hell of a lot better with those guys than he did with the likes of Douglass and Novak.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
Why do you think Winston would be a great college PG, but Lucas wouldn't? There are plenty of people who think Winston is overated. Again, he's not a can't miss, program-changing recruit. I'm assuming you don't know much about Lucas' or Winston's game. If Lucas gets a rankings bump (which is very possible), then could Beilein turn him into a great college PG?
Lucas, Aiken, or whoever else we get as the PG commit - they're all already ranked higher than Novak and Douglass ever were. Aiken, in fact, is already about where Burke was coming in. They're a completely different level of prospect than both of those guys. There's no reason to think that Lucas or Aiken can't be developed into better college PGs than Winston.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:53 PM ^
Lucas very well may turn into a great college player. But to me, the highly rated guy with interest from several big time schools seems like more of an impact player than the lowly rated guy with interest from Michigan and then a bunch of mid majors. I trust that guys like Izzo see something in Winston that they like and think can help improve their program. Hell, I bet Beilein saw that, and that's why he spent so much time and energy into recruiting Winston (until just recently apparently). Meanwhile, it seems like Lucas is a fallback option. And he may turn out to be great, but I'd place my bets on Winston being the better player.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
I wouldn't. I think they're both good prospects, and whichever one ended up at Michigan with Beilein would develop into the better player. If we land Simpson today, is he ranked high enough to become a great college PG? Or would you only not be bummed if it was someone ranked even higher?
September 9th, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^
If we land Simpson today, is he ranked high enough to be able to become a great college PG?
September 9th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
The core of that NCG and E8 runs were built on the back of guys Beilein either snatched early or were fallbacks; Burke is the prime example, but guys like GRIII, Hardaway, and Stauskas weren't huge recruit when Beilein went after them, and if memory serves me right, UM missed out on a fair number of recruits along the way that led to them coming to UM.
And basketball recruiting is different than in football in lots of ways, chief among them the outsized power and influence the AAU and sponsors have on where kids go. Cal pulled in a monster 2015 class and haven't had anything remotely close to the success other programs have had. UM will be fine and should get a fair number of top players, even if they do miss out on guys occassionally.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^
So you think that's gonna happen again?
September 9th, 2015 at 2:15 PM ^
September 9th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
It's time to give up on whatever recruiting boost that was/ that should have been.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^
I have a feeling last years struggles were exceedingly poorly timed to make a good push on the 2016 recruits and made it really easy to negative recruit against the program. The boost would have been nice, but for it to really have been a thing, last year needed to not go so poorly.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:36 PM ^
Funny how struggles after a bad year are written off as due to the most recent season. Underwhelming returns two years ago were excused because the most recent season is supposedly not very relevant in basketball recruiting. So ... which is it?
September 9th, 2015 at 2:34 PM ^
Both.
The point is that basketball recruiting is a long game and so if you're digging out of the hole Michigan was in, you have to be able to get in on the ground floor and start those relationships early(which is why the previous year is not that relevant to recruiting) and you have to prove consistent success(which is why last year is a problem).
Basketball recruiting is also pretty hgih variance in that you're not going to get that many players in a given class and so while there will always be successes, there will also be many many failures without the sheer of number of successes you see in, say, football recruiting to balance out the despair.
Personally I think Ibi Watson, Austin Davis and Jon Teschke are nice players who will do well here and I think the staff will find a point guard to round the class out. Recruiting like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, and sadly, MSU and OSU takes time and we're almost there, but we're still going to lose out on more players than we get in.
September 9th, 2015 at 9:59 PM ^
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September 9th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
*Lavall* not Lavell
September 9th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
Apparently we've opened things up again. . . to Xavier Simpson (OH). According to a Champaign paper:
Michigan reportedly is making a late push [for Simpson] after another coveted point guard, Cassius Winston, dropped the Wolverines.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
ESPN 100 Xavier Simpson makes his college decision this afternoon. Some twists and turns over the last 24 hours...
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) September 9, 2015
September 9th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^
Michigan PGs = OSU Qbs (I'm sorry...)
Based on our recent history, I have faith that whoever we plug into the system will be just fine. Morris, Trey, Spike, Walton (in his short, and injury plagued sample size) have all shown the ability to flourish. If they're good enough to merit a scholarship, I will slowly nod my head, and grab my chin in patient anticipation.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
Except Ohio State lost two quarterbacks and went on to win the national championship and our two PGs got hurt we couldn't make it to the NIT.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
Exactly. OSU actually had a player recruited to play quarterback and they still won the title. We did not have the luxury of depth at that position, and the offense went stagnant.
Perhaps I should rephrase: like the QB is the focal point that makes OSU's offensive engine go, so does the PG for Michigan basketball.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^
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September 9th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
Another basketball recruiting disaster. At least this time the coaches reacted and will be able to salvage something. The Battle/Lagford situation this past year was an absolute mess.
P.S. So much for CW's interest in academics.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
Xavier Simpson announced his final four on Monday, but unlisted Michigan has made a late push over the last days and could be the favorite.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) September 9, 2015
September 9th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
I wonder if it'd be possible to make the case to High School students based on $$$ alone.
- The average Beilen player with your recruiting profile ends up getting drafted XX and earning YYY during his NBA career. Compare to Izzo.
- The average UM grad makes XXX during a non-basketball career. This compares to YY for MSU.
Then basically make the case. My guess is with any reasonable math it would come out to $1M+ in lost career earnings based on picking MSU over UM.
September 9th, 2015 at 1:41 PM ^
I get what you're saying, but I think it's pretty short sighted to assume that these high school kids are making their decision on $$$ alone. Also, I'm not sure your math is correct. We would probably not win the first point (Draymond Green makes 14 mil and Zach Randolph 9.6 mil this season), and the second one would be probably be pretty close.
September 9th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
Winston will probably end up being the next Carlton Brundidge anyways.
September 9th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
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September 9th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
September 9th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
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