5* Josh Langford to MSU

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

Great get for MSU. Think Gary Harris but a much better athlete. What a huge blow to Michigan.

THANKS A LOT TYUS

ypsituckyboy

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

Yeah. Hard to get excited about that in light of recent events. Langford is an incredible talent.

I try not to get emotionally invested in recruiting, but this Tyus Battle think is incredibly irksome. He totally screwed over the Michigan coaches and basically made them squander 3 or 4 years of hard work. Tool move.

winterblue75

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^

No, he's specifically talking about the Tyus Battle recruitment, no other Michigan b-ball recruiting issues. Bielien is probably the most up and up recruiter there is in college basketball, this is 100% on Battle. He basically committed so that Langford wouldn't take his spot, then decides that he needs to look around. That is not on UM or Bielien.

Ronnie Kaye

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^

I'm speaking to a larger culture here of rationalizing everything with everyone else is dirty and we're screwed for being clean. Beilein is the most up and up recruiter in college basketball? How could you possibly be in the seat to make that call?

For a certain, large block of people, NOTHING is ever on Beilein or UM with these recruiting frustrations. Not speaking to this situation only.

Ronnie Kaye

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^

Just speaking for myself, but I wouldn't spend any type of real time in a comment community if rational thought wasn't requisite. If the attitude was "it's just sports," it wouldn't really be worth an effort.

You might be right about it being a select few who like to bitch on this a lot. Haven't really paid attention to many individuals and their patterns.

bronxblue

June 22nd, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

Well, most of that "large block of people" exist for every fanbase, and most of them are the type of front-runners that they already have their MSU hats ready to put on if MSU turns into a monster this year.

A couple people complain because in this situation it sure seems like a recruit took a spot but wasn't ever fully committed to stick with it, and it probably cost Michigan a chance at another recruit.  I'm not saying Battle did anything wrong; he's supposed to look out for himself, and so I don't blame him for wanting to make sure he had a good place to go.  But it has been recognized for years that Beilein runs about as clean a program as possible, and he was selected to head the ethics committee for the NCAA.  Recruiting is naturally a murky part of the job, but all evidence points to Beilein doing a pretty good job keeping it clean (just like Izzo, it seems).

Erik_in_Dayton

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^

...possibly punch us in the gut any more?  John Beilein would have no luck at all if he didn't have bad luck. 

I think we now have to assume the following:

Cassius Winston will commit to Michigan but switch to MSU at the very end of the 2016 recruiting period.

Teske will switch to OSU at the very end of the 2016 recruiting period.

Davis will decide he wants to be a Gregorian monk at the very end of the 2016 recruiting period and give up basketball. 

MLaw06

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

Negged for "THANKS A LOT TYUS".

Honestly, if Langford wanted to commit to us, he had many months to do so and he never did.  That's not Tyus' fault.  All of this negativity towards Tyus is ridiculous.  A lot of the Michigan so-called "fan pages" have also been spewing out a lot of "I don't even want him back" messages that just sound like ridiculous butt-hurt fans. 

That's the type of behavior I expect from MSU fans, not Michigan fans.  Grow up.

MLaw06

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^

We offered Langford more than a year ago.  Beilein visited him many times in person to push him to commit, but Langford never did.  He gave a million interviews saying everything feels perfect at Michigan, but he never committed.  Then after holding the offer for nearly a year, his reason for not committing is because Battle took his spot.

Well, what can I say, that sounds like he wasn't planning to commit anyway and he was holding out for something different or better. 

ypsituckyboy

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^

Basketball coaches recruit these kids for years. Beilein and Co have spent a ridiculous number of hours calling these kids, visiting them, etc, etc. Battle jumping on a scholarship and then backing out at a terribly inopportune time is his fault. Before Battle committed, Langford was closing in on a decision and had even made comments to that effect. So, yes, I do think it's fair to say Tyus totally screwed the Michigan coaches over.

MLaw06

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^

It's wishful thinking to say that Langford was closing in on his decision when our coaches pushed him numerous times to make a decision.  Obviously, the coaches got the feeling he wasn't planning on committing or else they wouldn't have taken the Battle commit if they knew Langford was on the cusp of making the call. 

I'm saying that it's a total cop-out to put the blame on Battle.  If Langford wanted the spot, he would have taken it.  You can't sit on an offer for a year and expect that the coaches aren't going to offer someone else.  Especially, in the case of Michigan basketball, where the offers go out late already. 

ypsituckyboy

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^

It's not "wishful thinking". Basketball prospects tend to start making decisions during the summer before their senior year. If anything, a top-25 guy committing now is a bit early in the basketball world.

Also, you're entirely wrong about the coaches thought process. It was pretty clearly an "either" situation with Battle and Langford since we didn't have the scholarship numbers. They were happy to take the first to commit since both are similarly elite talents.

As far as sitting on the offer, see above. You clearly aren't familiar with how timelines work for the top guys. You have to be willing to wait to land elite guys. Most of them don't decide until the late signing period because they need to see what NBA decisions are, what attrition there is, transfers, etc.

MLaw06

June 22nd, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^

Or you don't know how timelines work.  For a guy in his class, NBA decisions, attrition and transfers wouldn't be decided until next spring.  Using your logic, Langford would wait for the regular signing period in April of next year

All I'm saying is that Langford had every opportunity in the world to commit to Michigan (including this past weekend).  He didn't. 

Sometimes that's how the chips fall, but don't put the blame on Battle. 

Who knows... Battle might get back in the fold and this will all be moot anyway. 

Mr Miggle

June 22nd, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^

I don't think there's any reason to think they would have turned down either one that was willing to commit first. Beilein held off on offering anyone else, stopped recruiting Towns. It's was pretty clear to everyone involved that he was holding one spot for Langford or Battle and Battle was considered a longshot to take it.

Not saying that Langford was 100% to come if Battle didn't commit. But there was specualtion that he was deciding soon. By most accounts, we were his favorite and by the way, he did announce soon after.

ldd10

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

MSU has four open schollies with Ward and Langford committed.  If they land Bridges and Winston that would be one heck of a class.

Jack Daniels

June 22nd, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^

Well, ypsituckyboy is correct. Part of the Battle's line of thinking in committing so suddenly to Michigan was that they were afraid Langford would take that spot. I can't blame them for being smart, but it is very disheartening to lose out on both prospects.



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BigBlue02

June 22nd, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^

You do realize you are the only one in this thread saying anything about dirty recruiting or bagmen, right? It is pretty entertaining for you to start bitching about the board, then when no one does what you are botching about, you just start mentioning it again in hopes someone complains about bagmen so you can bitch about it. Ah the circle of life. Also, fuck off.