lorenzo cason

After attacking the portal with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, Dusty May landed his second HS commitment when Lorenzo Cason signed with the Wolverines a few weeks back. 

GURU RANKINGS

On3 is the most bullish on Cason, slotting him just outside their top 150 prospects. 247 places Lorenzo just outside the top 250, and Rivals/ESPN have him firmly in "who-dat" territory. There is relative consensus in terms of size, as all services agree on 190 pounds at 6'2-6'3.

I have no basis for ranking any individual in the 2024 class, as I haven't seen enough of those prospects to have an informed opinion. But from a holistic perspective across years, I'd likely split the difference between On3 and 247. After evaluating multiple full games, I lean toward a Mid-Major/Mid-Major Plus grade. 

SCOUTING

Though I have sifted through full-game film, I have not evaluated Lorenzo Cason live. As someone that has scouted professionally for years, multiple live viewings always generate the most informed evals, so caveats apply and my word is certainly not gospel here. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

Playmaking/shot-creation for others is Cason's best facet in my opinion. He consistently identifies defensive coverages and takes advantage of the associated vulnerabilities. That is rare for a HS guard. 

In the clip below, Windermere Prep is consistently pre-rotating their weakside guard to take away the roll-man. Lorenzo sniffs that out with ease and repeatedly exploits the pre-rotation by finding the weakside teammate that has been vacated by the defense.  

And he manipulates drop coverage to optimize passing windows to create easy looks for teammates. In the clip below, Cason puts the opposing guard in jail (IE on his hip/backside) and dribbles right twice to force the opposing big to commit to him............and that allows the screener/roll-man a free walk to the rim for an uncontested layup.  

[After THE JUMP: projectable pull-up game with questionable athleticism]

OUR WATCH HAS ENDED

I fired off an unusual Sunday post because I was sick of updating and updating and updating a post and thought it would be obsolete by Monday. It was. Roddy Gayle Jr is in. Sam Walters is in. Lorenzo Cason is in. Vlad Goldin… well, he should be in sooner rather than later.

Assuming Goldin, this is as of this moment a basketball team with zero open scholarship slots. To go from "Will Tschetter, I guess?" to this in a couple of weeks is the most whirlwind roster makeover in the history of Michigan athletics.

BUT ADMISSIONS?

Never say never in this department but they've officially announced Gayle and Jones. They briefly announced Donaldson before yoinking that back so I assume that he's on the verge. Goldin should be a grad transfer, Wolf was at Yale, and Walters had just one year at Alabama. My assumption is that after the prior debacles, Dusty May wasn't going to let anyone announce until their transcript got checked out. We'll see about the validity of that assumption.

ARE WE DONE?

Probably. Anyone who comes in at this point would either have to be cool with a year of apprenticeship or tantalizing enough to take despite a potentially negative knock-on effect for guys projected to be in the rotation—primarily Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett.

Two of the obvious take options aren't happening. St Mary's SG Aidan Mahaney visited Creighton, has a couple more visits set up, and is picking between three non-M schools for his final one. Meanwhile, FAU SG Johnell Davis is seemingly between Kentucky and Arkansas.

I still think Oakland F Trey Townsend isn't happening, either, but he's apparently done with visits; Michigan is one of three schools that got one. Ohio State and Arizona are the others. Tony Paul points out that OSU just picked up former teammate Micah Parrish.

The other two guys worth the swing are Khani Rooths and Liam McNeeley, two top 50 recruits who could play the 3 or 4. I am still in 1% mode when it comes to McNeeley. Rooths is more plausible but the "I am 100% open" tweet is a bit of a downer, and Michigan's depth chart is suddenly jammed.

I mean, sure, if either of those guys wants in you take them, offer Jace Howard a PWO spot, and figure it out later. But Michigan just went from the place you'll definitely play a ton to a place where you're in a war for minutes. I think this is it.

So!

[After THE JUMP: what you've won]