talen horton-tucker

The State of Things: Pretty Good!

247 changed latest commit Ignas Brazdeikis's composite ranking to reflect that half the services don't bother to rank foreign prospects. He's now the #42 overall player in the class, which would place him as the fifth-highest ranked signee in John Beilein's Michigan tenure, per Orion Sang.

That bump, combined with the scandal that's rocked college basketball (happy trails, Louisville's 2018 class), has Michigan occupying a lofty spot in the 2018 team rankings:



via 247, obviously

It really can't be overstated how nice it is to be one of maybe three or four major college basketball programs that isn't in a full state of panic over the possibility of an FBI raid. We're already seeing the fallout for other programs: Arizona lost a five-star commit; Louisville no longer has a coach, athletic director, or 2018 recruiting class, and they've suspended five-star freshman Brian Bowen. There's surely more to come, as Nike's EYBL, the most prominent AAU league, has been served with a subpoena.

Meanwhile, both recruits and coaches have to figure out how to navigate the post-Feds recruiting landscape, and both sides appear to be acting with great caution. The top overall recruit in the class, RJ Barrett, is no longer visiting Arizona after they were linked to the scandal. He's also no longer visiting Michigan this weekend and has eliminated the Wolverines; given Beilein's sterling reputation, read into that what you will.

It's going to be a long, messy ride for many of college basketball's top programs. Beilein's insistence on sticking to rules almost literally nobody else follows has rankled in the past, even those who want a generally clean program, but he sure looks better for it today. Running a program that isn't in danger of major sanctions or, like, having coaches literally end up imprisoned is going to be a major draw for the foreseeable future.

[Hit THE JUMP for weekend visitors and more.]

Brazdeikis Nearing Decision

It's getting to crunch time for the 2018 basketball class with visits ongoing and decisions upcoming. It's still mostly quiet on the football recruiting front, so today's roundup will focus entirely on the hardwood.

Scout's Evan Daniels caught up with Michigan's top realistic target, four-star Canadian wing Ignas Brazdeikis, to get his thoughts after his recent official to Ann Arbor:

I really enjoyed it, there was three other recruits with me, two of them committed. It was a great time, just a family feel in Ann Arbor and the coaching staff and the players, I felt like that went really well. They had a big football game against Cincinnati and that was a really cool environment. Getting to see that and talk with Derrick Walton a bit, and seeing what they had to say about Coach Beilein and Michigan, and it was really cool.

He's also visited Vanderbilt, and had good things to say about them too, and there's still an official to Florida on the docket. Both Daniels and Sam Webb, however, suggested that Michigan is in the driver's seat (no gut feeling yet, however). Brazdeikis would be the crown jewel of a pretty impressive class should John Beilein reel him in. Vandy, which is heavily involved with his AAU teammate, five-star Simi Shittu, appears to be the primary competiton. We won't have to wait long to find out which way this one goes:

What’s the plan from here? Are you thinking an early decision after that third visit?

I’m definitely not going to drag this decision on too long. I probably will, yeah, not long after this third visit I will be close to making my decision for sure.

That third visit, to Florida, is set for the weekend of the 30th.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]