Basketball Searchbits: Visits Begin
Well, I was holding off on this post because I wanted something to happen; nothing has yet. Instead I will post this, and thus cause something to happen.
[UPDATE: minutes after this post went up On3's Jamie Shaw predicted 2024 CG Justin Pippen to Michigan.]
VISIT WEEKEND
Michigan had three expected visitors as of a few days ago. Vlad Goldin came in; there has been complete radio silence about his visit.
Yale C Danny Wolf visited this weekend and there is also zero out there. He did not pull the trigger, then. The other team mentioned prominently for him was UNC, and it looks like UNC is pounding the pavement for a starting five. They've been linked to Tennessee's Jonas Aidoo, Kentucky's Aaron Bradshaw (who just committed to OSU), Arizona's Oumar Ballo, and Rutgers's Cliff Omoruyi. Wolf may be further down their board since the rest of those guys are close analogues to Armando Bacot, a defense-and-rebounding kind of C, than the skilled Wolf.
One of their 247 staffers said that they'd "heard no further developments" after Wolf's initial conversations with UNC were reported last week, but there are Trilly Donovan-induced rumors he is going to take a visit to Chapel Hill early this week.
Wisconsin SG Connor Essegian did not come in; he took a visit to Maryland this weekend and is apparently going to take one to South Carolina. He is scheduled to be on campus for the spring game. If that gets pushed further off I'd take that as a signal this isn't happening.
They also had two late breaking/surprise visits. One was Oakland F Trey Townsend coming in on Sunday. Townsend is in that class of grad transfers that is not headed for the NBA and would like to make a hefty chunk of change in his last year in college, understandably. I'm not sure where that leaves Michigan, which is likely going to have to set aside large chunks of their NIL budget for two other one-and-done fifth years in Goldin and Davis.
The other: FAU decommit Lorenzo Cason. Cason was also at Florida this weekend. On3 reports that he wants to have a decision "as soon as possible," so it's probably between the two. Nothing as yet about the other two FAU decommits, Elijah Elliott and Ty Robinson.
[After THE JUMP: positive development with Johnell Davis.]
VISITS SCHEDULED
Ohio State CG Roddy Gayle Jr visited Creighton. Jeff Goodman reports that he will visit Michigan on Friday.
Tulane PG Kolby King announced a top five of Michigan, Butler, Utah, Dayton, and South Carolina. Michigan and Butler are his first visits.
St Mary's F Joshua Jefferson scheduled visits to Virginia, Iowa State, and VCU. On3 reports that TCU and Michigan are also going to get visits.
MISCELLANEOUS
ESPN runs down the portal for various teams, including Michigan. Not a whole lot that you can't glean from Twitter but Jeff Borzello asserts that Michigan is "likely the leader" for Goldin and Wolf and is "perceived as the leader" for Auburn PG Tre Donaldson.
Good news for Michigan in their pursuit of FAU CG Johnell Davis, as Houston—one of the other major suitors—took a commit from Oklahoma transfer PG Milos Uzan. With LJ Cryer and Emanuel Sharp returning that would seem to knock Houston out since Uzan is presumably transferring with a promise to start.
Meanwhile, FAU CG Alijah Martin visited Florida last weekend. He's keeping things in the dark but 247's Florida site speculates that Alabama and Michigan are the other main options, and that the SEC teams are more likely.
2024 F Khani Rooths is focusing on Michigan and Florida State, per a report from an all star game Rooths played in. That seems like good news since Leonard Hamilton has fallen off hard from a five-year run of top 30 teams. He hasn't sniffed a bid the last three years and at 76 one more iffy year is probably retirement time. Georgia dropping out also hints that Miskdeen's departure for Michigan moves the needle for him.
2024 F Liam McNeeley is going to start scheduling visits after an all star game on the 21st. Paul Biancardi lists Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, UConn, and Arizona as Michigan's competitors.
GRANDPA SIMPSON HAT DOT GIF
Wichita State SG Colby Rogers (109 ORTG on 22% usage, 39/40/82 shooting, low TO rate, low A rate) was planning Zoom calls with Kansas, Alabama, and Michigan as of around noon on Saturday. On Sunday he committed to Memphis. If your author seems peeved it's because I checked out the Kansas and Alabama boards and decided neither was likely to have room for him if their Plan As came off, and then I checked out his Synergy stuff. I have deleted two paragraphs! TL;DR, this guy is an Elite Shooter!
SPECULATIVE PERCENTAGES TIME
- Vlad Goldin: 95%.
- Tre Donaldson: 80%.
- Johnell Davis: 60% –> 70%. Houston knocking itself out is good.
- Khani Rooths: 60% –> 70%. Being in a top two with FSU is good.
- Danny Wolf: 60% –> 70%. Seems like UNC is pushing for a more defensively-oriented C.
- Lorenzo Cason: 40% –> 50%. Got an on-campus visit and seems like it's M or UF.
- Connor Essegian: 50% –> 40%. Pushed off visit seems slightly bad. South Carolina getting involved also a slight ding.
- Aden Holloway: 40%.
- Joshua Jefferson: 40%.
- Roddy Gayle Jr: 20% –> 40%. Quick visit and guys like Eric Bossi are asserting that Michigan is a team to watch.
- Terrance Williams: 30%.
- Alijah Martin: 40% –> 20%. First visit to UF doesn't sound promising, nor do the vibes from the UF guys.
- Dante Maddox/Drew Thelwell/Kolby King: 20%. Throwing all the "in a top five" guys into one bin.
- Elijah Elliott/Ty Robinson: 40% –> 20%. Total radio silence on both.
- Trey Townsend: off the board –> 20%. No idea how to peg this one but feels like Michigan will prefer to spend its kitty on guys with more shooting.
- Justin Pippen: 20% [UPDATE: 20% --> 60%, as we have a ball]
- Liam McNeeley: 1%.
I've taken the following off the board:
- Colby Rogers: off the board –> 40% –> off the board. Goodnight, sweet prince.
- Brandon Garrison: 10% –> off the board. Garrison visited in-state Oklahoma this weekend and there's no Michigan mention for him.
- Eric Dailey: 10% –> off the board. Visited UCLA, fielding UCLA predictions, nobody being mentioned that is not UCLA.
- Carey Booth: 10% –> off the board. Another article without a mention.
Also, FWIW, FAU transfer Giancarlo Rosado committed to Charlotte.
SPECULATIVE ROSTER
Bold: locked in. Italics: new.
PG: Tre Donaldson (Jr), Durral Brooks (Fr), Elijah Elliott (Fr), Lorenzo Cason (Fr)
SG: Jonnell Davis (Sr*), Connor Essegian (Jr), Justin Pippen (Fr), George Washington III (So)
SF: Khani Rooths (Fr), Nimari Burnett (Jr*), Jace Howard (Sr*)
PF: Joshua Jefferson (Jr), Will Tschetter (Jr)
C: Vlad Goldin(Sr*), Danny Wolf (Jr)
Justin Pip...oh, no, oh noooo.
(is 1000 years old; dies)
Well, his big brother is already in the league (as an up/down end of bench/G league guy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty_Pippen_Jr.
We already had Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr like ten years ago.
Brian's enthusiasm for the MBB equivalent of NBA capology fills me with delight. I find his sudden interest both unexpected but totally in character, as Brian has previously detailed his love for Football Manager.
Justin Pippen - how good is the kid? Would Michigan greatly prefer Essegian over him?
Who has more upside, GWIII or Pippen?
May has spoken often about wanting to build the core of his program on recruiting high schoolers. So while a healthy Essegian would be great, I see it as 6 of one/a half dozen of the other.
Pippen is kinda similar to Essegian (and GWIII) in that he is a good shooter but poor defensively as of now. He will be able to handle the rock at the college level a bit though. Pippen definitely has more upside based on his potential versatility as more than just a shooter, not to mention being the son of an NBA HOFer who was a late bloomer himself.
And his Dad was one of the greatest defenders of all time, can't hurt.
We need players no matter what they arent either or players. Plus Pippen is right out of high school and his brother was a 4 year star at Vandy if I am not mistaken.
It's like assembling houses and hotels in Monopoly, trying to get an effective assortment and hoping not to lose (have to sell) any, while trying to block others from their own effective assortment.
UNC won a championship by getting a guy like Brady Manek from the portal a few years ago. Manek and Wolf have similar skill sets. With that in mind, I wouldn't count UNC out.
Manek was like 6 foot 8 and played both forward positions. The fact they are both white is about it.
Yeah I don't get this comp at all. Op has a different memory of Maneks style than I do.
247 site on Ty Robinson says he committed to Central Arkansas on April 12, 2024.
All your NBA legend sons are belong to us!
I just saw Brian assumes a freshman Rooths would displace Nimari Burnett in the starting lineup. Nimari Burnett is entering his 4th year in college and isn't limited much athletically. I have to think that May can coach him up enough to where a true freshman won't take his spot in the starting lineup.
Reading up on Rooths, it appears he has a lot he needs to work on before being a significant contributor anyway. But I also didn’t necessarily read the order Brian listed them in as a depth chart, more just listing guys based on their position
It looks a lot like a plausible depth chart to me. I think we're all safe in making that assumption.
I agree, i haven't seen Rooths play but I think that is premature. Burnett will start this year to good of a player.
He can go! Can handle on the wing and attack close outs effectively in the games I watched him play. If he’s here next season…he’d be the best NBA prospect on the roster.
To be fair, that’s not a very high bar.
He has athletic upside, but his scouting report paints a picture of a guy who struggles shooting the ball, poor shot selection, not good with the ball in his hands, and poor assist-turnover ratio. Sounds like he has a lot of work to do before we’re talking NBA.
April 16th, 2024 at 12:33 AM ^
At the Chipotle Nationals…his shot was falling from the outside(small sample size). Announcers were saying he worked on his shot and it has improved. I’m not saying he would be ready for the NBA next year…just that he has the tools and physical traits that make him attractive to NBA teams in the future.
Any chance Gattis was involved in the recruitment of Pippen.... ;)
None. Pippen tagged along and not even Elrond could dissuade him.
/ what?
I wouldn't blame him.
Brian you misspelled the name, it's "Justin Pippen (YTP)."
Does Penny Hardaway get to stay at Memphis forever and continue to take players we might be interested in? Will pressure start to build if he doesn't get past the 2nd round of the tournament in another year or two?
I'm not a particularly optimistic person (nor am I super pessimistic), but that potential roster is an easy tourney team IMO.
It kind of hinges on Davis (assuming Goldin is in as expected). You get Davis and Goldin, and you've basically got a more talented FAU roster. Whether or not it's as cohesive as the FAU roster is a different question.
This latest batch of numbers comes out to an estimated 7.66 portals in, for a roster size of 14.66, an increase of 0.4 players from last time Brian did one of these.
I'm desperate for an official commitment!
247's Florida site speculates that Alabama and Michigan are the other main options, and that the SEC teams are more likely.
You don't say? That's a shocker
It seems concerning that we still have zero commitments.
Well that worked just like you said it would, Brian. Why don't you repost?
Solid coverage on Dusty SZN Brian
April 16th, 2024 at 12:07 AM ^
Would love to add Gayle to that projected roster as well. As the 1 and 2 position currently stands, there are only two players with high major experience. Pippen could be really good and GWIII could make a jump but that is tough to count on.
Gayle could also bump Rooths down to the 4. And now we’re cookin. But now we are also out of roster spots.
Really hope basketball is able to pull of the “NIL rids you of scholarship limits” the way football has.
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