Basketball Searchbits: Let's Make Something Happen By Posting
WHY THINGS HAVEN'T HAPPENED YET
We're at a somewhat frustrating stage where it seems like Michigan is on the verge of picking up several commits but has not actually landed anyone except for George Washington III, who withdrew from the portal. And here is the crux: Washington isn't transferring. Michigan infamously got dunked into the center of the Earth by admissions when they tried to bring Caleb Love aboard, and my guess is that Dusty May thinks this is a bad thing so nobody's going to announce until the Ps are crossed and Qs dotted.
Thus the delay for Vlad Goldin, who everyone on the planet is saying will transfer to Michigan. There are rumors of silent commits that I believe—Goldin is certainly one—because there is an obvious reason why the commits would be silent: Michigan is checking transcripts prior to any public announcements. Yes, even with grad transfers.
Thus, we wait.
VISITS PENDING
Friday will be a Large Day, in the parlance of our times. Auburn PG Tre Donaldson and OSU CG Roddy Gayle will both be on campus. 247's Eric Bossi asserts that Michigan is the "team to beat" for both. Isaac Trotter says May is a "huge player" for Gayle.
Bossi also says that Wisconsin SG Connor Essegian and Auburn PG Aden Holloway will be on campus this weekend. Essegian's pending visit was known but that's the first I've heard that Holloway would be in Ann Arbor. Essegian was at Maryland this weekend and is visiting Indiana today. Holloway will be visiting Alabama on Thursday, to the general merriment of the Alabama internet.
[After THE JUMP: NSFMF]
MISCELLANEOUS
Twitter account with 2k followers says that Vlad Goldin will commit to Michigan, for however much that moves your priors from "Vlad Goldin will commit to Michigan." Ditto JJ Metz, who covers FAU.
Oakland F Trey Townsend has set visits to Arizona, OSU, and Louisville. Oakland coach Greg Kampe—maybe the last honest man in college sports—flat out said that Oakland couldn't afford to keep him, and that list of schools… well, I am not banking on Townsend in Ann Arbor.
2024 F Khani Rooths says "not so fast, my friend" about that report that had him focusing on Michigan and FSU:
My recruitment is 100% open. I am not focusing on 1 or 2 schools. If coaches would like to speak to me they can connect with my mother or me. This was to clarify my situation at the moment. Any other information is false. Thank you
— khani.rooths (@Khani_Rooths) April 16, 2024
A public disavowal that you're focusing on a couple schools is not good for the schools who were supposed to make up the top two. At the very least Rooths seems like he's not on the verge of committing anywhere.
Davis Moseley catches up with FAU decommit Lorenzo Cason after his visits to Florida and Michigan. Unlike Rooths, he confirms that he's focusing on his top two. Vibes seem pretty good based on his assessments of the two visits. He loves the "downtown feel" of Ann Arbor. Suck it, NIMBYs!
St Mary's F Joshua Jefferson visited UVA this weekend and said generically positive things. Iowa State and TCU are on the docket this week; still no mention of Jefferson setting up visits with other programs.
The 247 UNC site is still asserting there is no UNC visit set for Yale C Danny Wolf. If I may speculate it seems telling that Michigan, which has contacted every guard in America, has a center board of Goldin, Wolf, and nobody.
2024 F Liam McNeeley will visit UConn next week; Michigan still gets a mention.
2024 G Justin Pippen shot up to #73 at Rivals after being outside of their top 150.
NOT THAT SPECULATIVE PHONE CALL
Well… hello there:
NEWS: Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney is entering the transfer portal, he tells @On3sports.
The 6-3 All-WCC 1st team sophomore averaged 13.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game this season. https://t.co/sKnsz0k1Cg pic.twitter.com/mWddMvri6F— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 17, 2024
An eagle-eyed twitter user was like hey wow I mean look at this:
Mahaney had an 111 ORTG on 21% usage, shooting 41/36/81. On3's Mark Southall predicts that Mahaney will end up at San Diego State, but if Michigan wants to get involved here they should have a shot.
SPECULATIVE PERCENTAGES BIT
- Vlad Goldin: 95%.
- Tre Donaldson: 80%.
- Johnell Davis: 70%.
- Danny Wolf: 70%.
- Roddy Gayle Jr: 40% –> 70%. I mean if M is the team to beat?
- Justin Pippen: 60%.
- Lorenzo Cason: 50% –> 60%. Said nicer things about Ann Arbor than Gainesville.
- Khani Rooths: 70% –> 50%. "I'm 100% open" knocks M down but Miskdeen keeps it above mere speculation.
- Connor Essegian: 40%.
- Aden Holloway: 40%. I was going to drop this but if Bossi asserts he's coming to campus we'll leave it here. I'm skeptical that both Donaldson and Holloway will end up at the same place.
- Aiden Mahaney: off the board –> 40%. It would be higher if it didn't seem like Michigan was going to grab a bunch of guards already.
- Terrance Williams: 30%.
- Joshua Jefferson: 40% –> 20%. Still no indication he'll visit.
- Dante Maddox/Kolby King: 20% –> 5%. With M seemingly leading for Davis, Donaldson, Gayle, and Pippen this duo feels like it's on the back burner, or Michigan is on the back burner for them. Maddox seems like an Illinois/Louisville battle.
- Alijah Martin/Elijah Elliott: 20% –> 5%. Both guys were supposed to be on the FAU roster next year but neither has been on campus and with the board at G getting very crowded it seems like these two aren't priorities, or vice-versa.
- Trey Townsend: 20% –> 5%. This one feels like a bag recruitment.
- Liam McNeeley: 1%.
Off the board:
- Ty Robinson: 20% –> off the board. A commenter on the previous post noted that Robinson committed to Central Arkansas over the weekend.
- Drew Thelwell: 20% –> off the board. Iowa.
Already off the board, but Eric Dailey did commit to UCLA. Tarris Reed committed to… UConn!? We may be about to find out just how much the coaching situation last year affected Reed's play on the court.
SPECULATIVE ROSTER
Bold: locked in. Italics: new. Given the surfeit of guard prospects Michigan is in on and a relative lack of forwards we're shifting the projection to a three-guard lineup:
PG: Tre Donaldson (Jr), Durral Brooks (Fr), Lorenzo Cason (Fr)
SG: Jonnell Davis (Sr*), George Washington III (So), Justin Pippen (Fr)SF Also SG: Roddy Gayle (Jr), Nimari Burnett (Jr*), Jace Howard (Sr*)
PF: Joshua Jefferson (Jr), Khani Rooths (Fr), Will Tschetter (Jr)
C: Vlad Goldin(Sr*), Danny Wolf (Jr)
April 17th, 2024 at 12:28 PM ^
I predict something will happen soon as a result of this post.
April 17th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
Numbers update: Brian's percentages project an expected 7.41 transfers in, for an expected roster size of 14.41. This is down 0.25 players from Monday.
April 17th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
Starting to think T-Will could have a spot as our starting 4 again with a good surrounding cast. Something like
PG Tre Donaldson
SG Johnell Davis
SF Kevin Durant
PF Terrance Williams
C Vlad Goldin
April 17th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
There is a small, but growing, part of me that honestly believes our admissions department views each potential transfer with the attitude of "how can we keep this person out" versus "how can we get this person qualified for admission"?
Unlike literally every other D1 school with athletic aspirations, our "no-admission" admission department seems to be a willing and formadble adversary to the athletic teams that must work through them.
April 17th, 2024 at 12:59 PM ^
The navel gazing fart sniffery of those who can't possibly fathom that ANYONE could offer an educational experience beyond the extent of rotten banana peeler at the local dump unless you go to MICHIGAN (TM) is worse than when I was there. And we had tshirts about it!
I can see them at the "academic admissions" conferences in Vegas and all the other schools whispering about the "Flendersons" walking by....
April 17th, 2024 at 12:53 PM ^
Aside from how likely they are to commit, what is the ranking of the guard options?
something like: Davis, Gayle, Mahaney, Maddox, Donaldson, Holloway, Martin, King, Essegian... maybe?
Then recruit preference: Rooths, Pippen, Elliott, Cason
edit: nevermind I guess 247 would rank them: Davis, Mahaney, Holloway, Dug McDaniel, Gayle, Donaldson, Maddox, Martin, Frankie Collins, Essegian. King not listed.
edit2: On3 says Davis, Dug, Gayle, Martin, Holloway, Maddox, Frankie, Donaldson, Essegian. No Mahaney or King.
I know many are high on Rooths, because, they look at recruting ranking lists compiled by 15 year olds....but man, low efficient shooter combined with not taking very good care of the ball. Pippen is probably the better option on blood lines alone.
Yeah I debated between those 2 but just left it with the recruiting rankings. But yeah Rooths doesn't seem to have a lot of teams beating down his door.
The rankings are compiled by 15 year olds?
Fifteen (total)
Year olds.
Rooths has athletic upside and the word on his poor shooting is it’s more about poor shot selection than bad technique or anything, which seems easier to get out of his system.
But he definitely sounds like a work in progress more than a college-ready guy.
April 17th, 2024 at 12:59 PM ^
Reed to UConn? I always felt he could play better than he was playing. His mistakes seemed less about a bad player than trying too hard and confusion what to do.
He has off the charts ability, but he needs a year in a program like UConn to break his bad habits. He could be a monster for them in ‘25-‘26.
Wondering if a collection of guys transferring in from smaller leagues can get more than 3 B1G wins in May's first season.
Seemingly there will be guards on the roster so I’m going to go with yes.
JFC! Michigan admissions has to get their shit together. It seems every other school has no problem.
Where in this post are you seeing admissions not having their shit together?
Sounds like Johnell Davis to Michigan isn't happening. Also, he just signed with Roc Nation.
Johnell Davis is the top guard in the portal due to his dynamic scoring ability, proven impact on winning, and role in the 2023 Final Four run. Davis is an elite scorer from all three levels. The initial expectation was to see him follow May to Michigan but that is no longer the case…
Yeah, he's gone from 70% to "so you're saying there's a chance".
In case anyone is wondering what comes after that when you click the link. Not another word. So informative. Not calling you out Rob just the fact that its a bold statement to leave hanging.
Edit: can't post a screenshot of urban
Is syan cyan Ryan day?
Sorry, we couldn't find: Large day
Or try one of these:
Twill staying might be a reason due to lack of forward recuriting. The guy from Appy St. truly intrigues me. B1G play requires vacum rebounder similar to Graham 'Rebound' Brown in most games played. Hope tires are kicked.
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