Hoops Recruitin' Has A Strategy
Hello again. I haven't done a "hey I'm back" post because I'd rather use my energy on actual posts, and also because I'm still largely taking things day-by-day and week-by-week. That said, I'm taking back the recruiting posts for now, so please excuse me while I get back up to speed—I wasn't tracking this stuff much during my time off.
A clear theme has emerged: the blue-bloods can only take so many guys. That's the hope, at least, as Juwan Howard's focus has been on a lot of top-tier prospects with the likes of Duke, Kentucky, and UNC high on their lists. Michigan hosted multiple such players over the last couple weekends for official visits and should gain some clarity relatively soon; for the moment, however, there's not a lot moving.
The Best Bet?
Five-star California combo guard Nimari Burnett recently named Michigan to his final five, and last weekend he was in Ann Arbor for the first of his official visits. While he's known Howard for a long time, he wasn't as familiar with the rest of the staff, and this trip helped get him comfortable with them, per 247's Josh Gershon:
“What stood out was how transparent and real all of the coaches were,” Burnett said. “It’s a perfect coaching staff that complements each other and I had a good time picking their brains.”
Burnett is one of the top combo guards in the 2020 class, which is a role that he would continue to have if he were to choose the Wolverines.
“They said that I would play both the one and two and be able to play in their up-tempo style of play, playing 30-35 minutes a game,” Burnett said.
Michigan is a contender and they lost some competition when Burnett canceled his planned official visit to Louisville this weekend and said he's no longer considering the Cardinals. He still has OVs set over the next month or so to Oregon, Alabama, and Texas Tech. That's tough competition; it's not Kentucky.
[Hit THE JUMP for battles against blue-bloods.]
Done All They Can
Top-15 overall center Walker Kessler visited campus for the MTSU game, and he's another five-star the Wolverines appear to have a real shot at landing. According to Sam Webb, Michigan was going to be Kessler's choice before John Beilein left for Cleveland, and when TMI caught up with his trainer—who accompanied Kessler on the visit along with his parents—it sounded like they may still be the standard-bearer:
“All of our questions were answered,” Ewing later added. “Anything left (regarding Michigan’s standing) is absolutely and utterly out of Michigan’s control. (What’s left) is seeing the last remaining schools that we have (and going over) questions we have for them. There’s nothing left (for Michigan to address). What I will say as a caveat to that is if we go to some other schools and see some things we like and want to compare and contrast to Michigan, then yes, we will definitely call them and make sure we get the answers. But up to this point, (no questions are left unanswered). Zero. They did a great job.”
Now the waiting game for Howard & company begins. Kessler will take his final three visits over the next month starting with Duke this weekend, then North Carolina September 20th – 22nd, and Gonzaga October 4th – 6th. Then it will be decision time.
Visits to Duke, UNC, and Gonzaga can change a recruitment in a hurry, and the Blue Devils are generally considered the favorite despite the above. With a decision that could come shortly after the Gonzaga visit in early October, Howard is putting on the full-court press; according to Webb, he went down to Atlanta this week to get more face time with Kessler.
How you feel about Michigan's chances with another recent five-star visitor, IMG Academy wing Jaden Springer, likely depends on where you look. The Wolverine's Chris Balas isn't optimistic about M's chances with either Springer or Kessler given what he's hearing despite sources telling him the prospects "loved" Howard. Sam Webb, on the other hand, is hearing that Michigan has made it a battle with presumed favorite Tennessee, which could be hurt by already having two top-50 wings in the class. Springer will visit Memphis this weekend and Knoxville in early October.
Michigan hosted top-50 power forward Lance Ware last weekend for an official visit but we don't need to bother breaking down his recruitment:
ESPN ? Lance Ware is expected to announce his college decision on Thursday. The news comes less than 24 hours after an in-home visit with John Calipari. Ware has also taken recent official visit to Ohio State and Michigan.
— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) September 10, 2019
Unless he pulls a major surprise, he's ticketed for UK.
Visit and Top Group Updates
Top-30 VA center Mark Williams cut down his list to Duke, Michigan, Ohio State, Stanford, and UCLA last week. He's already taken officials to the two California schools, and he'll visit OSU and M in October before closing out with Duke, which leads his crystal ball. He told 247's Evan Daniels that Howard's ability to coach bigs appeals to him:
Michigan: “Juwan Howard of course, he’s coming in hot off the recruiting trail, he played in the NBA for such a long time, played the position that I play, or similar to it at least. Just knowing that he’s been there and can help me get there and knows moves he can coach me. He always tells me how he works with the bigs in practice and just knowing he has NBA experience in my position, whereas another coach would be a guard.”
Perhaps that'll be enough to overcome Duke, or perhaps Duke will fill up on centers.
Howard dropped in this week on top-50 Montverde Academy shooting guard Moses Moody, who'll take an official at the end of the month:
2020 Moses Moody @moses_moody3 (6-6 wing, ESPN Nat'l No. 28) was visited Tuesday at Montverde Academy by Michigan HC Juwan Howard ... MoBaller is set to take an OV to Michigan the wknd of Sept. 27-29 ... pic.twitter.com/Ruj933WRqU
— Kevin McPherson (@ARHoopScoop) September 11, 2019
Moody has Michigan in a top seven alongside Arkansas (he's a native Arkansan), Florida, Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon, and USC.
In "these guys are going to Kentucky": five-star forward Isaiah Todd will visit Michigan at the end of the month but, again, he's going to UK barring a shocker; same goes for five-star guard Josh Christopher, who's got Michigan in his final five and plans to visit all of his top schools before a decision.
September 12th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Not Ace but Kessler is a pipe dream and Burnett would be a surprise as well
September 11th, 2019 at 10:48 PM ^
I see why everyone is so excited about the 5* recruits seemingly already becoming more in the mix compared to the Beilein era. I am excited to have Howard on board and with his history and experience and am truly looking forward to seeing him put his own mark on the program. I am giving Howard the benefit of the all recruits (whatever * rating) are going to be great recruits for him and is system for this next year.
That said, I do worry about the expectations that getting 5* talent will translate into a great team and continued recruiting success. I have seen coaches that chase the highly rated talent (Tom Crean comes to mind) regardless of how they fit in the system and with the roster they have and it rarely ever works. I am not trying to devalue 5* talent, but rather am simply trying to put some perspective that all of these 5* coming on board is not necessarily the best path for a program that can't necessarily replace them quickly over and over again, due to early departures.
September 13th, 2019 at 12:19 AM ^
I think your point is valide. Especially regarding Howard personal history as well as experience in NCAA and in NBA, He clearly brings some appeal to players because of it. And you can see a bit of a trend on the feedback from the recrutes.
also, it does not looks like Howard is targeting every potential 5* players.
September 13th, 2019 at 12:26 AM ^
I am actually really confident. He really have sort of a "Hype" around him due to his personal history as well as his career.
Probably means nothing to you, but in Europe people only cared about Beilein when UM reaches the final Four... (It prouves, he was under rated).
Every media who treat Basketball in France is super interested in Howard's come back.
That anecdote, just shows how impactful his "name" are playing out.
And to be fair, with his team around him... I see where 5* recrutes might really consider Michigan.
You just need one commitment to start a wave.
Is it sad? Yes because, we would potentially gets a lot's of 1 and done...
To be fair, it does not really looks tremendous.
The bright side? With the end of the "one and done rules" ... more players might stay a bit longer in NCAA if they did not had the opportunity to make the Jump straight outta High school.
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