February 23rd, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
Bummer they won't get to actually play the game this year, but that's a heck of an achievement for all of them regardless!
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:54 PM ^
Bufkin making it is a pleasant surprise
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:56 PM ^
He's very good, but I agree, he hasn't played much if at all in the last year and rose in the rankings just the same. Still, I think he could be an elite Big ten 2 guard.
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
he hasn't played much if at all in the last year and rose in the rankings just the same
He showed out at camps against legit competition this summer which is a big reason why he rose in the rankings, so he has been playing. He was also playing really well in his first few games of his high school season before fracturing his wrist. His shot creation and playmaking is elite
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Matt EM has always raved about Bufkin's abilities, so not that surprising based on his effusive scouting reports before his recent rise in the recruiting rankings.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
I'm a huge Bufkin fan, but based on his ranking at #42 in the country, him making the team of the supposed best 24 players in the country is definitely surprising. Wonder if that foreshadows even more upward movement in his ranking
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:55 PM ^
Pay that man! This kind of success with that kind of talent coming in is worth keeping forever. Can't stay the 12 highest paid coach in the B1G.
February 23rd, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
Testing.
February 24th, 2021 at 1:39 PM ^
Pay the man? He already has oodles. But I agree in principle. Offer to found and fund the UM-JH Summer Physics Internship Program in Detroit. Or create the Fab Five UM Grade School Chess Academy in Los Angeles. Find out what the man wants.
February 23rd, 2021 at 8:20 PM ^
Haha. Lots of other things to worry about. Agree he deserves it, but for obvious reasons nothing to get excited about. He probably would donate the increase to charity.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:42 AM ^
I'm worried about Howard. There is pretty strong evidence that he has provided access to his cars, housing, trips, food, and provided gifts to a player on the Michigan Basketball team.
Sure, most people would consider this just being a good father, but this has scandal written all over it. /s
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:55 PM ^
It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine!
February 23rd, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Four of the F5 was on the same McDAA team in 1991. Their squad was loaded.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
And I believe Ray Jackson was a top 50ish player, that's why they were the Fab 5 and proved themselves worthy by making the finals games twice and an elite 8.
Too bad the '93 team didn't win it all, they were the best team.
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:40 PM ^
Webber was #1, Howard #3, Rose #6, King #9, Jackson #84
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
There's still a few undecideds on the list there, Juwan should get back to work!
February 23rd, 2021 at 7:46 PM ^
add Chet and Jaden!
February 24th, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
Keep Wagner and Dickinson!
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:00 PM ^
Question: who was the the last McD AA that went to Michigan? Daniel Horton?
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
Yes Daniel Horton
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^
Yep. Confirmed. Daniel Horton. 2002 class. Almost 20 years since last McD AA. Yikes!
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:35 PM ^
Interesting in that Glenn Robinson jr. was a 5* and #17 Nationally ranked but not a McDonalds All American,
February 23rd, 2021 at 8:05 PM ^
Dion Harris was like 20th and wasn’t a McDonald’s AA
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:11 PM ^
I want to say Blanchard but not sure either.
That class he was in with Jamal Crawford should have been so much more special, too bad Crawford left after freshman year and that Amaker was coach and not Beilein or Juwan.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
Tommy Amaker wasn't great, but he also wasn't Brian Ellerbe.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^
Absolutely amazing that with all the great players we have had that it has been 19 yrs without a McDAA. I guess that goes to show how good Bielien was at identifying and developing talent.
Alot of other teams have had many McDAAs and never had the tourney success that JB had.
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
I wondered specifically about McGary. He was always ranked pretty high.
It's also the case that the McD list has its quirks. It's not always in step with the composite rankings and it seems to feature certain schools often (St. Anthony's, Oak Hill, DeMatha, Mater Dei).
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:18 PM ^
i think Horton.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
Great accomplishment, I thought Frankie Collins might make it before Bufkin so the #1 recruiting ranking is well earned.
Barnes and Tschetter will contribute too and a lot of these guys for multiple years, gonna be some fun times!
February 23rd, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^
FWIW I believe both Barnes and Collins were on the “nominees list” that came out in the last week+ before this final cut-down.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
Holy crap this is an amazing achievement especially for Bufkin. Juwan is on fire!
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:09 PM ^
Throw the check book at Juwan and tell him to write any number he wants!
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
Yep. Let's load up the briefcase NOW.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:11 PM ^
Hard to believe that Michigan's most recent McD AA before these three was Daniel Horton in 2002. I'm not counting Isaiah Todd.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
I’ve taken some digs at a certain troll lately, who was wrong about Beilein and Brooks and the coaching search and a great deal else, and more crucially was an intemperate child about it. But he was right about Michigan being able to land McDonald’s AAs.
I still think most of the pertinent explanations about why Michigan didn’t get those guys under Beilein are still valid. But the playing field is what it is.
February 23rd, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
What are the pertinent explanations on why Beilein didn’t land them?
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^
Well he usually didn't offer players until they visited campus. Which really shrinks your pool. I never agreed with this approach. It's essentially the approach of U-M football before we hired the young guns this offseason; only put the energy into recruiting players who show interest in U-M early without getting into too many big recruiting battles.
Beilein targeted players who are from two parent households so they didn't have to worry about them leaving early for the NBA due to financial circumstances (explains why so many sons/siblings of former NBA players played on Beilein's teams). This in stark contrast to Juwan who came from a no parent household where he was raised by his grandmother who passed before he ever stepped foot on campus. I really didn't like this approach because it excludes a very particular group of players.
These are some self inflicted handicaps Beilein put on his recruiting. I don't think they're valid
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:44 PM ^
That's not the reason.
This is the reason.
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:51 PM ^
So you are saying that Juwan is cheating to land these players?
February 23rd, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
I'd be careful about making assertions like that
https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2016/08/as_new_world_of_basketball_rec.html
February 23rd, 2021 at 7:16 PM ^
I think Juwan is a good guy. I think Beilein is a good guy.
I think Juwan is a good recruiter. I think the program offers terrific, legitimate, above-board things to players that make it a good destination. I think he genuinely persuades in that way.
But:
I have no illusions about what the landscape is in major college sports. Nobody should.
I used to think that Lance Armstrong was clean. What finally changed my mind? The Operation Puerto investigation identified multiple riders, including all of his key rivals. It became clear that every single cyclist that challenged Lance Armstrong for the TdF podium was doping. Ulrich, Basso, Pantani, the whole lot. They threw all those guys out, and Floyd Landis won, and he was juicing, too.
And so: Either Armstrong was doping with the rest of them... or it was the greatest athletic feat of all time and it wasn't a close call.
I don't think Duke is clean. I don't think Kentucky is clean. I don't think Kansas is clean. We know programs like Arizona aren't clean, for a fact.
Michigan out-recruited all of them this year.
Good.
I don't know all the details, the how's, the why's. It doesn't mean that there is an organized system of stuff going on. Maybe Juwan is just willing to not let stuff he hears about what goes on bother him, who knows. But it looks like the playing field is more level. Fine. I'll enjoy it. But I won't lie to myself about it, either.
February 23rd, 2021 at 7:59 PM ^
I give Juwan the benefit of the doubt. 1) a lot of those dirty programs are being less dirty than usual because of the whole FBI thing and 2) Juwan can sell the kids on so much other than the instant gratification of money.
No other coach can boast about an extremely long and successful playing career, winning a championship with LeBron and Dwyane Wade, and then coaching with some of the best coaches in the NBA. Not only that, but unlike guys like Izzo and Calipari, Juwan is just a flat out cool guy.
I hope Juwan isn’t cheating (or turning a blind eye to it) because he honestly doesn’t need to. Plus, if we were handing out cash like Arizona then we wouldn’t lose recruits to the G-League.
February 23rd, 2021 at 10:03 PM ^
Your second point in pp1 and all of your second paragraph are good point. I don't think we have any sort of unfair edge; I think we have a level playing field.
February 23rd, 2021 at 9:01 PM ^
You're normally a good poster here, but you should take a break on this thread. Making veiled insinuations without a shred of proof is irresponsible and wrong.
February 23rd, 2021 at 9:59 PM ^
It's certainly not my most popular opinion. I don't claim any special knowledge. Counterarguments are valid, and your point has some merit.
But I try to apply my thinking fairly, whether my own sacred cows are gored or not. I was the one who raised the subject, so that's on me, but I have a pretty systematic mental model of how recruiting works in big-time college sports (and how much isn't just recruiting, but the whole system of AAU and shoe companies and such), and I've accepted it as part of the business. I don't consider the teams I root for to have exceptionally better moral authority than any other team (I'll never forget chatting with a Bama fan a few years ago and making a side comment about how they acquire players and trying to stifle a laugh as they exhibited honest shock that I would even suggest that recruiting at Alabama is anything but above-board), nor any worse. So when I see stuff, I call it like I see, as I would anywhere else. I cannot, personally, do anything else but apply the same level of observation to my own team as to others. And I don't consider my observation to be remarkable in the scale of things, given where I believe college sports to be.
I accept the blowback for that. Including yours, which is as kind an admonishment of this type as I can imagine on a blog like this. But this comes with the territory; it's not my most popular opinion, but not my least popular opinion, either.
February 23rd, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
Juwan played in the NBA 20 years and the Fab Five was revolutionary. He ha sheen tight with his sons and their 5 star friends on the AAU circuit.
Michigan has as much to offer as any school and Juwan is a players coach who knows what it takes to play and win at the highest level.
It’s not like UofM is some mid tier landing 5 stars. To me it makes perfect sense why kids would gravitate to the program.
It’s bullshit to offer up that innuendo without anything to back it up. Especially from a fan.
February 24th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
I would argue the way things ended with Josh Christopher and Isaiah Todd a year ago proves otherwise.
February 23rd, 2021 at 4:21 PM ^
There was so much to respect about John B., but the fact that he rarely recruited players of the McD AA caliber — and never actually signed one — was pretty disappointing. Granted, he had a good eye for under-the-radar talent, was a great developer of players and an elite offensive coach.
BUT:
The usual excuses for why UM never landed a McD AA type ("Michigan is too cold", "not much talent in-state these days", "hard to compete with the lure of LA", "no bagman", "not a traditional b-ball school like IU", "Crisler atmosphere bad", etc., etc.) always rang false. Because bringing in upper-tier talent seems to boil down to the coach's ability to connect with recruits, showcase their talents, and inspire them.
JB also didn't showcase defensive skills or athletic big men in his system, which limited Michigan's attractiveness to this kind of player.
Coach Juwan Howard has instantly made this program competitive with any traditional blueblood, dirty SEC school or "glamorous" west-coast location. It's amazing how he has transformed recruiting at Michigan. No caveats or excuses needed. He's awesome.
February 23rd, 2021 at 8:04 PM ^
Beilein had more hits than misses. We, as fans, should have no regrets about his tenure (other than those Louisville refs).
Juwan Howard is able to do what he’s doing because of the foundation Beilein laid. Let’s not forget the state of the program when Beilein got here. He was exactly the coach we needed at the time—just like Juwan is the perfect coach to build on that foundation. Damn we’re lucky.