Updated Rivals 2021 Basketball Rankings
https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals150/2021
Rivals just released their updated 2021 basketball ratings and there was some positive movement for all our commits:
Caleb Houstan: #11 --> #8
Moussa Diabate: #29 --> #26 (which still seems too low)
Kobe Bufkin: #60 --> #50
Frankie Collins: #73 --> #68
Isaiah Barnes : #112 --> #103
Will Tschetter: #147 --> #134
Updates on remaining potential targets (most of these are long shots):
Chet Holmgren: #3 --> #1 (have no idea how they had Chet at #3)
Efton Reid: #27 --> #24
Charles Bediako: #25 --> #29
January 12th, 2021 at 6:19 PM ^
Diabate > Reid IMO
Barnes moving up even though he hasn't played in a year is ominous, but hopeful. Bufkin season starting in about a week, will be nice to see more of him as well
January 12th, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
sadly, our class ranking stayed the same
January 12th, 2021 at 9:07 PM ^
If Howard can't bring in the 0th best class in the country, is he really worth it?
January 12th, 2021 at 6:23 PM ^
Damn, we are looking loaded for next year!
Can we just get one one of our current senior guards - Smith, Brooks, or Brown - to hang around next year to help with the learning curve?!
A Masters from one of the greatest schools in the country, along with a hoops title or two - pretty damn attractive!
January 12th, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
unless they are NBA players, no reason not to stay
January 12th, 2021 at 6:24 PM ^
Everyone moved up? Don't see that very often...
January 12th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^
Diabate is an easy top 10 prospect but for whatever reason, he's still underrated
January 12th, 2021 at 6:34 PM ^
Diabate is #8 on ESPN and Houstan is just ahead of him at #7.
Collins is at #40 and Bufkin at #47.
January 12th, 2021 at 10:24 PM ^
ESPN seems right to me but I think you can switch Houstan and Diabate but it's nitpicking.
January 12th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
I just checked out Diabate's film. He is going to be fun to watch.
January 12th, 2021 at 8:32 PM ^
Can you imagine what Juwan is going to do with this young man!!!
Would love to see Reid added to this class.
January 12th, 2021 at 6:37 PM ^
If Rivals ranks MBB like football then they look more heavily at College impact rather than the pro-potential that 247 (and ESPN?) focus on..
This seems to be true in regard to the M commits as Houstan is supposed to have an incredibly high floor but maybe not the highest athletic ceiling.
Rivals could still be behind the curve with Diabate too - as MattD noted his outside shot was a not a strength prior to his showings this summer/fall.
January 12th, 2021 at 6:47 PM ^
Hopefully Hunter stays and we get to see he and Moussa playing together and Caleb shooting from outside and Frankie hustling, dishing and playing D, oh the fun!
January 12th, 2021 at 6:50 PM ^
How far MBB has come for us. Top 10 ranked program. Top recruiting class. Dynamic 5* players. Life is good.
January 12th, 2021 at 7:05 PM ^
And to think, people were worried about Juwan. The man can recruit and coach. Which I guess puts him ahead of John Beilein who could coach his ass off but as for recruiting...not so much. And I loved Beilein.
January 13th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Maybe Beilein knew recruits better than the recruiting "experts" i mean he did put like 20 guys into the NBA and probably 30-40 total that played NBA-Overseas
January 12th, 2021 at 6:53 PM ^
I'm guessing Holmgren was at 3 since his wiry frame is a question mark even at the college level, let alone the NBA. The guy visually makes Colin Castleton (who was Michigan's biggest "he needs sandwiches ASAP" guy that I can remember) look like a bruiser. Still, at this point the rest of his ability makes him a easy number one, especially in recent exhibitions like where he outplayed "generational talent" Emoni Bates on national TV. The less I think of him as a "skinny stretch center" and more "tall skilled wing", the better I like him, weight issues aside.
Rivals as a whole seems pretty stagnant rankings-wise at this point. They don't seem to take huge swings at guys: pretty everyone in the Top 30 were moved between 0-5 spots up or down. So I'm not reading too deeply in Diabate not being a top 10 guy.
The COVID situation makes in-person scouting much tougher, so I'm reading more into our expert in Matt EM who's out there with his in-person viewings and breakdowns. Really fantastic to have his insight on the site.
January 12th, 2021 at 9:05 PM ^
Holmgren is a PF not a C, doesn't need to be as thick. But Camp Sanderson could do him a lot of good.
January 12th, 2021 at 6:53 PM ^
A bit off this topic but does anyone have an explanation of Rivals football ranking for 2021?
I looked for McCarthy while on their site and see they dropped him 11 spots to 41. Not trying for sour-grapes but I also noticed that Rivals had 4 players showing 120+ upward rankings jumps in the last re-rank just in their top 61 players. Another 3 showed 75-100 place jumps in that same final range.
Is this Appeasing big fan bases? (several were SEC commits) Teasing for clicks/subs? (at least 2 were uncommitted) or just "fixing" ranking for players they had clearly under-scouted? Example is Dallas Turner who jumped 118 spots - to #18 overall - between September and the December re-rank -- he also committed to 'Bama in that period.
January 12th, 2021 at 7:41 PM ^
Dallas Turner is definitely a 5 star talent. He was grossly under ranked if he was in the low 100s before. I wouldn’t put too much thought into it. Rankings are a bit of a crapshoot this year with several prospects not playing.
January 12th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
This is unreal.
Remember pounding a playoff level ND football team last year? This basketball program does that type of game 3-4x a year
January 12th, 2021 at 8:25 PM ^
At this point, who the hell wouldn't want to play for Howard?
January 12th, 2021 at 10:22 PM ^
Someone who is a great player but can't get playing time because of the talent in front of him.
January 13th, 2021 at 8:24 AM ^
It will be curious to see how he handles having so many talented players next year, depending on which guys on the current roster stick around. Beyond Livers, are there any certain departures? As mentioned above, Brooks, Brown, and Smith could elect to return if they wanted to play more college ball. Wagner could test the NBA waters again, but it wouldn't be a shock if he came back. Same with Dickinson.
I'm definitely going to enjoy the current team and season, but Juwan could have an embarrassment of riches next year, and roster management will be interesting to watch.
January 12th, 2021 at 8:45 PM ^
Impressive, like our team.
January 12th, 2021 at 9:04 PM ^
I didn't realize Rivals still exists.
January 12th, 2021 at 9:07 PM ^
My prediction - Collins will be the star of this class.
January 12th, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
I’m not sure he has the jump shot to be the star of this class.
January 12th, 2021 at 9:58 PM ^
I think Collins is a top 50 player.
January 12th, 2021 at 10:21 PM ^
I am happy to see Michigan players moving up but how can guys like Isaiah Barnes who has not played a high school basketball game this season have moved up 9 spots in the rankings.
January 13th, 2021 at 1:29 PM ^
Frankie Collins at 68 is way too low.