Final 247 Basketball rankings published
Iggy at 39 as a four star
Castleton at 83 as a four star
Johns at 89 as a four star
Dejulius at 141 as a three star
Nunez at 196 as a three star
https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Basketball/RecruitRankings?Institutio…
Yeah, i definitely raised an eyebrow at that one. FWIW, he's rated an 89, and their four star cutoff is 90, so he's right on the edge, and is the third highest three star.
DeJulius is one hell of a 3 star.
I agree. He won't be as good a defender as X in year one but he has mad offensive game it looks like. Basically can do it all. X needs to pick up his shooting in the off-season after losing those three big contributors. Dejulius wont have to carry a load or probably be able to next year but when year two rolls around, watch out. The only knock against him that I can see is that he needs a quicker first and second step. If he gets that, it's fucking over for everyone. I'm not so sure this team will be super next year after losing all or most of their offense but the following year will be fun.
#64 Brandon Johns
#73 Ignas Brazdeikis
#99 David Dejulius
#120 Colin Castleton
#216 Adrien Nunez
I really wonder how they determined Iggy's composite ranking. They don't seem to be ignoring ESPN and rivals entirely (doubt being ranked 39 on one site and essentially unranked on the two others results in him being #73 composite), but at the same time they can't be using his actual individual assessments from those sites, because then he would certainly be our top ranked recruit.
Interesting. It didn't occur to me that "rankings" and "ratings" were different, thought they were just accounting for different sites' terminology. But I guess that makes sense, otherwise one ESPN "90" is the same as any other ESPN "90", even though ESPN actually ranks those individuals.
That still strikes me as a flaw in their composite rankings that 247 could easily rectify, even if they do so in a conservative fashion.
If that is the starting 5 three years from now, I'm good with that. All five can hit from three and the front court all have great length.
The were some more changes to the composite rankings today, most notably Iggy moving up to #36 overall on composite...making our composite team rankings #8 overall.
Really, really solid and well rounded class. Iggy is a top 30 guy on the composite if Rival's could just assign him a rank.
Cause this seems stupid.
Both are Canadian and played almost exclusively US competition for multiple years.
Hacks
THey have even PLAYED EACH OTHER.. rediculous
Would they NOT rank RJ if he played for Orangeville prep?
I'm just annoyed, and Canadian. Jamal Murray was the 12 graded player in 2015 but wasn't an ESPN 100. Whatever.
I think Johns is being criminally underrated. We all complain about Castleton's rankings, but he's still a project to an extent, so it makes some sense to not rate him highly. But Johns has all the measurables and improved at the exact things (motor, aggression, rebounding, defense) that the analysts wanted him to improve on before last AAU season. I think he has the chance to be the best player from the class next year and beyond.
He's only 63rd in composite. I'd have him top 50 at least. Iggy's composite is skewed because of Rivals. He's be top 40 easily with them accounted for.
He was rated German
Wagner was a 4-star #119 nationally in 247 Composite. 247Sports had him much higher though at #46 nationally.
https://247sports.com/Player/Moritz-Wagner-81211/high-school-140563
I always wonder if some of these sites alter their rankings after the fact years later like Chad Ford at ESPN with the NBA Draft.
Probably a similar issue on the composite score as Iggy. Wagner was a foreign recruit, likely not ranked by ESPN or Rivals.
For all the past complaints about Beilein recruiting, I love reading this comments with everyone throwing out which top-100 recruit is going to be the best or which is the most under-rated.
This is the most complete, deepest, most talented class Beilein has ever had. He recruited an entire starting 5 that would rival any past recruiting class at Michigan other that the two from the early 90s. And that's not even factoring in that Beilein is excellent at developing talent - especially those prospects in that 50-150 range of ratings.
- DeJulius - Late surge as a senior could only improve his ranking so much for a 6'1" guard. Good news is that we don't need him to run the team right away with Z and Brooks around.
- Nunez - Older player with limited athleticism but his best skill fits with exactly what Beilein wants - shooting. Ranking doesn't matter as much, though it should be remembered if he doesn't play a lot early in his career.
- Iggy - One of the best pure scorers we've ever recruited. His age, size, and position mean that he should be ready to contribute immediately.
- Johns - The highest rated recruit to some sites but overlooked by many fans.
- Castleton - Maybe the highest ceiling of anyone on the list.
Side note - here's an interesting history of MIchigan's top recruits since 2000 from 247. Does humble you to think about the few misses in Beilein's past (Smotrycz, Chatman, Brundidge, etc.)
https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Sport/Basketball/AllTimeRecruits
Burke #19 on that list
#1 in my heart!!!
Burke is next to Woodson, Howard, and Wheatley on my list of favorite Wolverines ever...
The worst or least upside player seems to be Austin Davis and I think he will end up a better player than Donnal was. I think this sites projected ceiling of “Jordan Morgan but taller” sounds right but I also think he’ll have better offensive game and actually have a jump shot. Plus he’ll likely be a backup, not a “hard working, hustlin, scrappy, upperclassman big man” type. He’ll be backing up studs and playing valuable minutes. I think he’ll learn to emulate Teske’s productive big man play.
Iggy is probably a top 25 or better player, Castleston and Johns top 50, DeJulius top 100 and Nunez top 150 or better. And I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 of these players end up in the NBA so I'm probably still not putting them high enough.
Vandy signed two in the top 10...looks like Bryce Drew is getting some weapons!
I like these rankings better
Johns - 4* = 97.45
Iggy - 4* = 97.04
DeJulius - 4* = 95.90
Castleton - 4* = 93.82
Nunez = 3* = 88.86
13th in country
2nd in BIG to MD
the future is bright!!! with JB leading the way...his ability to develop players into NBA caliber players AND the DEFENSE!!...it does feel like we are reloading and reloading WELL!