Column comparing May and Beilein
This column came out a week or so after May's hiring, and given all that's happened to build a roster in the last few weeks it definitely shows its age. With that caveat, the underlying point that despite the role John Beilein played in bringing Dusty May to Ann Arbor their approaches are likely to be very different is one I found interesting.
The fact that May has conjured up a potentially competitive portal-based team from almost scratch makes the column seem prescient to me. My understanding is that one of Beilein's frustrations toward the end of his time here involved players leaving before he felt they were ready -- Brazdeikis (and possibly Poole come to mind). And while I'm sure he could've adjusted I suspect that the portal would've added to that frustration.
My only issue with piece is the line about Beilein's "low profile" recruiting approach, implying that he never pursued highly-ranked players. Beilein certainly found and developed underrated 3 stars like Burke and Hardaway (not to mentioned Zack and Stu), but he also recruited top 100 4/ 5 stars like McGary, GRIII, Irvin, Simpson, Walton etc.
Anyway, I think this is a worth a read even if it's not breaking news:
April 24th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
If I recall, Beilein went after plenty of highly ranked players, but almost all of them went elsewhere and listed Michigan as the runner-up.
One of JB's rules is that he would not offer a kid until he visited the campus. I'm not sure if that we a good or bad thing, but just a thing many people on here thought was outdated.
I have it on good authority that in Chicago, there was really no way JB was going to land a top recruit out of Chicago unless he played dirty. I suspect that was how it was with most big time recruits.
Yeah, this was definitely an issue. Relatedly, Beilein experienced a lot of growing pains with recruiting/retention and what kind of team he wanted to have. Throughout most of his career, he was a development guy. He got mostly unheralded recruits, developed them for four years, and built his teams around upperclassmen (similar to teams like Wisconsin).
Through skill (and likely luck as well), he struck absolute recruiting gold (with a mix of 3*, 4* and 5*s) over a couple year span in the early 2010s, and the results were two B1G regular season titles, a Final Four (NCAA Runner-Up) and an Elite Eight in three years. But the flipside of that was that this coach that rarely had guys leave early for the NBA suddenly lost four two-and-dones (Burke, Stauskas, McGary and GRIII) and a three-and-done (THJr) over a two-year span, and only two of those guys (McGary and GRIII) were even reasonably foreseeable to leave that early when they were recruited.
So the core of those Final Four and Elite Eight teams left early, which really puts you in a bind. You either need to find more guys that are going to flash immediately, or go back to your four-year development model and suffer a downturn for a couple years while you build back up. Obviously Beilein tried the former, but the results weren't so great. Over the next couple years his only really high-level recruits were Walton and Irvin, who never really reached their potential until the middle of their senior years, and Kam Chatman who didn't pan out. Couple that with an obviously talented, but often injured Caris LeVert, and the results were an NIT, an NCAA play-in game, and a team headed squarely for the bubble until it caught fire late and won the BTT. Issues were compounded by a probably naive approach to recruiting and roster management that under-anticipated attrition (e.g. losing so many guys early and not having replacements, or turning away 5* Langford when Battle committed out of the blue, only to end up with neither).
Beilein did get things better sorted out late in his career here, until the general direction of recruiting, and things like losing players to the draft that clearly weren't ready (Poole), got him to the point where he wanted out (and let's be clear, if he didn't leave in 2019, he absolutely would have left a few years later with the advent of NIL and the current transfer climate).
As an aside, I do have some sympathy for Calipari. It's definitely tough when you're on that one-and-done/two-and-done treadmill, since the only way to prevent a downturn is to continue to recruit similarly talented players (who in turn are equally likely to leave early, thus continuing the cycle). We saw it here in 2015, 2016 and into 2017, where it took us years to adequately replace the core of the 2013/2014 teams that left early. Plus I'm sure it's tough for a coach to voluntarily take "less talented" players when "more talented" players are willing to come, even if the less talented guys will likely stay longer and possibly provide a more stable platform for success (i.e. how Nova has more titles under Wright than Cal did at UK)...
That's true, but I would consider a top 100 player highly ranked if not elite. In addition to GRIII and McGary, I believe Irvin was a 5 star through much of high school career and I'm pretty sure Chatman (who obviously didn't work out) was as well. His 2018 class had 3 top 100 players including Brazdeikis at 42.
GRIII blew up in the rankings after Beilein already had him, wasn't a top 150 guy at the time he'd verbaled IIRC. McGary was a straight up elite recruit though at the time (he dropped some).
Just like in football, the vast majority of the top players go to the highest bidder. And just like in football, that was never us.
April 24th, 2024 at 12:53 PM ^
I mean the similarity seems to be that they are both good coaches in the x's and o's department and value a team that can play with structure and fundamentals. Also I would say May seems pretty mindful of roster construction in terms of how well pieces fit together and compliment one another. This was quite honestly one of Howard's weaker points as HC in contrast.
Howard was just straight up bad at roster construction XD. Like the average guy off the street would have a better idea of getting a good spread of players to play all 5 positions and complement each other's playstyle. Howard was just getting kids he got along with personally without concern for the fact we didnt have enough guards.
April 24th, 2024 at 12:57 PM ^
The real questions go unanswered... does the May family enjoy subs? If so, just how crazy do they get with them?
Does he own a Super Soaker and know how to use it?
Subs? Heck - his family may think Subway - Jimmy John’s - and Jersey Mike’s are good choices.
Then, they order a sandwich from Zingerman’s..
As I recall, Beilein definitely went after some uber-high recruits, narrowly missing on Jalen Brown,, Devin Booker, and Luke Kinnard, among others.
I think it was Poole heading off to the NBA a year early that sent Beilein off to the NBA. It was also becoming a thing where programs with better "NIL" back then would let Beilein scout for them and then offer guys he'd shown interest in signing. I'm glad Dusty is working hard on the NIL front and is apparently having great success.
And the fact that Iggy B was JB's only 1-n-done. Think about that for a minute. That would drive me crazy if I were JB.
Yeah I think Iggy and Poole broke him or at least broke college basketball for him.
I wonder how many early entry players that left U of M would make a different decision if they could go back. That early contract and obscurity vs higher draft position and potential college super star? Just wonder what they would say? Would be a fascinating article for maybe players like Iggy and DJ Wilson.