Hoops recruiting: Eric Bossi put in a crystal ball for UCONN for Donovan Clingan
I guess that explains the offers at Center that are getting extended elsewhere right now. Bossi is usually pretty spot on for hoops.
He'd develop so much better under Juwan.
Sometimes it’s the unfortunate circumstances behind these recruits. In this case I just assume it’s the home team thing. In the Filipowski case he has strong Duke ties. Lively is enamored with UK. You can’t overcome some of those things. It just sucks when it’s a year where there aren’t a ton of really good bigs and we are in need for 2022.
It’ll be interesting to see if Diabate can play the 5 at all, and we still will have either the chance of Hunter or Johns coming back.
Diabete is a PF/C and he can play the 5 for sure.
Forget about Hunter coming back for '22-'23 season. Only way I can see him coming back is if he gets hurt for most of the season. Once he put his name out there and participated in the evaluation camp, chances of him coming back is nil.
I think Juwan might hit the transfer portal to find a temporary option at C then recruit C hard for '23 class.
Diabate can play the 5 in a small ball type lineup, but he's not a C at all.
Have you seen him play? Sure he blocks shots and dunks after diving to the rim on pick and rolls...but Hunter would EAT HIM ALIVE on the block.
He's a 4 and when he plays with Johns...he will likely stay at the 4.
The small ball thing doesn't work with him because he can't shoot well enough to make it effective.
He's Jonathan Isaac. A pogo stick, long, shot blocking big who can switch screens and be effective. Going to get deflections, energy plays, pick and roll alley-oops, etc.
If he has to guard B1G centers on a regular basis...we're screwed.
And on offense he's not going to pull those slower footed C's away from the basket because he's not a great shooter. Best bet is to let him use his length and athleticism to complement Dickinson and Johns.
As for Clingan...huge mistake.
Clingan exercising his right to choose is not a huge mistake. Not every player recruited is going to end up in Ann Arbor. There are several reasons why kids choose a college.
You have your points but you hugely under-rate Diabate while exaggerating the abilities of others. He is a year older than his class and he is going to be ready to play with more physical toughness-especially if he stays for a second year. Diabate may get bullied a bit but, in the composite, the positives he brings defensively relative to "Dickinson" are decidedly in his favor. In evaluating Diabate as a shooter-he holds great potential. His form says he could well become an excellent shooter...he has improved exponentially over the past year. The good news is that Juwan's philosophies allow each individual to contribute in ways that catalyze their skill set best-while playing within the team concept.
I've seen him play and he's definitely a C but can play PF. He's a backup C to Hunter. Diabete has far more potential than Isaac because he showed flashes of shooting, ballhandling and playmaking than Isaac has ever shown in his entire career.
Diabete's comp is Bam Adebayo and I think it's an appropriate comparison but I think Diabete can shoots better than Bam.
Maybe. I have zero salt if a kid wants to stay close to home after what we've all gone through over the past year and a half.
Shit that would make me want to leave home!
Qapla' Donovan!
Kinda weird that the 2021 recruiting class seemed so easy breezy, even with the limited time Juwan had, and this one seems much more difficult.
Au contraire, mon petit ami.
It might have to do with the jammed-up depth chart after this year.
How is this true? At this point last year:
- We had one commit: Isaiah Barnes
- Caleb Houstan hadn't reclassified to 2021
- We hadn't offered Frankie Collins, as we were still pursuing guys like Angelo Brizzi and Jaden Akins
- Even Kobe Bufkin hadnt committed yet. Plus, he hadn't had his blow up, and was being ranked in the 80-90 range
- I doubt many of us had even heard of Moussa Diabate. His one mention on this site was part of a general rundown of 2021 prospects where Matt said, "Michigan isn’t a serious option at this point."
Let's be patient and let Juwan work his magic.
Come on, nothing is easy breezy for so many of us true Michigan fans. Facts don’t matter.
Just relish the struggle and only be happy when you’re miserable.
Or at least let the posters who love the misery post first even if what they say, never comes to fruition. Some people live to say negative things on a daily basis! Juwan is doing such a terrible job! Whew I tell you what a crowd.
Michigan is in with to many top guys for the class to not end up top 10 atleast
Fantastic points. Everything seems easier after you're finished.
This nailed it. Like last year, there are guys Juwan is on and haven't yet been mentioned here, that might be committed elsewhere even.
I'll change gears here and say am floored a guy like Clingan wouldn't have us first, after seeing what Juwan did with Dickinson.... I mean, he couldn't have developed better, nor have a better coach to develop him.....and this isn't a slappy speaking here.... Juwan has earned and proved it.... if he goes to UConn I will chalk it up to wanting to start year one for the hometown school.
Welp.
Adios Donovan Clingan.
But Tarris Reed being a major Buckeye lean is annoying to me.
Does Ohio State have an "in" at Chaminade? I'm from St. Louis and I recall a lot of recent, nationally ranked Chaminade players going to either OSU or ND.
UConn definitely felt confident when I checked in on things over the weekend.
What my thesis pre-supposes is that UCONN fucking sucks.
Matt, I'm just throwing this out there, but if we swing and miss on all these guys, do you know if staff has made contact or might make contact with Dawson Garcia? Haven't heard much about his transfer options but he's a beast and could be a good fit
Not that I'm aware of. A little birdie told me he's been working out with Mike Miller and has eliminated Illinois from his list while favoring AZ and UNC.
curious to who you think if signing day was tomorrow would wound up at Michigan?
I’ve been asked that question repeatedly in various ways and I’ve refrained from answering simply because the coaching staff has yet to really evaluate a lot of other options.
So instead, these are the prospects we sit the best with right now at each remaining position:
2/3: Jett
3/4: Glenn
5: Clingan
Along with many others, I'm sure, I really appreciate the (apparently) straight shooting in your posts.
Is Glenn sitting better for us at the wing than Ty Rodgers? Seemed like the staff liked him more as a prospect and is in just as good position
Hold me MattEM
At this point, the transfer portal will likely be increasing in importance.
i'm kind of ok with it. i wouldn't mind saving a schollie almost every year in order to get a transfer portal guy at a position of need each year. i think juwan and UM have an edge over almost all programs at this point in getting a portal guy they need.
Sometimes recruiting just doesn't make logical sense and there's nothing you can do about it. How Clingan can logically think UConn is a better choice for him athletically and academically than Michigan is beyond me, but I hope we can somehow pull this off
don't know what his evaluation matrix was though...
maybe playing at home was more important to him...or some of circle are going to UConn... or Uconn sold him on being 'the hometown hero'.
At the end of the day, its probably a number of things, but I don't think Michigan could have done anything more than what they appeared to do, which is treat him like their #1 target for quite a long time.
Who's advising him?
I keep seeing that name as Clegane--as in Gregor Clegane, The Mountain from Game of Thrones. And...yeah, sign him up!
Gotta admit we have a serious lack of 6'9", 400 pound Icelanders on roster.
yep...that sort of sucks...I preferred Lively and Filipowski, but neither are trending to AA
I wasn't a huge Clingan fan, but I didn't really think Hunter was that good either after missing out on Kessler, so shows you what my basketball acumen is....
I am confident that coach Howard will find an adequate replacement however.
Guys, I’m here to tell you basketball recruiting is rarely logical.
As fans of Michigan, we tend to see things through an objective lens in terms of team success, development and playing time.
To be totally candid, those things generally play second fiddle to trust/relationships.
Hell, Dug jumping aboard doesn’t make much sense given he’s a 5’8 PG coming in right behind a 5’10ish PG with some overlap in skill.
But he trusted Juwan Howard and liked the feel of being teammates with guys from the DMV.
Moral of the story is heart>mind in a lot of these recruitments.
Kyle Filipowski has a string of crystal ball picks for him to Duke. With Lively being in love with UK, I’d say we are in need of expanding our big man board.