U of M Basketball Recruiting Discussion

[hack]

Now's the right time to go after some one-and-dones, because there are other players coming up in the system, and those one-and-dones can be the final piece or two. I still think we have a lot of talent on the bench. But for the long term there needs to be an emphasis on properly identifying good fits amongst the top-100 kind of kids who are going to be 3- or 4-year players. It's just hard to imagine a sufficient supply of five-stars content with a clean recruitment process across the various positions on the court. We don't want to get in that cycle in which there are super-taletned lineups followed by an NBA exodus and then NIT years and all that. We can't be the clean version of Kentucky. Way too ambitious.

[*JD*]

From what I've read, it sounds like UNC may be close to locking in Jalen Wilson. Hopefully not but Juwan will have an uphill battle.

[*JD*]

This tweet was liked by Cole Bajema, so things seem to look pretty good on both fronts:

https://twitter.com/iamzebjackson1/status/1131332871531237378

[*JD*]

Juwan offers his first scholarship. It's to Joshua Christopher, the #6 composite player on 247.

https://twitter.com/JoshHenschke/sta...00515606085632

[*JD*]

Juwan also offers Abdur-Rahim, after one conversation:

https://www.michigandaily.com/section/mens-basketball/jabri-abdur-rahim-michigan-offer-juwan-howard

One might think he's handing out offers like chiclets but the staff had already been recruiting Abdur-Rahim and it seemed like only a matter of time that he was going to get an offer. I think it also shows Juwan's trust in Saddi.

[*JD*]

Saddi has also been Jabri's lead recruiter.

[*JD*]

Jalen Wilson is announcing on Wednesday and Juwan hasn't had a visit with him. I'm guessing he's Carolina-bound.

[Cody_Russell]

[*JD*]

Jalen Wilson to Kansas. Kinda looked like he wasn't coming back here.

[lineygoblue]

Too bad he couldn't find it in his heart to give Juwan Howard a chance. Under new NCAA rules covering transfers, he could have played for Howard for a year, and if he decided he didn't like it, he could have entered the transfer portal at the end of the year. Instead, he completely dissed Howard and never gave him a chance.

I guess situations like this are the future of college sports.

[WM Wolverine]

Like him a good bit (Wilson), not as a likely NBA player but a very good college player. I had him as a Zak Irvin type with hopefully more aggressiveness. Could've helped Juwan a lot, Juwan just didn't have the time to recruit him.

[hack]

No idea what went on in the background here, but he was ready to listen and expected Howard to come down there and sell himself, which is entirely reasonable. I don't know why that never happened, but it didn't, and that sucks. Hard to know whether to blame Wilson or not, but easy to be disappointed in what looks like a very slow start to recruiting, be it shoring up existing commitments or working that grad-transfer market hard enough. If you filter this whole thing through showing respect for your seniors, which is a very Michigan thing to do, it's very disappointing. Z and Teske deserve better from everyone from Manuel on down. This season doesn't have to be a waste -- you have an elite PG and an elite C and together they make up one of the most lethal P/R combos in the sport. If this ends up a bubble team the lazy analysis will just blame it on the coaching search, but that wouldn't be accurate. There's serious talent on the roster now.

[Hannibal]

The timing of Beilein's departure screwed us pretty badly.

[Cody_Russell]

[*JD*]

No idea what went on in the background here, but he was ready to listen and expected Howard to come down there and sell himself, which is entirely reasonable.

I think the OV to Kansas must've won him over. Yak was also his primary recruiter so that probably played an additional part to Michigan falling further behind.