U of M Basketball Recruiting Discussion

[Jamie H]

Exactly. If a kid goes pro because someone is going to pay him millions, then I pat him on the back, thank him for his time at Michigan and wish him well.

When a kid goes pro for a few pieces of bubble gum and some old twine, it pisses me off to no end.

A lot of the problem is with the system. Basketball and Football need to change to a system like baseball and hockey where players can get drafted and choose to still stay in school. Right now, going pro for a marginal pro-prospect is pretty much a game of Russian Roulette.

BTW, the Henson thing, while sucky, I can kind of understand. The kid wanted to play baseball, and Steinbrenner knew he wanted him off the Michigan football team and was willing to ridiculously overpay him because of it. Yeah, it was less than his NFL money would have been, but he's still set for life.

[hack]

The Henson loss still stings.

[WM Wolverine]

Henson situation is where a kid took the guaranteed money in minor league baseball over a potential bigger payday in a league where only the signing bonuses are guaranteed... I don't blame Henson much, Steinbrenner (an OSU booster) deserves most the blame for that.

[WM Wolverine]

Agree that loss still stings, the '01 or whatever squad that he left was a potential NC contender with him. Without him they had Navarre, a guy who wasn't quite ready to be a starter and he was about the only one who held M back that season from winning 11 or more games.

[Jamie H]

Plus, everyone who has played both sports professionally (Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders) says that if they had to pick only one they would have picked baseball, since you can play it for 15 years and retire without major injuries. Anyone who plays in the NFL for 15 years is usually pretty beat up for the rest of their life.

[Hannibal]

Henson situation is where a kid took the guaranteed money in minor league baseball over a potential bigger payday in a league where only the signing bonuses are guaranteed... I don't blame Henson much, Steinbrenner (an OSU booster) deserves most the blame for that.

Henson's signing bonus would have been bigger than his contract with Steinbrenner, and even if he sucked, he'd be in the NFL a bare minmum of two years. His financial upside as an NFL QB was insane. He had no future as a baseball player.

[*JD*]

Good for him! I thot JD had just posted a week or two ago that he was still in a coma...

Huh? Maybe it was you that was in the coma?:-D He's been out of that since July, I believe.

[*JD*]

On solid information.... Austin Hatch was at the gym and able to do some shooting. The kid is determined and great to hear that he is beginning to, at some level, do things that he loves.

This was posted on umhoops.com: Austin was at the Breslin Center for their exhibition game. He has a buddy who is a red-shirt freshman on the squad.



It looks like he lost a fair bit of weight but it's certainly encouraging to see him out and about.

[hack]

Well often I do feel very, VERY tired. I'll see a doctor about this.

[Da Geezer]

Frankly, I've never seen anything wrong with the University purchasing insurance against career jeopardizing injuries for star athletes. Sure would be fun to see the actuaries do the underwriting. I'll bet you get "moneyball" analysis of player value, and not a lot of hype.

[lineygoblue]

Mitch McGary faxed in his signed letter of intent today, making it official that he's a Wolverine. Glen Robinson was expected to fax his in later this evening, and Nick Stauskas will sign and fax Friday.

That will take care of the 2012 class completely within the early signing period.

We need an early signing period for football as well.

[*JD*]

GO BLUE!!!!


Yes, an early signing period would be nice for football too. We might have held on to Dee Hart and he may never had injured his knee. Win-win!

[lineygoblue]

The signing period for football right now is the first week of February.

I think a good early signing period for football would be the first two weeks of October. That would give HS players a chance to do their official visits during the football season, and commit during their visit, if they chose to.

[lineygoblue]

Michigan has received the signed (faxed) copy of the LOI for Glenn Robinson III. He is now officially a Wolverine.

[*JD*]

btw- spartie got a heralded recruit of their own out of the state of Indiana. Shooting guard Gary Harris, who was also on Michigan's radar but I think things cooled down on him after we got Stauskas and a few wing players for 2013.

He is rated in the top 25 on most recruiting boards and I think at least one has him in the top 10.