Introducing 2014 Prospect Kevon Looney

Michigan's 2014 recruiting is now in full swing after an exciting Offer Day last Friday.  Michigan has only offered Devin Booker and Keita Bates-Diop, as of now, but as more recruits make it to campus, that number should start to increase.  One of the prime targets of an offer would be Kevon Looney.  He's from Milwaukee and seems to be somebody that is a big interest to Michigan.

He has easily one of the best recruits on the board for the 2014 class and would probably end up being the biggest recruit in Michigan's 2014 class, if he ever committed.  He's a great shooter and seems to control the ball pretty well.  The big thing I would see from the listing is that I think he needs to get a tad bigger to play in the Big Ten.  Obviously, he doesn't need to put on 30 lbs or something, but going through conference play is rough for somebody that's nearly seven foot and under 200 lbs.


Here are the basic listings for Looney:

	ESPN	Rivals	Scout	247Sports
Height	6’7”	6’8”	6’8”	6’6”
Weight	185 lbs	185 lbs	195 lbs	175 lbs
Position	SF	SF	SF	SF
Rating	5*	5*	5*	5*
Position Rank	#5	NR	#3	#6
National Rank	#16	#11	#11	#13

From these ratings I'm sure you get the sense of Looney's talent level.  Removing the outliers, Looney appears to be about 6'7", 185 lbs, and a top 15 national recruit.  His ranking in comparison to others will drastically change by time he gets on campus in 2014, but it's clear that he's immensely talented.  In fact, he's even beginning to be compared to Kevin Durant, who was the NBA's scoring leader the last three seasons and has now made it to the NBA Finals.

I won't say that Looney is Durant by any means, but he does have a similar body set and mindset.  Durant and Looney are both tall, smaller framed individuals that are great outside shooters.  Do I think Looney could develop into someone like Durant?  I think it's unlikely he'll ever be as good as Durant considering he's one of the top two players in the world, but I certainly think he can really develop and work his way into the NBA.

Now, to the interesting part.  What are Michigan's chances at landing a committment from Looney?  In a recent interview with ESPN, he spoke about his recruitment and commented on that fact that he didn't feel limited to local or in-state schools for college.  This is huge for Michigan and one of the main reasons that I think they have any chance in this race.  UMHoops has his interested listed as "low", but I don't think it's quite sewn up yet.  


Looney hasn't spent a ton of time on campus, as some of his scheduled visits to Michigan got canceled, such as the Michigan vs Ohio State football game.  Considering this, I do think that Michigan's position could change before everything's done.  As of now, I would say there's a low probability that he arrives on campus in 2014, but there is some potential to land what is sure to be one of the best players in the 2014 class, if future visits work out well.