Wrapping Up 'Offer Day' For Michigan

It was an exciting day on the basketball recruiting front.  There may not have been any verbal commitments, but there was surely a ton of action throughout the day.  Not only for Michigan, but the entire country.  Michigan's main focus for the day was on Devin Booker and Keita Bates-Diop.  They were the only players that were offered today and they are, without a doubt, the base of Michigan's 2014 recruiting.

Earlier this week, I said that I wasn't convinced that anybody would commit on 'Offer Day', but that Booker was the most likely candidate if somebody did commit.  Obviously, nobody committed today, but that shouldn't be a negative for Michigan fans.  Yes, at this time last year Beilein already had two commitments, but Michigan is in great position for many high profile recruits in the coming months and I still do believe it's only a matter of time before Devin Booker commits to Michigan.  He was tweeting earlier today about the desire to talk things over with his family before making any college decision and personally, that doesn't bother me one bit.

Now, Keita Bates-Diop is not in the same position as Booker.  If the Wolverines want him on campus in 2014, they are going to have to go through a long battle to get him.  He's very interested in several schools and I really think it's going to come down to Michigan and Purdue for Bates-Diop.  Beilein has done a great job at getting recruits in these tight battles between schools, but don't hold your breath anytime soon. He recently visited both schools and it will be a while before anybody has a strong indication about where he's going to commit.

Michigan may have only offered Book and Bates-Diop today, but because of the new unlimited contact rules, the coaches did begin moving in on other recruits.  One of the main reasons that many of the other recruits weren't offered was primarily because of this coaching staff's tough rules for scholarship offers.  Not only did they wait to offer until June 15 because of ethic guidelines, but they typically don't offer until a recruit has visited campus as well.  These things may seem pretty straightforward, but if you take a look at many other schools including Big Ten foe Indiana, not all schools do this.

Some of the recruits the coaches spoke with, according to reports, were 4* Bryant McIntosh and 4* Trevon Bluiett.  Both of these are very talented players and are ranked in either the ESPN60 or the Rivals50 for 2014.  Another thing to note is that Bluiett will likely be on campus soon, which probably means that an offer will follow shortly after.   It's hard to tell where Michigan stands with McIntosh and Bluiett before they arrive on campus, but they haven't committed yet, so there's always a chance.  If I had to guess on which one seemed more Blue to me, it would be Bluiett, but like I said, hard to predict right now.

I think with the way things are starting to line-up, it could be another great class for Michigan.  The team has already had tremendous 2012 and 2013 classes under Beilein and I see no reason to believe that 2014 won't be the same as well.  The big question marks are going to reside around whether Beilein can continue to beat out other schools in head-to-head recruiting battles.  If he can, Michigan is going to continue to recruit at an elite level and if he can't, the classes aren't going to be quite as good, but they still should be solid nonetheless.