2014 Basketball Target Hotboard

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Michigan basketball has been on the upswing for the past few years, but its recruiting has also been improving.  Whether it was landing underrated point guard Trey Burke in 2011,  5* recruits Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III for the 2012 class or 5* recruit Zak Irvin in 2013, the Wolverines have been on the upswing in recruiting.  The 2014 recruiting cycle has been in full swing for awhile and Michigan is in on some big players.  Check out the list below and links to breakdowns on each target:

• Point Guards
• N/A
• Wings
• Kameron Chatman
• Donte Grantham
• Austin Hatch
• Bigs
• Ricky Doyle

Michigan Basketball: A Scholarship Update

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

In early June each year, Michigan basketball begins offering the next cycle of recruits.  This June, Beilein and his staff began offering the class of 2015 recruits.  As of now, only a handful of recruits have received offers including Luke Kennard, Jalen Coleman, and Jalen Brunson.  However, something that is incredibly important, but often gets swept under the radar, is the scholarship situation.  Michigan has finished recruiting in the 2013 cycle, but the 2014 and 2015 cycles are in full swing, which makes this an interesting discussion.  So let's take a look at where things stand:

2014 Cycle:
Currently, Michigan is set to have 10 scholarship players for 13 open spots for the 2014-2015 cycle.  This means that the Wolverines can take up to 3 commits in the 2014 class.  As of now, Michigan has 2 commits in the class (Austin Hatch & Ricky Doyle) and 1 open spot.  With numerous offers out this begs the question of how Michigan will make room for potentially 2 or 3 recruits for 2014 class.  The clearest answer can be found on the current roster.  Mitch McGary and GR3 nearly left Ann Arbor following the 2012-2013 season for the NBA Draft.  In all likelihood this will happen following the 2013-2014 season, which would give Michigan 5 open slots for the 2014 and beyond.  With 2 recruits already committed, that means the Wolverines could add 3 recruits to its 2014 class assuming McGary and GR3 leave following the season as expected.  However, I'm not completely convinced Michigan will max out the scholarship slots for 2014.  Verdict: 4 member 2014 class

2015 Cycle:
As we get farther out in the predictions, things always become tougher to predict.  There are some major questions about how the 2014 class will end, but there are even more about the 2015 class.  If we continue using the verdict listed for the "2014 cycle" that means Michigan will start the 2014-2015 season 1 scholarship short.  This team would feature a bunch of seniors and Derrick Walton and Zak Irvin as sophomores with an even bigger chance of a jump to the pros.  It's hard to believe that the 2014-2015 season will end without at least one player jumping pro.  This brings the scholarship numbers to roughly 10 out of the available 13 for the 2015-2016 season.  It wouldn't be too difficult to imagine another person jumping pro or transferring, which would open up 4 slots for this class.  Many of the players look committed now, but if they aren't getting playing time in roughly 2 seasons and Michigan lands some big 2014 recruits, they may start looking around for playing time.  With this in mind, the class will probably end up around the same size.  Verdict: 4 member 2015 class

2016 Cycle:
If predicting the 2015 class wasn't hard enough, for some reason I've taken the challenge of looking at 2016, which is nearly impossible.  Using the predictions listed above for the 2014 and the 2015 classes (which will probably prove faulty), it would leave 3-4 open scholarship positions for the 2016 class.  This depends on whether one of the older players transferred or one of Irvin or Walton jump pro as listed in the 2015 description.  For this, we'll just assume that it was not a transfer and both Irvin and Walton jump pro.  This would leave Donnal as the only person on the current roster left for the 2016-2017 season.  This gives you an idea of how far we are looking into the future.  Along with Donnal, there would be 4 scholarship players from 2014 and 4 scholarship players from 2015.  So this leaves a class of 4 assuming none of the 2014 or 2015 recruits leave, which seems to be a virtual lock to occur.  For instance, if Michigan lands Devin Booker, will he make it through 2 full seasons and not jump to the NBA?  Seems unlikely.  With this in mind, here's a way too early 2016 prediction.  Verdict: 5 member 2016 class

2013 Commit Austin Hatch To Delay To 2014

A lot has been made of the events surrounding Austin Hatch and his attempts to recover from the tragic plane crash that destroyed his family.  So much in fact that the IHSAA has decided to allow Hatch an extra year in high school.  This has a multitude of effects on both Hatch, Michigan, and the team's future recruiting plans.  I will break down that impact below, but I first want to congratulate the IHSAA on making the right decision.  Much like the situation involving DeAnthony Arnett, it doesn't matter whether it will benefit one school or another, it was the right thing to do for both the NCAA and the IHSAA.  Not only for athletic reasons, but also for academic reasons.  The recovery time put Austin significantly behind in his studies and an extra year will allow him to regain his standing and get ready to attend the University of Michigan.

Now, to get into some of the impact of this decision.  The first impact will be on Austin himself.  Obviously, the extra time to get settled both academically and athletically will be a great benefit, but it's going to go a long way towards preparing him for college and specifically, basketball at the collegiate level.  To be frank, Austin's injury during the plane crash put him behind schedule in his college preparation.  While most athletes are preparing during the summer and their senior year to be ready for college, Austin has to recover to simply get himself back on the court.  There are still doubts about how much time he will even see this basketball season.  For a player trying to step in and contribute at a school like Michigan, high school preparation is key to making a great transition.

Updating 2013 Commit Austin Hatch

If there has ever been a commit that has received unanimous support from the Michigan community, it's Austin Hatch.  Not because he's an insanely elite prospect, but because of the hardship he has endured since he committed to Michigan.  He recently survived a brutal plane crash that killed both his father and his stepmother and has been on the road to recovery ever since.  He was injured severely in the crash and for him to even contemplate a return to basketball is amazing.  Every year and recruiting class typically brings one "heartfelt" story, but Hatch has taken that meaning to a new level and should be one of the most beloved Michigan players in future years, whether he turns into a great college player or not.

Hatch's major asset that he brings to the table is his shooting ability.  However, with the plane crash there have been major questions raised about his abilities in terms of both his athleticism and general basketball skills.  In fact, it's still a question whether he will be ready for basketball at all once he arrives on campus in 2013.  I do believe he will be ready to play, but it's going to be quite awhile before he recovers the talents that encompassed his game before the crash.  Until he is completely college ready, which may even be a year or two into college, he's not going to be a major contributor.

New 2013 Rivals150 Boosts Michigan Recruits

Rivals has updated their ranking of the top 150 basketball players in the nation and their latest move definitely is a good one for Michigan.  Michigan's 2013 class already has four commitments and was recently ranked #2 in the nation by ESPN.  Obviously, with a class ranking that high, Michigan will be bringing some great players to campus in 2013.


As I pointed out in the past, some of the recruiting services haven't done the best job at evaluating Michigan's 2013 recruits.  Yes, there will always be some subjectivity, especially between different services, but some of the differences have been quite dramatic.  For instnace, 2013 Michigan commit Zak Irvin is well within the top 100 players in the country for both ESPN and Rivals, yett Scout has him outside of the top 100.  Some of these irregularities just don't make much sense.

Scout's 2013 Rankings Hurt Michigan

As I wrote about earlier, Michigan's 2013 basketball recruiting class has been receiving a lot of love from the recruiting services.  ESPN has ranked the class #2 in the nation and as the best in the Big Ten.  Scout has expressed a similar sentiment, but not quite as positive.  Scout has put Michigan's 2013 class as #6 in the nation, but as only the 3rd best in the Big Ten, behind Purdue and Indiana.

I'm not one that claims Michigan's recruits are always underrated like many analysts seem to do, but I would like to point out the differences between ESPN and Scout's rankings.  ESPN's basketball coverage has almost always been superior to Rivals and Scout, so I tend to lean towards their rankings, but that's not the only reason I think ESPN's rankings are more accurate for Michigan's 2013 recruiting class.