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

2014 PF Keita Bates-Diop Picks Ohio State

For many, Keita Bates-Diop had become the most desired prospect in Michigan's 2014 recruiting.  When I posted on him visiting campus a few months back, he was already receiving rave reviews from the scouting services and he has only went up from there.  He performed very well during the summer and to no surprise, had been receiving some major attention from multiple programs including Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin.

When I first talked about Bates-Diop, there seemed to be a few schools that were really recruiting him hard, but Michigan and Purdue definitely seemed to be high up on his list.  However, Ohio State got in the mix and really recruited Bates-Diop pretty hard and ultimately, recruited him very effectively.  He tweeted earlier today that he committed to Ohio State.  He is now Ohio State's only commit for the 2014 class and will surely do a lot for them in the coming years.

Breaking Down Michigan's Targets In The 2014 247Sports Top 25

247Sports has begun their process of rankings the 2014 recruiting class.  It will be a very long time before they make it through all the recruits and compare them, but they have released a list of the Top 25 players in the 2014 recruiting class.  This list will undergo massive changes before the final rankings, especially because 247 hasn't gotten around to ranking a large number of recruits for 2014 yet, but it's still an interesting list to evaluate.


As I talked about in my breakdowns of the top 2014 recruits according to ESPN, Rivals, and Scout, everyone of these lists needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  ESPN seems to have the best basketball rankings and I've said this on multiple occasions and 247 probably has the worst, but it's just one list. By the end of 247's rankings, they aren't that far off, but they are just so slow are ranking players.  I mean, every other site has a 2014 list with at least 60 players so far, 247's list has just 25 guys.  I mean some of Michigan's top targets haven't even been ranked yet.  This shouldn't disqualify the list as of now, but it is something to note before you look at the overall rankings.

Michigan's Targets In The 2014 Scout75

So far, Scout has compiled a list of the Top 75 players in the country for the 2014 recruiting class and Michigan's targets have placed pretty well in them.  There's no doubt that there will be numerous updates both to the players on the list and players that do not appear before the recruits arrive on campus, but it does start to give us a sense of how Michigan's recruiting is going in 2014 and how Michigan's class might finish.


I don't think this list is perfect by any means and there are some areas that I really think are flawed, but I do think it's worth the time to go through these rankings and analyze the results.  I have generally found that ESPN's basketball recruiting coverage has been the best of all the major recruiting services, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at Scout's rankings.  They might look at a player differently that sheds some light on their true talent level.  Even though ESPN is the best, at least in my opinion, they are just one service.  There can be a lot of bias involved, not that I'm accusing anybody, especially with just one service.  To me, this is the most logical reason for using multiple lists.  

Breaking Down Michigan's Targets In The 2014 ESPN60

ESPN has released their 2014 basketball rankings and it has worked out well for Michigan's 2014 recruiting targets.  These type of rankings mean little in the long run, especially because recruits often outperform or underperform these ratings once their arrive on campus, but they are probably some of the clearest measures for high school talent and when coupled with other ratings, can usually be relatively accurate in their predictions.


Just a few quick reminders.  First, I have generally found that ESPN's basketball recruiting coverage has been the best of all the major recruiting services.  It's not perfect, but it has been the best.  Other services have done some great things and I think that they have improved in some areas, but overall, I still give the nod to ESPN.  The most important thing, however, is to compare where recruits are placed on different lists.  If a person uses just one or two services, they are probably going to get a limited idea of a recruit's potential.  Combining different recruiting services, offer lists, and video seems to be the best.  Regardless, here are the rankings for the ESPN60 in 2014:

Introducing 2014 Prospect Bryant McIntosh

One of the wildcard recruits in the 2014 class is Bryant McIntosh.  Some of the players that Michigan is pursuing in 2014 have received great ratings across the board, such as Kevon Looney, Devin Booker, and Keita Bates-Diop.  However, McIntosh has received very inconsistent findings by the major scouting services.  Some say he's a point guard, some say he's a shooting guard.  Some say he's a 4* recruit, while others say he's only a 2* player.  These things tend to settle down as the recruiting services get more time to review the player and he matures, but this massive flux is quite interesting.


I have often been confused at the massive differences between recruiting services, but it seems even more evident in McIntosh's case.  ESPN, who is widely considered (and rightfully so) as the best at picking out basketball talent, has only positive things to say about McIntosh.  They've rated him extremely high and said that he's "tough" and plays with "swagger".  He is also labeled as a good shooter and as having a great feel for the game.  The only thing that currently plagues him, as it plagues most sophomores, is that he's relatively small.  He's not tiny by any means, but the main issue is strength.  Right now, I don't think he's even close to being big enough and having enough strength to make it through a full Big Ten schedule.  Of course, he will probably be a good bit bigger when he actually plays college basketball, but that is the one thing that might have given him such low rankings on some other scouting services.

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.