He won’t be around until the fall of 2016, but elite point guard Tyus Battle’s decision to commit to John Beilein and Michigan could signal the start of a seismic shift in the future of not just Michigan basketball, but basketball in the Big 10 and around the country.
Battle is currently ranked 14th nationally by Rivals, which would make him the highest ranked recruit Beilein has ever brought in. Despite this, Beilein has taken the Wolverines to a national championship game, coached back to back Big 10 players of the year, and would have had a chance at sending players to the lottery three years in a row if not for Caris LeVert’s injury.
What’s remarkable about Beilein’s run of producing (and finding) talent is where these players come from. Obviously no recruiting ranking is perfect, but if you look at the top 20 ranked players of any recruiting class you’ll find a lot more college super stars and NBA players than if you look at the players ranked 70-90.
The exception seems to be Beilein. Trey Burke was the 142nd ranked player and 26th ranked point guard in the class of 2011. He had offers from places like Cincinnati and Iowa, but almost reluctantly committed to Penn State before Michigan climbed into the fray. Nik Stauskas was ranked 71st in the class of 2012 and reportedly wanted to go to Kansas, but the Jayhawks never offered. Instead, he went to Michigan and won the 2014 Big 10 player of the year before becoming a lottery pick. Caris LeVert is perhaps Beilein’s greatest success story. He was an unranked 3 star by Rivals whose only offers were from a pair of MAC schools. Beilein came in and the rest is history.
Even last year’s team had some of these: Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had offers from a bunch of low majors, and John Beilein. Ricky Doyle’s only Division 1 offer was from Michigan. Beilein has never had a McDonald’s All-American. Until maybe now.
I’ve often thought Beilein is either the best at developing talent or the best at recognizing talent in the entire country. (as this article notes, he was the first or among the first on Devin Booker and Luke Kennard, among others) and I wondered when elite recruits would realize that if Beilein was sending guys who no one wanted not just to the NBA, but to the lottery, just think of what he could do with those elite guys.
This isn’t to say that Michigan will start reeling in classes filled with 5 star guys. They probably won’t grab a class like Kentucky, Kansas, or Duke has in recent seasons. But, if they can supplement the hidden gems Beilein excels at finding with even one elite talent per class (or heck, every other class), then the Wolverines can be great year in and year out.
