by Commissioner » Wed Jun 15, 2016 2:56 pm
Well, we're not yet two months into the failed Bacari Alexander regime, and BA has his coaching team in place, his roster looks settled, they've announced the new radio deal, it looks like the schedule is about done. On to phase III? Even if you're not pleased (and I am pleased), it's time to be optimistic--no point in bitching and moaning before we've seen any results on the court, right Titans96?
But it seems like a coaching team BA is comfy with. He kept our top recruit, Cory Allen, and that's no small thing. After a monster year like Cory's senior season, some kids would have looked at the coaching change as an opportunity to get out of their LOI and hope for an offer from a Power 5, Big East, or A10 school. I'm keeping my expectations low for the big guys, Jones and Eichler, but it's nice to sign some bigs. I don't think we've signed a guy taller than 6-8 since Solanke and NJ in 2012. I'm very excited to get Kam Chatman. We know that sitting on the bench in the Big 10 doesn't necessarily translate into being a star in the Horizon, but the young man was a top 30 recruit out of high school. Seems like a chance worth taking. Even CB (who was ranked around #100 in HS), who never really fufilled expectations, was a valuable member of the rotation for 3 seasons, and played really well late last season. I hope for more from Chatman.
I'm curious if, with the new assistants, we are really going to get young men out of Baltimore, Chicago, the northwest, etc. to come to Detroit. One thing Ray promised when he came on was to expand our recruiting reach--get our name in front of the best kids around the country and make them turn us down. Which, except for Lil Ray, is pretty much what they did. Seems our recruiting fell back more and more on Michigan (and metro Detroit) as Ray's time went on. After Grant and Williams in 2013, I don't think Ray landed any high school player from outside Michigan (Bass in the summer of 2013, Hogan, AFS, Blackshear, McFolly, Gibson, then Cory Allen last fall--am I forgetting anyone?) I'm not saying that's good or bad (a lot of fans, including many on this board, have expressed a preference for recruiting local kids), just that he didn't have much luck recruiting nationally, if that was his goal. So we'll see if it works for Bacari. I' personally am glad he's planning to try, and obviously his first class has some geographic reach -- California, Canada, Germany.
I think the Bacari era is off to an excellent start. Seems to be a man with a plan.
Titan All Americans Calihan Swanson Sparrow Ebben DeBusschere Murray Haywood Long Tyler Duerod Phillips Green McCallum