Winston Narrows List, Stops By A2
John Beilein's top recruiting priority is to land a quality point guard in the 2016 class and U-D Jesuit four-star Cassius Winston has been the number one target on the board for a while. Michigan got a couple encouraging developments on that front this week when Winston cut down his list and then dropped by Ann Arbor for an unofficial, per The Wolverine's Chris Balas ($):
Winston trimmed his list to four recently, striking Harvard from his list and leaving Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford and Pitt. Most believe it's a U-M vs. MSU battle, and Winston added some intrigue when he visited Ann Arbor again Aug. 16.
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"He loves everything Michigan has to offer, loves the basketball," his dad said. "He really likes the academics, too."
Winston is slated to take an official visit on September 19th; he's already taken one to Stanford and is supposed to see MSU the week prior, giving M the last crack unless he adds other visits to the schedule. His father told MLive he's getting a little tired of the recruiting process and would like to make a final decision before his senior season begins. This looks like an in-state battle and the Wolverines may have a slight edge right now.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Bridges, Huerter Set Officials
board tidbit from this morning... hearing 2016 Huntington (W.Va.) Prep 5-star SF Miles Bridges slated to officially visit Michigan Oct 10th
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) August 16, 2015
While the focus is largely on Winston at the point, Michigan is still going after 2016 wings, with five-star Miles Bridges—a friend of Winston's—at the top of the board. Kentucky is the presumed leader for Bridges, but if M can reel in Winston, that would help their cause. Bridges also has officials set for Indiana, MSU, and Kentucky, per UMHoops.
Four-star combo guard Kevin Huerter is another possibility; ZagsBlog has the details on his visit plans and current top schools:
Huerter has set officials to Villanova (Aug. 30-31), Maryland (Sept. 4-6), Michigan (Sept. 12-14) and Notre Dame Sept. (24-26).
“Iowa, Indiana, Creighton and Davidson are all still in the mix,” Hart said by phone Thursday, adding that no dates have been set to those schools. “It’s actually eight [schools].
Huerter added that no schools are out in front. He also mentioned Syracuse would be on the list if they offered him as a 2016 prospect instead of a 2017 prospect; there'd been speculation Michigan would try to take Huerter as part of the 2017 class, so given their presence on his list I assume the staff is willing to take him in 2016.
Watson, Teske Hit Open Gym
Several top Ohio prospects hit Coach Vic's open gym last week, including 2016 M commits Ibi Watson and Jon Teske—you can watch the highlights above, which feature some smooth play from Watson and great rim protection from Teske. Prep Hoops Ohio mentioned Watson as one of the session's top performers:
Ibi Watson (6'5 SG / Pickerington Central / 2016): The long and athletic Michigan commit was impressive alongside Hoskins and Teske on Sunday. Showing the motor, toughness and play-making ability that led to a blowup in July, Watson has been on a different level of good this offseason. On a Pickerington Central team that has as much talent as anyone in the region, Watson will be a major piece of what the Tigers are looking to accomplish.
Watson's had a great summer. All hail Beilein's eye for breakout talent.
Etc.
Happy trails, again, to five-star 2016 forward TJ Leaf, who decommitted from Arizona a couple weeks ago but didn't include Michigan in his new top eight.
Top-100 Utah forward Brendan Bailey told Scout's Josh Gershon that he's down to Gonzaga, Marquette, Michigan, San Diego State, and Utah, and went into detail on each of his finalists ($):
Michigan: "I don't really know a lot about Michigan, that's why they're coming in for a home visit. We're going to talk over things so they can explain how they play... I'm going to do a home visit with Michigan and we may schedule an official from there. That will be at the end of the September."
While Bailey will graduate in 2016, he'll be a member of the 2018 class after taking a two-year Mormon mission. He still plans to make a decision this fall after he takes his officials.