[Photo: GametimePA.com]
Spring Grove (PA) point guard Eli Brooks grew up a Villanova fan and picked up an offer from the defending national champions last week, one of a handful of high-level offers Brooks added during the July evaluation period. Michigan, in need of a 2017 point guard, also offered during that time, and despite not having homecourt advantage, they landed a commitment from Brooks last night.
“(Villanova) was his dream school ever since he was a little boy,” said Brooks’ AAU coach Tony Sagona. “He just felt a better feeling about Michigan. He really loved Coach Beilein.”
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“He picked up the offer probably about two weeks ago,” said Sagona. “He was up there a month ago and he loved the school, loved Coach Beilein. I’ve known coach a long time. I’ve been doing this 35 years, so I’ve had dealing with coach… his honesty, his integrity, and his reputation. Also his assistant coach (Billy Donlon) did a great job. "
Brooks is the second commit in the 2017, joining shooting guard Jordan Poole. His commitment leaves Michigan with two open scholarships for the 2017-18 season. As Brendan Quinn covers at MLive, this is Billy Donlan's first major recruiting win as an assistant at Michigan.
GURU RATINGS
| Scout | Rivals | ESPN | 247 | 247 Comp |
| NR PG | NR PG | NR PG |
4*, 90, #23 PG, #112 Ovr | NR PG |
Based on the recent influx of offers, Brooks shouldn't be mostly unranked for long. Thus far, 247 is the only site that's rated Brooks, placing him on the lower end of the four-star spectrum—notably, two spots in the PG rankings behind offeree and recent Wisconsin commit Brad Davison. Meanwhile, ESPN has yet to even give Brooks a profile.
Rivals, Scout, and 247 all list Brooks at 6'1" and 165-175 pounds.
SCOUTING
Brian posted this when Brooks committmed last night but it remains the most comprehensive bit of scouting on him—here's a full eval from City of Basketball Love:
Strengths: In his area, Brooks is known as a scorer, putting up over 25 ppg for Spring Grove High School as a junior. However, his biggest strength is his ability to run a team. Brooks plays the game at a great pace. He never allows the defense to speed him up, and makes his teammates better every time he touches the floor. His jump shot has continued to improve and he his now knocking down outside shots on a consistent basis.
Weaknesses: One concern for Brooks heading into the summer will be his lateral quickness. During the high school season he is not challenged to defend on a consistent basis; it will be interesting to see during the AAU season how he keeps more athletic guards in front of him.
Overall: A super-stock riser over the last few months, Brooks' amazing 2016 summer was capped off with a commitment to Michigan. But he's proven he's a true high-major guard of late -- he's completely unflappable, limits his mistakes as well as anybody around, and is a knockdown shooter from all over the court who also makes his teammates better both in his style of play and his leadership. Has been a winner at every level and will only make a program better at the high-major level, even if he's not a four-year starter.
While Brooks's high school competition isn't top-notch, he performs like you'd expect from a high-major prospect at that level:
“He’s very smooth,” PennLIve.com’s Patrick Strohecker told TheWolverine.com last month. “He’s not physically imposing, but he’s very quick and, at least locally, he dominates games, as he should be doing. He’ll need to put some weight on at the D-I level, but right now, he has no problem taking over games and dominating them.”
The rest of what's out there on Brooks comes from his coaches. His AAU coach gave a nice overview of his game to Sam Webb:
What had the coaches buzzing most about Brooks is ability to score, but desire to get others involved first. In other words he is the quintessential pass first, shoot second point guard.
“He has a great control of the game,” Sagona said. “He does nothing that he shouldn’t do as a point guard. No extra dribbles, no toying with the ball, goes by people, plays defense, can shoot… tremendously athletic.”
Brooks's father is his high school coach, and they've worked together to develop his scoring ability on multiple levels:
“He’s a 41 percent three-point shooter, 79 in 29 games, but his midrange game is where we start,” his dad said. “He has a nice 15-foot pull-up. We knew his scoring had to be at three levels, so he can pull up, hit the three and get to the free throw line. He’s an 82 percent free throw shooter and shot over 150 free throws, and he averaged a double double with rebounds. Coach Beilein actually asked if he could dunk, and he said, ‘coach, that’s not a problem.’ He’s athletic. Coach Beilein was surprised by that.
“When you’re not on the [high level] AAU circuit there’s little time for people to really see you, but when they do … he’s not always the flashiest, but he’s making everybody better every time out there. We won’t rely on him shooting 25 jumpers, but he’ll make a mediocre kid a good player.”
Brooks has a pretty midrange floater that shows up several times in his highlights; it's a shot that could become a major weapon as he encounters defenses that provide more resistance at the rim.
OFFERS
Brooks added most of his major offers in the July evaluation period, including those from Kansas State, NC State, Ohio State, Temple, and Villanova. He also held offers from American, Brown, Bucknell, Colgate, Delaware, Drexel, George Mason, High Point, La Salle, Lehigh, Monmouth, Penn, and Rice. The quality of his offers has obviously taken a leap of late.
STATS
Brooks averaged 24.7 points per game as a junior, leading Spring Grove to their first league title since 1971 while shooting 41% on three-pointers and 82% on free throws. I haven't been able to find AAU stats for Brooks, who plays for the Jersey Shore Warriors, a lower-level AAU squad without a shoe partnership that's nonetheless produced some talented players over the years:
“(Brooks is a) character kid,” said Sagona. “He is tremendously happy with his choice. He is ecstatic about his choice. I just think that he is a great character kid and he is a great player. We’ve had some really good players come through our program… Matty Carroll (Notre Dame, 10 years in the NBA), Troy Murphy (Notre Dame, 12 years in the NBA), Kyle McAlarney (Notre Dame, current Euro League player), Darrun Hilliard (Villanova and the Detroit Pistons)… he is right up there with those guys.”
VIDEO
Dylan edited some highlights from the recent evaluation period:
Sophomore Spring Grove highlights:
Interview with some highlights from last summer.
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
There's not much projection necessary here: Michigan needed a point guard to join Xavier Simpson at the position following Derrick Walton's graduation, and Brooks fills that need. He's well aware of the situation he's walking into:
In that regard, Brooks said he's comfortable coming in behind Simpson because, at the end of the day, he's comfortable at Michigan.
"I think it's tough to walk in and be a starter at any level, but especially when there's a sophomore guard and you're going to be a freshman," Eli Brooks said. "But I'm not really concerned about starting. I just want to continue to get better and push the guys who are ahead of me."
Unless Simpson fails to live up to expectations, Brooks should be the primary backup at the point for three years before taking over as the starter as a senior. If he proves capable of guarding two-guards—and that should be the case, at least against smaller teams—then he should be able to play alongside Simpson in the same backcourt in certain situations.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Michigan has their point guard, which likely spells the end of their pursuit of Nojel Eastern. With two scholarship spots remaining, the focus will turn to adding a couple wings, with one of those being a prospect who can play the four in Beilein's system. Four-star OH F Kyle Young and four-star IN F Jaren Jackson both hold offers and could slot in at the four. Five-star wings Brian Bowen and Kris Wilkes are the top overall targets on the board, and three-star in-state wing Jamal Cain also holds an offer.