The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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2015 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE the past couple of years that were not as highly rated, but were much better than that coming in the door." Point guard Trey Burke, for exam- ple — the No. 9 overall pick in the 2013 draft and now with the Utah Jazz — was Rivals.com's No. 26 point guard and No. 142 player nationally. Tim Hardaway Jr. was an unranked three-star who went to New York with the No. 25 pick in 2013, while Nik Stauskas (No. 71 prep player na- tionally according to Rivals) became last year's eighth overall pick, going to Sacramento. Buzz on Burke started early in his freshman year, and by the end of the season the coaches started looking at prep point guard recruits a bit ear- lier than expected. With Stauskas, the noise reached fever pitch by the second half of his sophomore season. "I don't do anything differently until we get into the second semester of the year," Beilein said. "You know if there are a lot of scouts at prac- tice and they keep coming back and coming back — and if kids are doing things that you only see future pros in our league do — you realize they may not go all four years." And then it becomes a bit of a scramble. Coaching during the sea- son takes precedence, and prospects the staff might otherwise have con- tinued to recruit have moved on. There are always others out there, Beilein said, but many have solidified relationships with other coaches or haven't yet realized their potential. Two rising sophomores, Abdur- Rahkman and Dawkins, fell into the latter category last year. Both were waiting for bigger offers that didn't come until spring of their senior years. "You're always trying to keep as many young men interested as pos- sible, but the truth is the majority do sign early," Beilein said. "As a result, there aren't a lot of ways you can quick fix it in one year. "You don't have time to. You're in the middle of your season, and you're playing every three days. We make sure that we get as many coaches' eyes on a player as we can, including the head coach, before we offer. That's really hard to do in Feb- ruary and March." CHANGING THE APPROACH They were fortunate with both Dawkins and Abdur-Rahkman. It wasn't the ideal way to recruit, Beilein admitted, though sometimes there's no other choice. Chemistry and fit — Beilein sta- ples when it comes to recruiting — weren't compromised, though, and remained critical in their evaluation processes. "We're building a team, not just amassing talent," Beilein said. "[Se- nior guard and former two-star prospect] Spike Albrecht is a perfect example of how you build a team in our eyes. You know who I heard that from? [Former Michigan great and NBA championship head coach] Rudy Tomjanovich. I think that's who said that. "At the same time, you always have to look at your whole roster