The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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BASKETBALL RECRUITING playing with him because of his team-first attitude." ketball gets off to an earlier start in the hoops-crazed state of Indiana. Michigan signee Zak Irvin showed why he's one of the leading candi- dates for Mr. Basketball honors in the state, opening his season with 31 points and 12 rebounds in an 81-61 win over crosstown rival Fishers High. Irvin scored 24 points in the first Not surprisingly, high school bas- TO A QUICK START ZAK IRVIN OFF half, making all five of his triples in the stanza, in continuing to elevate his game. steals of the 2013 class. He was the best player in the gym at the recent super scrimmage at Lansing Eastern, All Eyes on U Hoops reported, show- ing off his all-around game. "Chandler Park has some other tal- ented guys, but the team will go as Derrick Walton goes," All Eyes' Steve Schwanda reported. "Derrick showed why he is a top-40 player in the na- tion and why he is going to Michigan. He just controls the game, can score when he wants, gets his teammates involved — just a wonderful player." Power forward signee Mark Don- nal and his Whitehouse (Ohio) An- thony Wayne team have yet to open the 2012-13 season. uate class of 2014 prospects in addi- tion to those who have already re- ceived offers. One on the short list of those most likely to receive a schol- arship tender is Fort Myers (Fla.) Bishop Verot big man Ricky Doyle, once under the radar but quickly be- coming a known commodity on the recruiting trail. Doyle (6-9, 230) isn't the typical Michigan coaches continue to eval- OF 2014'S TOP TARGETS FLORIDA BIG MAN EMERGING AS ONE a great guy and a really good coach, a good person to talk to. Coach B.A., too — he's a funny guy, and he made a great first impression. They text my dad every day. I haven't been on my phone for a while because I've been concentrating on school and working on my grades." Doyle doesn't plan any visits this "We talk to Coach Beilein a lot. He's fall, taking his time before diving in to the process. "The whole college thing is really new to me," he said. "But I know about Michigan. I've watched college basketball growing up, and I know Michigan versus Ohio is a big rivalry. I just haven't looked into it that much. I really plan to in the upcoming year, but I like what I've seen of Michigan. It's a great academic school and a great basketball school, too." Doyle plans to talk to his parents about a visit to Ann Arbor, noting distance won't be a factor and "my family will follow my anywhere." In the meantime, he plans to continue to help lead his Bishop Verot team to new heights. "I would say my strengths are my Irvin, the nation's No. 9 shooting guard and No. 34 overall player according to Rivals.com, averaged 27.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in the first three games of his senior campaign. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM against a big rival," Irvin told the Indianapolis Star after making 11 of 14 shots from the floor, including 6 of 8 three-pointers. "I just wanted to wait and let the game come to me. The ball definitely was dropping, and I got some great shots, but that's be- cause of my teammates getting me the ball when I was open." Irvin notched 30 points and eight "It was a big game, especially high-major recruit— he is admittedly more interested in keeping up his grades than the recruiting process at this point. He's not oblivious to the process, however, and it's not that he doesn't care — in fact, he made it his mission to get to this point before he even made it to high school. "It's a huge honor to be recruited ability to go inside and out, post up or go to midrange, drive in and my ability to use both hands. Plus I work on my leadership on the court," he said. "I want to be a good teammate first." Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, by major schools," Doyle said in November. "I've worked so hard — since eighth grade really, when I de- cided my goal was to be a college basketball player. I've really worked to be the best I can be, so it will really be an honor if it happens." It appears to be not a matter of "if," rebounds in a win over Bowman and a game-high 20 points, eight re- bounds, three assists and three steals in a win over Lake Central to help improve his Hamilton Southeastern team's record to 3-0. Point guard signee Derrick Walton has yet to play in his first game, but he, too, is proving to be one of the but when. Doyle holds offers from Boston College and Penn State, and several others — including Michigan — have shown serious interest. "They started recruiting me a few Stanford, Miami, Boston College, Washington are among those re- cruiting him, while Notre Dame has joined U-M in turning up the heat recently. The 6-9, 235-pounder scored 28 points and added eight rebounds in 28 minutes in his team's season- opening, 62-60 loss to rival Fort My- ers Nov. 24. months ago," Doyle said. "Coach B.A. [Bacari Alexander] came over this summer and watched me play for a couple games at nationals. Coach Beilein came to open gym to watch me play. After that we went to talk about the school, how they're really interested. off the board, having committed to other schools. The most surprising was Normal (Ill.) University forward Keita Bates-Diop. The 6-7, 190-pounder, Ri- vals.com's No. 20 prospect nationally in the junior class, pledged to Ohio State Nov. 18. U-M, Purdue and perhaps Il- linois were thought to be his strong leaders, but the Buckeyes swooped in the way they did with another Illinois Wolves star, former OSU All-American Evan Turner, in stealing him away. Shortly afterward, 6-5 Pickerington (Ohio) four-star forward Jae'sean Tate • Two former Michigan targets are CLASS OF 2014 NOTES DECEMBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 67