The Fab Five and Cul-de-Sac Kids

Something caught my eye the other day. Jalen Rose was on Grantland Live for the first couple of rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and he made a comment about college recruiters targeting "cul-de-sac kids" (suburban kids, 2 parent families, etc.). Then I read an article in the Free Press by Jeff Seidel about how Beilein began to turn Michigan's program around. One thing he mentions is basically now Michigan recruits cu-de-sac kids and avoids kids like Jalen Rose was. Here's a quote from the article:

"Our pool shrinks because of the core values," U-M assistant coach LaVall Jordan said. "A lot of guys can play, not all of them can play here. That's OK."

By all accounts, this team is made up of a bunch of straight arrows. Good kids. From good families.

But that's all part of the plan. They don't just recruit players. They recruit families."When you go and identify a recruit, the first thing we grab is the transcript," U-M assistant coach Bacari Alexander said. "Then, we try to look at the family dynamics. Are mom and dad at home? If not, OK. What are they about?"

That sounds a lot like how the Fab Five described Duke's recruiting practices. And they were pretty resentful. I don't think this is an example of Beilein dissing Jalen Rose or anything, but Jalen has to feel a little betrayed by this.

Michigan has gone a long way to try to eradicate the Fab Five era and post-Fab Five era, since the vacated wins go from 1992 to 1999. They've taken down their banners and protect them like the Dead Sea Scrolls (although those at least get out once in a while), they don't invite the players back or have any kind of contact with them, yet the impact of the Fab Five refuses to go away.

A couple of guys at ESPN drafted up game plans for both Michigan & Syracuse. Here are Michigan's Cliff Notes:

Offensive game plan for Michigan: 1. Beat the zone down the floor 2. Do not settle for contested shots 3. Play through Trey Burke Defensive game plan for Michigan: 1. Take care of the ball 2. Contain and control the guards 3. Control the defensive glass 

I think in addition to that, McGary is going to have to continue his rebounding rampage & get a fair bit of put-backs. This defense will force a lot of difficult shots, McGary & Horford will have a lot of cleaning up to do. 

Also, Tim Hardaway will have to come back to life this game. His shot has been off, but when it's on he can hit shots with a hand in his face. Lastly, turnovers are key. Michigan needs them to get into a transition offense, can't afford to give them up.