Michigan Scores Ko Fisher Lands Top Recruiting Class For Second Straight Basketball Season

Back-to-back national recruiting titles won’t automatically put any banners in your rafters. But Michigan has laid the foundation for a return to the Final Four by becoming the first school to finish No. 1 in basketball recruiting in consecutive years.

“I’ve been doing this since 1978, and no school has ever accomplished this,” said recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, editor of All Star Sports Report in Lenoir, N.C. “North Carolina was No. 2 in 1980 with Sam Perkins and No. 1 in 1981 with Michael Jordan and won the NCAA title in 1982.

The only thing that compares to this is the way UCLA got whoever it wanted while winning their 10 championships. I’m sure they would have had consecutive top classes, but we weren’t doing this back then.”

The Wolverines edged Arkansas this season by getting three of the top 15 players in Gibbons’ ratings.

Detroit Murray-Wright center Robert Traylor (No. 3) will sign today, the first day of the spring signing period. Inkster (Mich.) forward Albert White (No. 7) and Laurel (Md.) Baptist guard Louis Bullock (No. 15) signed in November.

Gibbons rated Jerod Ward the top player in the country last season, and close behind was Willie Mitchell, Mr. Basketball from Detroit Pershing. Both went to Michigan, although neither made an impact this season. But classmates Maurice Taylor, Maceo Baston and Travis Conlan were impressive; Taylor was the Big Ten’s freshman of the year.

Coach Steve Fisher said Ward, 6-feet-9, is staying at Michigan despite reports to the contrary and will take a shot at becoming a big guard.

“We’re going to look at Jerod as a perimeter player,” Fisher said.

The Wolverines could have Traylor and Taylor starting in the low post, but Baston and Makhtar Ndiaye also will demand significant playing time. How much Traylor (6-9, 300 pounds) plays could depend on whether he achieves his goal of losing 25 pounds.

“Traylor is the most unique big man I’ve seen in 20 years,” Gibbons said. “He has bulk, strength and is the widest of the wide-bodies. But he has the grace of a ballet dancer with quick feet.”

Traylor averaged 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks this season.

White, 6-6, averaged 30 points, 15 rebounds, 2.7 steals and three blocks. He shot 61 percent from the field.

“White is a wing player with the power to play inside and athleticism and ballhandling ability to play outside,” Fisher said.

Gibbons predicted White would be a superior small forward to outgoing Michigan senior Ray Jackson.