As the Legion Turns

Oh man, this whole Alex Legion recruiting thing is getting absolutely ridiculous. So just to update you on this kid...he's a top-50 recruit, who starred for Detroit Country Day and then transferred to Oak HIll for his senior year this season. At Oak Hill he led the team in scoring with just under 20 a game. He verballed to Michigan back in the winter of '05 as a junior only to de-commit following the Final Four in '06 (for reference this is the first Florida Natty Championship). Then in the fall of '06 he re-committed to Michigan because of he and his mother's affinity for Tommy Amaker. He even signed his national letter of intent and told me on the phone in January that the two reasons for coming back to Michigan was TA and Manny Harris signing on to come be a Wolverine. BUt he also mentioned in that same interview that without Tommy he would have a tough time coming back. Flash forward to the firing of TA and the hiring of John Beilein. After a couple weeks of meeting and talking with Beilein, Legion decided he wanted to re-open his recrutiment yet again and get out of his LOI.

So let's stop here for a moment. That leaves us with a verbal, a de-commit from the verbal, a de-commit from the de-commit and a subsequent National LOI, and now a release from said LOI (for the record that's a decommit from the decommit of the decommit). Confusing, yes I think so. But it gets better.


Imagine if this guy played for any team supported by Bill Simmons.
No seriously, imagine how pissed Simmons would be at this kid.

Beilein was more than happy to let Legion out because as I've said before on this blog: The man wants players who want to be here. But at his welcome rally yesterday Beilein said he is looking for players in Europe to use that scholarship on. Whether he's actually going to do this I don't know, but it puts the pressure back on Legion to make a decision. In another genius move by Beilein, he basically told Reed Baker that he wasn't going to have a scholarship this year and that he could walk on if he wanted. I love that move because for as great as Reed was this year (he wasn't but he did provide me with a nice little article with a sweet lead about his sneakers) the guy didn't deserve to be wasting a valuable scholarship. So now if Legion comes, we'll have an extra scholarship for next year's recruiting because we were only going to have one since Ron Coleman will be the only person on the team graduating.

But back to Legion. He now has to make a decision because JB has stated publicly he's content to find a player who really wants to be there or he'll sit on it and use it as an extra scholarship for next year. But in today's Detroit Free Press, the plot thickened even more with this quote from Legion's mother:

Legion's mother, Annette Williams, blames Tim Green -- whom Legion has referred to as his godfather and mentor -- for the confusion. "I want to make it clear, Tim Green is not part of this process," Williams said Tuesday. "I'm tired of him trying to persuade my son against the University of Michigan and his family."
"I've been quiet for four years, but Tim Green does not speak for my son, and I'm tired of him trying to make decisions for my son," Williams said. "Mr. Green wants my son to go to Connecticut or UCLA, but my son will go to neither institution."

For the record it appears Legion's list of possible destinations include UCLA, Kentucky, UConn, Kansas and Michigan. Just from looking at that list it looks like Legion is goner and I have to say I love the attitude Beilein is taking on this. Alex Legion is not going to make your program, but he could break it. The kid is notorious for being a me-first kind of guy and no matter his talent, could undermine what JB is trying to accomplish. if we get him great, if we don't, Beilein is going to move on. It's like ignoring a girl and making her want you that much more. Or she could be some huge slut and get so excited about giving dome to a guy like Bill Self or Billy Gillespie that she's gone forever.

So you're getting someone who genuinely likes you or you're getting a gigantic whore.

Either way the balls are in Alex Legion's court (or mouth) now.


One thing is for sure in this whole mess:
John Beilein doesn't like blowjobs.