Partially inspired by commenter Jason, it’s time to see how Michigan and Detroit’s recruiting classes stack up to some teams of note (and each other). I’ll start with the Class of 2011, as Inside Lacrosse recently published their Top 100 incoming freshmen. With so little data to work with, it’s time for a chart:
| School | IL Top100 |
|---|---|
| Johns Hopkins (Ind) | 9 |
| Syracuse (BE) | 9 |
| Virginia (ACC) | 8 |
| Notre Dame (BE) | 4 |
| Ohio State (ECAC) | 3 |
| Denver (ECAC) | 2 |
| Penn State (CAA) | 2 |
| Loyola (ECAC) | 1 |
| Fairfield (ECAC) | 1 |
| Air Force (ECAC) | 0 |
| Hobart (ECAC) | 0 |
| Bellarmine (ECAC) | 0 |
| Siena (MAAC) | 0 |
| Marist (MAAC) | 0 |
| Manhattan (MAAC) | 0 |
| Jacksonville (MAAC) | 0 |
| Canisius (MAAC) | 0 |
| VMI (MAAC) | 0 |
| Michigan (ECAC) | 0 |
| Detroit (MAAC) | 0 |
As you can see, neither of our D01 programs of interest landed a single incoming freshman among Inside Lacrosse’s Top 100. However, plenty of other schools of interest don’t have any such commits, either – including almost half the ECAC and the entire MAAC.
Michigan’s announcement timing resulted in a weaker-than-usual (or what will become usual, as the case may be), and Detroit graduated only 1 player following the 2011 season, so they had a very small recruiting class. It’s likely that each of these teams has a sleeper or two on their commitment list – especially Michigan’s goalie, Emil Weiss who outplayed his teammate Gunner Waldt (IL’s #61) at the US Lacrosse Champion Showcase in Orlando earlier this summer*.
ESPN Rise is releasing top 2012 prospects by position over the next two months (timeliness is not of the essence at the Worldwide Leader), so we can start breaking down the 2012 comparisons after that.
*It’s tough to draw too many conclusions from a 1-game sample size, but Weiss saved 71.4% of shots faced, while Waldt saved 55.6%, and they were playing for the same team against the same opponent. There’s a chance IL’s rankings are showing a bit of a regional bias, with Waldt coming from highly-scouted St. Paul’s (MD), with Weiss coming out of the non-hotbed of North Carolina.