ANOTHER "SENIOR DAY" WITHOUT SENIORS FOR JOHN BEILEIN AND MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

(originally published on 3-7-15)

Saturday will be "Senior Day" at the Crisler Center, and it's business-as-usual for John Beilein, as he will once again have no seniors to celebrate at the end of the regular season. It's an annual tradition for Beilein at Michigan to feature an insignificant, mediocre, or even empty senior class.

Max Bielfeldt will be honored this time around as a senior in the classroom, but a fourth-year Junior on the court, still with a season of eligibility. But like Jon Horford before him, Mad Max WILL NOT STAY AT MICHIGAN TO COMPLETE HIS COLLEGE BASKETBALL CAREER. Horford's early departure last year seemed to be his own choice, while Bielfeldt has apparently been given his walking papers.

We keep hearing that Michigan Basketball teams are "young".

John Beilein is the reason why.

Beilein doesn't seem to resonate to the value of a fifth-year senior, or really any seniors at all. Indeed, only five (5)  of the 18 players he has recruited and signed have used all four years of eligibility while Coach at UM. (Spike Albrecht will be #6 next year.)

Less than one-third of John Beilein recruits

stay at UM to play all four years.

Most people didn't notice when Beilein arrived in Ann Arbor, he flushed out numerous players from his system who had years of eligibility remaining. Granted, that's his prerogative as head coach, but if he keeps dismissing players from his program, he will always have a young team. Make no mistake, Bielfeldt has been dismissed, denied from ever becoming a fifth-year senior at Michigan.

Here's a look back at the men's basketball Senior Classes at Michigan during the Beilein Era. He arrived in 2007, so the first group of seniors that he personally recruited and signed were in the Class of 2012 (titled in bold). The first four classes listed below included only players who were already on the UM roster when Beilein took the job.

UM Senior Class of 2008

Ron Coleman

UM Senior Class of 2009

David Merritt (5th)

C.J. Lee (5th)

Jevohn Shepard

UM Senior Class of 2010

Zack Gibson (5th)

DeShawn Sims

UM Senior Class of 2011

- - - no seniors - - -

UM Senior Class of 2012

Zack Novak

Stu Douglass

UM Senior Class of 2013

Eso Akunne

Corey Person

Matt Vogrich

Josh Bartelstein

UM Senior Class of 2014

Jordan Morgan

UM Senior Class of 2015

- - - no seniors - - -

The average John Beilein recruit at UM has stayed for 2.6 years. That's 65% of their potential college careers spent in a Michigan uniform.

Now you know why Michigan Basketball teams

are always described as a "young".

That's the John Beilein Way.

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