Recruiting analyst looks back, says Michigan's Trey Burke should've been the top PG in 2011 class
Hindsight is generally perfect.
In the case of college basketball recruiting rankings, it's also rather immediate.
Drew Cannon, a writer for BasketballProspectus.com, recently took on the task of re-ranking the 2011 class based on how things actually went down, rather than high school and AAU hype.
And through all the bumps, slips and adjustments, the player with the most movement was none other than Michigan basketball point guard Trey Burke.
"Burke came out of nowhere (or, at least, the "obscurity" of the non-McDonald's All-American section of the ESPNU Top 100) to be a superstar do-it-all point guard for an NCAA tournament No. 4 seed," wrote Cannon, who re-ranked Burke as the No. 5 player in the 2011 high school recruiting class. "He scored often, he scored efficiently, he passed, and he took care of the basketball.
"The Wolverines' round of 64 loss to Ohio shouldn't alter the fact that Burke had a fabulous season."
Michigan point guard Trey Burke was ranked the 15th-best point guard in the nation coming out of high school.
Cannon's method for the re-ranking was based on ESPN.com's final Top 100 for 2011, a list that spotted Burke at No. 84 overall, and the 15th-best point guard in the class.
In Cannon's new -- and interesting -- re-ranking, Burke was not only given the distinction as the top point guard in the class, but he also sat in front of NBA early draft entrants Austin Rivers (Duke), Moe Harkless (St. John's), Tony Wroten (Washington) and Marquis Teague (Kentucky).
In the re-ranking, ex-Kentucky forward Anthony Davis was still ranked No. 1, while Indiana's Cody Zeller jumped 12 spots to No. 2. Former Wildcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist moved up one spot to No. 3, while ex-Florida guard Bradley Beal dropped one spot to No. 5.
Burke's 79-spot leap wasn't the only Michigan mention on the list. Cannon slid former Wolverine Carlton Brundidge down nine spots to No. 84.
Brundidge, who opted to transfer from the program shortly after the season ended, was rated nine spots ahead of Burke in the final ESPN rankings.
"Michigan added two top-100 freshman point guards for the 2011-12 season," Cannon wrote. "Brundidge was ranked No. 75; Trey Burke was 84. Burke was second-team All-Big Ten.
"Brundidge played 44 minutes, made one basket, and transferred out of the program at the end of the year."
Hindsight.
Twenty-twenty, indeed.
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Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.
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