Michigan basketball team adds Zak Irvin to 2013 recruiting class
Zak Irvin, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard/small forward from Indiana, gave a verbal commitment to Michigan basketball coach John Beilein on Sunday, according to multiple reports.
Irvin's AAU coach, Matt Green, announced Irvin's decision to make a non-binding commitment via Twitter: "Congratulations to Zak Irvin he has decided to be a Wolverine!!! He has committed to Michigan University."
In Irvin, Michigan University -- or the University of Michigan, as the rest of the world knows it -- is getting a top 100 recruit for a 2013 class that already includes June commitments Austin Hatch and Mark Donnal.
Both Rivals.com and ESPN rate Irvin as a 4-star recruit. He is the 97th-best player in the country according to Rivals and 74th on the ESPN list.
Scout.com lists Irvin as a 3-star prospect and the No. 22 shooting guard in the country.
From the ESPN evaluation of Irvin: "Zak is a terrific scorer from the wing. He makes college and pro shots at the high school level which makes him almost unguardable. With his length and size he's a surefire high major prospect."
UMHoops.com, among the first to report the Irvin commitment, reported earlier this weekend that Irvin had paired his potential college list down to Michigan and Butler. He also held scholarship offers from Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Miami (Fla.), Baylor, Tennessee and Xavier.
Irvin wrote an "In Their Own Words" blog entry for the Indianapolis Star and described himself as "a long guard that uses my length on defense to create havoc and excels on the offense with my mid-range jump shot."
Irvin joins Hatch, a 6-6 shooting guard from Fort Wayne, Ind., and Donnal, a 6-9 forward from Whitehouse, Ohio. Both accepted scholarships on June 13 -- the first day Beilein and his staff offered them to 2013 prospects.
Hatch's basketball future is uncertain as he continues to recover from serious injuries sustained in an airplane crash that killed his father and stepmother.
The 2013 class is two years from stepping foot on the Crisler Arena court.
This year’s freshman class includes point guard Trey Burke, shooting guard Carlton Brundidge and power forward Max Biefeldt.
A pair of 4-star rising seniors -- Glenn Robinson III (St. John, Ind.) and Nick Stauskas -- are committed to Michigan for 2012.
Comments
John Campbell
Mon, Aug 1, 2011 : 2:22 p.m.
As a Michigan basketball fan, it is always great to add another recruit, but it would be great to see us add some "bigs". The majority of the recruits seem to be guards (Irvin, Robinson, Stauskas, Burke, Brundidge). I understand supply and demand, but we need some size to battle in the Big 10.
81wolverine
Sun, Jul 31, 2011 : 7:04 p.m.
Congratulations to John Beilein and staff, and Zak. Irvin appears to have a huge upside and may end up ranked quite a bit higher. There's still a lot of time between now and when he comes in to Michigan, and Beilein seems to have a great eye for identifying talented players early. Without question, the quality of players Beilein is getting commitments from is getting higher all the time. This team is just going to keep getting better each year.