Michigan vs. Michigan State; head-to-head on the recruiting trail

The Duke vs. North Carolina recruiting rivalry got so much traction I wanted to look around the country to see other rivalries that made sense. This was tougher than expected, and part of what makes the Duke vs. UNC rivalry so spectacular is that I needed to find two schools in the same geographic region who recruited at the same level and are nationally relevant. Michigan vs. Michigan State made sense.

Admittedly, I originally was looking at Michigan vs. Ohio State for this one. Their rivalry is well known throughout college sports, and both basketball programs are perennial top-25 type teams. However, as I dove into the numbers, the two programs really did not recruit against one another; Beilein vs. Matta or Holtmann vs. Howard.

However, the obvious choice, the one that I should have thought of from the beginning, was Michigan vs. Michigan State (I also found a great program to put with Ohio State, which will come later in the week).

Michigan and Michigan State are both proud programs with a rich history. They are both nationally recognized brands with nationally recognized coaches. They both also recruit the same landscape of players.

The tricky part here was navigating the John Beilein era at Michigan. He recruited in a unique manner, a unique player that not many at his level recruited. Through the research, Beilein put out few offers, and those players did not really have heavy recruitment.

So instead of going back ten years, I went back five years. I wanted to see how Michigan and Michigan State fared against one another, mainly during the current Juwan Howard regime. Howard has been the head coach at Michigan since 2019, and five was a nice round number.

In going down this deep dive, I found some interesting stats and facts about these two programs over the past five years (that will be discussed and laid out at the bottom). Here is how the two programs fared over the past five recruiting cycles.

2018

Michigan signed five players and offered 18 in this class. Michigan State signed five players and offered ten.

Both schools offered one player in this class. Michigan signed four-star Brandon Johns.

Michigan (No. 21)
NR PG David DeJulius
Four-star C Colin Castleton
Four-star PF Brandon Johns
Three-star SG Adrien Nunez
Four-star SF Ignas Brazdeikis

Michigan State (No. 31)
Four-star PG Foster Loyer
Four-star PF Gabe Brown
Four-star SF Aaron Henry
Four-star PF Marcus Bingham
Four-star PF Thomas Kithier

2019

Michigan signed two players and offered 11 in this class. Michigan State offered 16 players and signed three.

Both schools offered three players, Vernon Carey, Jr., Rocket Watts, and Romeo Weems. Watts signed with Michigan State, Carey ended up at Duke, and Weeks at DePaul.

Michigan (No. 45)
Four-star SF Franz Wagner
Four-star SF Cole Bajema

Michigan State (No. 22)
Four-star CG Rocket Watts
Three-star PF Julius Marble
Four-star SF Malik Hall

2020

Michigan signed four players in this class and offered 23. Michigan State offered 12 players and signed two.

Both programs offered four players in this class, Zeb Jackson, Scooby Johnson, Jaemyn Brakefield, and Jabri Abdur-Rahim. Jackson signed with Michigan. Johnson went to Butler, Brakefield to Duke, and Abdur-Rahim to Virginia.

Michigan (No. 24)
Three-star SF Jace Howard
Four-star PF Terrance Williams
Four-star C Hunter Dickinson
Four-star PG Zeb Jackson

Michigan State (No. 23)
Four-star C Mady Sissoko
Four-star PG AJ Hoggard

2021

Michigan offered 31 players in this class and signed six. Michigan State signed three players and offered 11.

Both programs offered six players. Emoni Bates, Kobe Bufkin, Caleb Houstan, Pierre Brooks, Max Christie, and Jaden Adkins. Michigan State signed Brooks, Christie, and Adkins. Michigan signed Buffkin and Houstan. Bates went to Memphis.

Michigan (No. 8)
Four-star CG Kobe Bufkin
Four-star SF Isaiah Barnes
Four-star PF Will Tschetter
Five-star C Moussa Diabate
Five-star SF Caleb Houstan
Four-star PG Frankie Collins

Michigan State (No. 12)
Four-star SF Pierre Brooks
Five-star SG Max Christie
Four-star PG Jaden Adkins

2022

Michigan offered 17 players in this class and signed five. Michigan State signed three players and offered ten.

Both programs offered three players, Tarris Reed, Donovan Clingan, and Ty Rodgers. Michigan signed Reed. Clingan went to UConn and Rodgers to Illinois.

Michigan (No. 21)
Four-star PG Dug McDaniel
Four-star PF Tarris Reed
Four-star PF Gregg Glenn
Four-star SF Jett Howard
NR SF Youssef Khayat

Michigan State (No. 29)
NR PF Carson Cooper
Four-star PF Jaxon Kohler
Four-star PG Tre Holloman

Other notes

*Over the past five recruiting cycles, Michigan has signed 22 players and offered 100. They have signed 22 percent of the players they have offered.

*Over the past five recruiting cycyles, Michigan State has signed 16 players and offered 59. They have signed 27 percent of the players they have offered.

*Michigan has signed at least one player Michigan State has offered in four of the last five recruiting cycles. Michigan State has signed at least one player Michigan has offered in two of the last five recruiting cycles.

*Over the past five recruiting cycles, Michigan has signed five players Michigan State has offered. Michigan State has signed four Michigan has offered.

*Over the past five recruiting cyclces, there have been 17 players both Michigan and Michigan State have offered. Nine players chose one of the two programs and eight chose elsewhere.

*Of the 17 players both schools have offered, we can take away three because they are current freshmen. Of the 14 remaining players Michigan State and Michigan both offered in the past five recruiting cycles, six have transferred schools.

*In the past five seasons, on the court, Michigan State holds a 6-5 record, head-to-head against Michigan.

*In the past five seasons, on the court, Michigan is 124-47 (74.3%) and Michigan State is 123-47 (72.4%)