Robin Benzing will not be enrolling at Michigan this fall. Bad news to say the least and might be part of the reason Beilein was watching Andy Brown at Peach Jam. This was the risk with taking a guy like Benzing with so many question marks with regards to eligibility, qualification, suspensions and whatever else. Beilein must have absolutely loved Robin’s game because of the big risk involved, however the gamble didn’t pay off.
Beilein left the door slightly ajar about Benzing showing up in Ann Arbor at some point but I find it very unlikely that he would goto prep school or something at this point when he can play pro-ball in Europe.
“Robin is a fine young man and we will continue to provide him with the NCAA information he will need if he continues to pursue options in the United States. If he does not pursue these options, I assume he will begin playing at a professional level in Europe starting this fall.”
I was excited about Benzing, and he seemed like a great fit but most likely wouldn’t have been eligible this year anyways. The real issue here is the damage to the recruiting game plan, it’s time to scramble.
Now Michigan is in a jam, Andy Brown was huge on Michigan early (and they were seemingly very interested) but the recruitment fizzled after Benzing’s commitment. Michigan had started focusing almost entirely on point guards and wing forwards. With the post position already so depleted, this is just another blow. It is an absolutely necesity to land a power forward in the 09 class. The problem is, there aren’t that many power forwards who are really on the U-M radar. Michigan has to at least make a try to get back involved with Andy Brown but after that they have to cast a wide net of other power forwards.
With Benzing off the board I updated the scholarship breakdown.
