When we had Justin Pippen here on Defend the Block, I mentioned that he was the first official public commitment to the Michigan program under Dusty May, but there was a recommitment shortly after the hire.

And that came from incoming freshmen, the reigning Mr. Basketball in the state of Michigan, and Wolverine fans since birth, Dorell, Fat, Fat,

Brooks. And by the way, more on the nickname in the interview, I promise.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase before, though, recruiting is the lifeblood of a college program.

That phrase is sport agnostic, and I certainly believe it to be true no matter, the sport, program,

circumstance, college, whatever.

However, because of the ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics, that recruiting process for both sides,

the staff and for the recruits, is tough to measure year-to-year, heck, even month to month. And And yeah, coaching changes seemingly happen more frequently in

this era, both head coaches and assistant coaches. But the reality is those who recruits interact

with at a school during visits, especially early in the process, those people may very well

have moved on to a different opportunity from the time of those chats to the moving day for a freshman.

Jim Harbaugh discussed his team's one-track mind so often during the national championship run

last season, and that's a great approach once you're in college, in a program, immersed in a

season.

But recruiting-wise, one track is most certainly not enough,

nor is two, maybe even three or four. If you base your decision solely on the people in the

program when you commit or when you go on your visits, you're rolling the dice because of the

movement that these days seems to be inevitable in college basketball.

Now, Fat Fat always had many tracks taking him to Michigan, geography, fandom, those

relationships, his skill level. And when one track changed, the coaching change, he learned about it

and quickly. He was one of the first

to meet with Dusty May after the hire and when Dusty got to Ann Arbor, and it was a quick

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