Michigan Basketball: Inside the recruitment of 5-star Harrison Ingram
There are few targets as high on Michigan basketball’s recruiting board than Harrison Ingram and the Wolverines might have an advantage with the five-star, and with one of his teammates.
It didn’t take more than a minute while on the phone with Greg Guiler, the head coach at St. Mark’s in Texas, to understand the special bond between two of his star athletes, Michigan basketball targets Harrison Ingram and Colin Smith.
“Colin’s really good about getting out in transition and Harrison loves making that early pass,” Guiler stated. “And so it seemed like a lot of times they kind of morphed into us a bit of a 1-2 relationship with Harrison pushing and Colin getting out in front and catching, and we’ll do some things where they’ll take some ball screens with each other. You watch Steph (Curry) and Clay Thompson and the way they’ve got kind of a rapport.
“There’s a lot of that between the two of them where they’ll get each other open with the ball and without the ball and dribble handoff with each other. They really know kind of where the other one is, and are very selfless with one another. Those two guys really look out for each other and they both know where to put the team on the shoulders and score..”
Harrison Ingram, a five-star from the 2021 class, and Colin Smith, a four-star from the 2022 class, found each other at St. Mark’s, a southern institution not typically known for its basketball prowess. They both joined the “private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas,” shortly before Middle School, uncertain of their future, and today they are two of the most talked-about basketball players in the country.
With the help of their teammates and a tremendous coach, St. Mark’s has gone from drawing the target on the backs of their opponents to becoming the canvass.
In the very talented Southwest Preparatory Conference, the Lions brought home the Championship for the 2019-20 season by cruising to the final and making a statement with their 85-57 defeat of Houston Christan.
One could allege the conference isn’t well known or full of talent; Harrison and Colin are two superior athletes in a dump of a conference.
Their coach would disagree.
“Well, one of the ways where we’re fortunate as the conference we play in, it’s one of the biggest geographically in the country,” Guiler said. “We’ve got teams up in Oklahoma City, clear down to Houston, and so it’s got kind of a small college flavor to it. But this will now be, I think, the 15th consecutive year of the future NBA players in the league. If one of these two guys, maybe even if they don’t, there’s some other talent in the league that I think has a chance to play in the NBA. But we went from Deondre Jordan to Justice Winslow to Jarrett Allen.”