ANN ARBOR -- The confetti had barely been brushed off the floor inside the Georgia Dome before the assumptions began.

Michigan had just lost to Louisville in the 2013 national title game. But despite the loss, John Beilein's program had launched itself back onto the national stage. The future, in the immediate and long-term, looked bright.

Beilein got to that Monday night with a roster made up mostly of players who were under-recruited or under-valued out of high school. But his program earned national buzz that season, and most assumed the program's recruiting profile would explode because of it.

Last month marked two full years since that night in Atlanta. And while Beilein and Michigan had gotten close to the finish line with a few mega-prospects, they hadn't found a way to break the tape.

Until Monday.

Consensus five-star guard Tyus Battle, a 6-foot-5 2016 guard from New Jersey whose game appears to be custom-made for Beilein's offense, surprised plenty inside the recruiting world when he said no to Duke, Syracuse, Louisville and dozens of other top-notch programs before saying yes to Michigan.

Related: 5 things you need to know about Tyus Battle

Battle's commitment to Michigan is huge for the program's future, and the fate of the 2016-17 club. But digging deeper, it's even bigger for Beilein's system and his overall reputation in the deep end of the recruiting pool.

More on that in a second, though.

First, let's make something clear: To those who have consistently griped over the past two years, complaining that Beilein "can't recruit," well, you were wrong the first time you said it. Wrong the second time you said it. And wrong every other time after that.

In terms of overall talent evaluation, few hit it better than Beilein. He's produced six NBA draft picks at Michigan, and he'll have seven next year after Caris LeVert graduates. He's never once had a McDonald's All-American here. The second Big Ten MVP he produced was a skinny guy from Canada no one wanted.

Almost no one wanted Aubrey Dawkins. There was even less interest in Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. LeVert? He was headed for the Mid-American Conference before Beilein called.

In terms of immediately identifying talent on the recruiting trail and targeting the players who fit exactly what he's trying to do, Beilein's one of the best. He's elite in this area. And, at times, it's burned him.

Beilein and Michigan began recruiting Devin Booker in the eighth grade, before anyone knew who he was. Then, he exploded and Kentucky (and a host of others) came calling. End of story. Luke Kennard is the fourth-best shooting guard in the 2015 class. But he wasn't when Michigan first started recruiting him. Then, he only held an offer from Dayton. Now, he's going to Duke.

When it comes to identifying future stars before they're stars, few in the business are better than Beilein. But once those stars blow up, and recruitments become a college basketball royalty slug fest, Beilein's found himself on the wrong end of a decision more than a few times than not since Michigan's Final Four run.

And that's a problem.

"If we're going to play on Monday night," Michigan assistant Jeff Meyer said in the spring of 2013, "we have to have players (with NBA potential) out there leading us."

Michigan's results with player development stand on their own. But sometimes, that's not enough. Michigan missed on Booker. It missed on Kennard. It missed on Trevon Bluiett and Keita Bates-Diop and Kevon Looney and Jaylen Brunson and James Blackmon and Jaylen Brown -- all players who would've fit this system perfectly.

The big fish were falling off the hook. Why? A variety of reasons, probably. Michigan's recruiting tactics are different. Beilein doesn't offer players until they've completed their sophomore seasons, he's seen them in person and they've been on campus. No exceptions. And if a recruit doesn't ask him to barrage them with phone calls and texts and social media messages, he doesn't.

Michigan doesn't walk blurred lines on the recruiting trail, and the pitches are simple. Beilein shows them the system, tells them how they'll fit, tries to avoid off-court concerns and makes no real promises. He's not really a game player, because he doesn't want nonsense in his program.

And Monday, all of that was fine.

Battle and his father, Gary, saw Michigan's pitch for what it was. They saw Beilein's system. They understood what he's done with players who have entered the program with less talent. They realized how much a long combo guard with handles, a first step and a jump shot can soar in this offense.

And they didn't need to hear anything else. They didn't sit around and wait to see if Battle's already lofty stock rose even higher, drawing more attention from others.

"(Beilein is) going to put Tyus in a position where he gets the ball in an open area," Battle's prep coach told MLive on Monday. "And then it's pretty much all over."

For Beilein, this one's big, because of who he beat for Battle and how he did it. Bigger than Mitch McGary, in fact. With McGary, the nation's No. 2 player at the time of his pledge, Beilein beat Duke and Florida and Kentucky with the help of Zack Novak and Glenn Robinson III.

With Battle, Beilein beat the nation's elite by himself.

It's a win that gives more concrete credence to Beilein's system and what it can possibly do for elite talents like Battle. It also gives more credibility to Beilein's big fish skills, proving he can out-fox recruiting powerhouses enough to come in first when the smoke clears.

Battle's commitment doesn't promise a flood of future five-star talents following his lead. It doesn't promise a title or another Final Four. Those unique methods? They're not going anywhere.

Beilein will continue to seek out undervalued talent and players who "want to run through the door" to play for him.

Only now, he'll do so with a five-star in his back pocket.

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