Michigan Basketball: Moritz Wagner Is Getting NBA Good In NCAA Tournament

Michigan basketball versatile big man has been having a stellar season, and now the threat of him jumping to the NBA is becoming greater.

After the win over Louisville on Sunday night, it looks as though Michigan basketball has itself a fine ballplayer in Moritz Wagner, perhaps its next star player.

But what does Michigan have exactly? And how long is the sophomore likely to stick around?

Wagner (pronounced VOG-ner) is a 6-foot-10 (some have been insisting lately that he’s 6-foot-11), 240-pound sophomore from Berlin, Germany. He’s still a month away from his 20^thbirthday, and he’s coming on fast as a key contributor for the Wolverines.

His performances lately have been sensational: 26 points against Louisville (on 11-for-14 shooting), 24 points against Purdue in February (22 of those in the first half), 23 points against Nebraska on Jan. 14 (6 for 9 from the floor, 7 for 8 from the free-throw line), and 21 points against then-No.11 Wisconsin on Feb. 16 (on 8-for-14 shooting). And don’t forget his first double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in a road win against Indiana on Feb. 12.

In the second half of the season, it’s fair to say Wagner has been on a tear.

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His freshman year, on the other hand, wasn’t all that impressive. He averaged just over eight minutes a game, mostly coming off the bench, and didn’t score a lot of points. He looked at times as though he was still learning to play American basketball, and that must have been exactly what was going on.

At the beginning of the 2016-17 campaign, Wagner wasn’t even ranked among best European players in Division I basketball (something we’ll come back to in a minute).

Now, surprisingly, it seems reasonable to ask, “How long is Wagner going to stay at Michigan before making the leap to the NBA?” No one would have thought to ask only three months ago.

It’s true that Wagner is still, in some ways, a work in progress. He’s had some foul trouble in recent games, and he’s got some filling out to do: 240 pounds won’t go far on a 6-foot-10 frame, especially in the NBA.

And yet, following the huge win on Sunday over Louisville, ESPN NBA Draft analyst Chad Ford was favorably impressed and tweeted that Wagner would be “in the 20s” of ESPN draft rankings. Considering that Wagner was ranked No. 40 coming into the NCAA tournament, he must now be giving at least some thought to making the jump to the NBA.

It still seems unlikely, of course, but how the tournament plays out will likely be a big factor.

The globalization of basketball isn’t confined to the NBA. A quick check shows that of the 351 teams in Division I, most are like the Wolverines and have at least one player born outside the United States. Several schools have done most of their recruiting outside of this country.

Miami (Ohio) may be an extreme example, but it’s a telling one. One guard on this year’s roster is from Serbia, the other is from Niger. One forward is from Croatia, and the other is from Nigeria.

The forward from Nigeria can speak four languages, as can still another guard from Belgium. One of Miami’s players told a reporter that “practice can sound like the United Nations.”

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But Europe remains the favorite continent for college recruiting, and Michigan head coach John Beilein seems to have someone in Wagner who can take Wolverines deep into this year’s NCAA tournament—and perhaps to an outstanding season next year as well, if the Wolverines can hang onto him for another year.

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