Michigan Basketball: Could Wolverines land Moe Wagner’s little brother?

Moritz Wagner was one of the great Michigan basketball players of all time and it’s possible he won’t be the last Wagner to don the Maize and Blue.

The name Moritz Wagner is one that will live on forever for Michigan basketball fans as he was part of two memorable teams and one that played for a national championship.

However, Michigan basketball fans might be interested to learn that it’s possible another Wagner could come to Ann Arbor to play college hoops and that’s Franz Wagner, Moe’s younger brother who is a basketball phenom in Germany.

Franz Wagner would be part of the 2019 recruiting class if he decides to play college basketball, a decision he will make at the end of his professional season with Alba Berlin. At that point, he will decide between playing pro ball, which he could do in Germany or coming to America to play college basketball as his older brother Moritz did.

For Moe, it obviously worked out. He was part of two Big Ten tournament championship teams, two teams that made the Sweet 16 and one that reached the final four. His play also got him picked in the first round of the NBA draft by the LA Lakers.

Certainly, Franz would like to play in the NBA someday and while some players have gone from Europe to the NBA, going to college and eventually getting drafted is another good route.

The younger Wagner is listed at 6-foot-7 and as a small forward. He averages just over 10 minutes and four points a game. On top of that, he shoots well from deep, connecting on 41 percent of his 3-pointers.

At this point, only Stanford has offered Wagner a scholarship but Michigan basketball has shown some interest and is one of three schools Franz said he would consider naming the Wolverines along with Stanford and Butler.

247 sports caught up with Wagner recently and discussed his future and in this excerpt, he talks about his strengths as a player: 

"“My biggest strength I guess is my versatility on the offensive end because I’m a big wing but can still handle the ball, shoot the ball. Shooting is one of my biggest strengths, but overall reading in-game, making decisions also defensively, when to help, when to stay on my guy so I think defensively and also the length I have helps a lot.”"

The post also talks about how Wagner isn’t ranked by 247 sports because they only rank prospects that have committed, however, it also says he would be a highly-ranked four-star prospect.

John Beilein is very particular about recruits and he likely wouldn’t offer Wagner until he visited the school or made his intentions more clear. But Moe certainly seemed to enjoy his experience at Michigan and Franz had good things to say about UM to 247 sports:

"“I’ve been there because I visited my brother and obviously he only had good things to say about it. He’s just told me how much the guys compete around you and appreciate you being there and help you adjust to everything. Just from his experiences, I think it’s very intriguing when you hear something like that.”"

The younger Wagner is just 17 years old so the potential is there. However, when it comes to recruiting, Michigan has some other irons in the fire and one player the Wolverines are hoping to land is 2020 small forward Micah Peavy from Texas.

Peavy is a 6-foot-5 small forward and right now it seems like his recruitment is down to Michigan and LSU, which owns both of his crystal ball predictions from 247 sports right now. Peavy was offered by the Wolverines back in January and he recently talked about his visit to Michigan in an interview with the Michigan Insider ($).

Peavy has said good things about the Wolverines and he would be a welcome addition to the 2020 class which only has Zeb Jackson currently committed. With his youth, you wonder if Wagner, if he came to the United States would be part of the 2020 class but we’ll see if he decides to come first.

Right now, Michigan basketball is focused on finishing the season strong Saturday night at Michigan State, but when it comes to the future and recruiting, Franz Wagner and Peavy are two names to watch.