Michigan Basketball: Will Jordan Poole or Iggy leave for NBA draft?

Michigan basketball is blessed with a lot of young talent but are key players like Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis going to leave for the NBA draft?

While arch-rival Michigan State plays in the Elite 8 Sunday against Duke, Michigan basketball is already looking ahead to the 2019-20 season and hoping it will have the tools to make yet another NCAA tournament run.

Over the last seven years, Michigan basketball has had just about as much success as any team in college basketball. The one thing that’s missing is the national championship, which the Wolverines have played for twice.

On top of that, they have made the Sweet 16 five times, made and won a game in the NCAA tournament six times, won two Big Ten regular-season titles, won two Big Ten tournament titles and reached the Elite 8 three times.

Additionally, Michigan has sent a bunch of guys to the NBA draft including first-round picks like Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary, Caris Levert, D.J. Wilson and Moritz Wagner, as well as others such as Glenn Robinson III, Derrick Walton Jr. and Duncan Robinson have all gone onto the league.

Many of those guys left early and just as Wagner did after last season, you have to wonder who will leave early this time around?

Charles Matthews is technically leaving early, although he is graduating and John Beilein already confirmed the Wolverines don’t expect him back.

That leaves two other prime candidates for departure and despite both having up-and-down seasons, Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis both have decisions to make regarding the NBA draft.

Brazdeikis was the Wolverines leading scorer and won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award after a stellar season. At 6-foot-8, with a 3-point shot, he seems ready to head to the next level. He can rebound and defend as well as having an NBA body.

Poole, on the other hand, has work to do. He averaged more than 12 points per game but he didn’t make the big leap many expected him to have following a solid freshman campaign.

The biggest problem was his inconsistency and down the stretch, he struggled, so he doesn’t have a ton of momentum right now. In his last 14 games, he scored 15 points or more just five times and he seemed to lose favor in the offense in part because of poor shot selection.

Michigan Wolverines

That’s a mistake because Poole is still among the most dynamic players on the Michigan basketball team and if the Wolverines are going to make a deep run next season, he could be an essential part. If he left for the NBA, Michigan would be counting on incoming freshman Jalen Wilson or a small lineup that featured David DeJulius and Zavier Simpson as starters.

As far as Iggy is concerned, he seems much more likely to get drafted. Remember, contracts are only guaranteed for first-round picks and even though there are more opportunities with the G-League and two-way contracts, leaving early can still be risky.

With Matthews leaving, both Poole and Iggy could stand to benefit. Michigan needs to find a late-game closer and both Poole and Iggy are prime candidates.

Beilein spoke as though Poole and Iggy were expected back following the Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech but with the new rules, it would almost be foolish for Iggy and Poole not to at least declare and get a grade from the advisory committee.

Matthews did it last year and returned, so they could go down that same road.

Obviously, there are some bad feelings surrounding Poole and the criticism levied at him by Michigan fans as his dad has even responded back to haters on Twitter. That has me worried Poole will do something rash. But if he’s back and focused next season, it could be a breakout year.

Iggy has the potential to be the Big Ten Player of the Year and if he can develop his mid-range jumper and post-up game a little more, he could easily score between 18-20 PPG next season. Imagine what that would do for his draft stock.

Based on Beilein’s comments and their draft stock, I expect both Poole and Iggy to return to Michigan basketball next season but right now, it’s hard to be 100 percent certain that they will be back next season.

Both have NBA potential, but unless they want to take a shot at being a mid-to-late-second-round pick or go undrafted, they should each spend another season working under coach Beilein.