Michigan Basketball: What loss of Jalen Wilson means for Wolverines

Michigan basketball suffered another difficult blow on Thursday as its top recruit from 2019 Jalen Wilson asked to be released from his scholarship.

It has been a rough couple of days for Michigan basketball and its fans and Thursday, things got even worse as Jalen Wilson, the Wolverines top recruit from 2019 asked for his release.

Wilson previously signed with Michigan basketball as part of the 2019 recruiting class when John Beilein was the head coach. He was the gem of the group and gave UM a top-50 player for the second year in a row.

Soon after Beilein announced his decision to go to Cleveland, Wilson, who wasn’t informed of the move by Beilein, said he was shocked. He also said that he was still committed to Michigan and would wait and see.

Despite getting to speak to Luke Yaklich, who pushed him to be patient, Wilson de-committed Thursday, asking for a release from his scholarship and opening his recruitment again.

Wilson is a 6-foot-8 forward from Denton, Texas, who averaged more than 18 points per game last season and is a prolific 3-point shooter. He was also a guy that was going to be counted on to play right away and make up for some of the production lost with the NBA departures of Jordan Poole, Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis.

Yet, with all the uncertainty surrounding the program, Wilson has decided to open his recruitment up. It’s not a shock, although many were hoping he would wait until a new coach was hired. In the end, he could still wind up with the Wolverines.

His family has connections to Michigan and if the Wolverines get the right coach in place, he could potentially recruit Wilson back into the fold. The player-coach relationship means a lot in recruiting nowadays and it’s hard to blame him for wanting to explore his options when he doesn’t even know who his coach would be next season.

If Wilson does end up somewhere else and Michigan doesn’t land any other commits from this class, it will leave a huge hole. Cole Bajema, a top-100 barely, is the other signee and he has said he is still committed.

With Iggy and Poole gone, along with Matthews, Wilson was in line to start at small forward, with Isaiah Livers at the four and another guard in the backcourt with Simpson. Now, Livers might have to be the three and Brandon Johns or Colin Castleton will have to step in and start alongside Jon Teske, assuming nothing else changes.

Whoever the new coach is can also bring in some players, but it’s becoming late in the game. That’s why Michigan needs to act fast. Certainly, UM needs to get the right guy, but it also needs to get him in place as soon as possible.