Michigan Basketball: Is there hope for Anthony Mathis or Franz Wagner?

Michigan basketball has its coaching staff finalized, now it’s time to recruit and two prime targets are Anthony Mathis and Franz Wagner.

Michigan basketball got some good news Tuesday as the Wolverines finalized the coaching staff under Juwan Howard with the hires of Phil Martelli and Howard Eisley.

Those guys will complete the three-man coaching staff with Saddi Washington, who will be the lone holdover from the John Beilein era of Michigan basketball. Yet, Washington is still important. In fact, he is playing a key role in two recruits the Wolverines have targeted.

One of those guys is going to be familiar to Michigan basketball fans and that’s Franz Wagner, the younger brother of Moritz Wagner.

Wagner flourished at Michigan in part because of Washington’s tutelage. His return should give the Wolverines a better shot at landing Franz, who could be an instant contributor on the wing for UM next season.

Certainly, Wagner will remind his younger brother of his time in Ann Arbor but it’s hard to say if that will be enough to sway him to turn down all the money that will be thrown at him to play professionally in Germany. Wagner’s club team is UM’s toughest competition. If he decides to play college basketball, Michigan should be his destination but that remains to be seen.

At the very least, the retention of Washington should keep Michigan basketball in the mix. However, Washington is also busy trying to recruit New Mexico graduate transfer, Anthony Mathis.

Jon Rothstein of Sports Illustrated reported that Mathis was putting his name into the transfer portal and as a graduate transfer, he would be eligible to play right away. Washington reached out to him according to 247 sports and with the Wolverines in need of shooting, it’d be a perfect fit.

Mathis averaged 12.7 PPG two seasons ago and last year, he averaged more than 14 points a game for the Lobos. He also is a career 43-percent shooter from beyond the arc, which would make the 6-foot-3 guard a lock to start if he transferred to UM. But Mathis, an Oregon native, seems to be leaning towards the Ducks. That’s the chatter online anyways, but you never know.

With Washington reaching out and Howard landing in Ann Arbor, it’s possible that could cause Mathis to give Michigan a longer look and if that’s the case, anything can happen. It’s hard to project either Mathis or Wagner to UM right now but with some time before decisions are made, there is still hope, however faint.