Michigan Basketball: Wolverines miss opportunity with Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Michigan basketball target Jabri Abdur-Rahim announced he was committing to Virginia on Wednesday in a disappointing result for the Wolverines.

With the addition of Franz Wagner last Saturday, it has been a good week for Michigan basketball. Yet, if the Wolverines could have landed Jabri Abdur-Rahim Wednesday, that would have made it that much better.

Unfortunately, Michigan basketball wasn’t the final destination for Abdur-Rahim, the son of a former NBA player that ultimately chose to play for the defending national champions, Virginia.

For Michigan, which finished as the runner-up, it leaves nothing but what-ifs as the Wolverines came painfully close to landing one of the top wings in the 2020 class.

Abdur-Rahim ranks 44th nationally according to the 247 sports composite rankings and he is No. 11 among small forwards. He turned heads last month at the NBAPA Top 100 and following a recent visit to Virginia, he made his decision known Wednesday on Twitter.

The recruitment of Abdur-Rahim goes back to John Beilein, who offered the four-star prospect, an offer that was re-affirmed by Juwan Howard when he became the head coach. However, the timing of Beilein going to Cleveland ended up hurting the Wolverines, who never got the New Jersey product on campus for an official visit.

Part of the issue for Michigan was bad timing. According to UMHoops ($), Abdur-Rahim was going to visit Ann Arbor in May but then Beilein took the Cavs job and that essentially reset the process. The visit never happened and instead, Tony Bennett got him on campus and it paid off. Here’s what Dylan Burkhardt of UMHoops had to say on the subject:

"Virginia scheduled an official visit in June, and the Wolverines failed to get him on campus. As a result, Abdur-Rahim is heading to Virginia. Michigan’s new staff has been working the phones, but they are still playing catch up. Michigan is getting involved in new recruitments while other schools are trying to close recruitments. As a result, the Wolverines didn’t host many prospects for visits in June and now will have to wait until August when visits are permitted again."

The 6-foot-5 forward would have been a perfect fit alongside current 2020 commit Zeb Jackson, who remains the only pledge for the Wolverines, however, Howard has his eyes on a number of others including five-star Jaden Springer, who recently put Michigan among his top five.

North Carolina appears to be the favorite, while Springer also mentioned Tennessee, Memphis and Florida as finalists for the 6-foot-4 shooting guard that is ranked as the 11th-best player in the 2020 class according to 247 sports. He also ranks third among shooting guards and third in the state of Florida.

Jalen Suggs, another five-star guard who ranks 13th overall in 2020, is another player that Michigan is gaining momentum with, however, all five of his crystal ball projections from 247 sports have him going to Gonzaga.