Michigan Basketball: Walker Kessler is ideal test case for Juwan Howard

Walker Kessler announced Michigan basketball among his top six teams on Friday and it looks like Juwan Howard has the Wolverines in contention.

While much of Friday was focused on the football team, there was also some important Michigan basketball news that came out as five-star recruit Walker Kessler placed the Wolverines among his top six teams.

Kessler, a 6-foot-10 center that is ranked fourth at his position in the 2020 class and 16th overall, listed Michigan basketball, as well as Duke, North Carolina, Auburn, Gonzaga and Cal. He has a visit coming up soon with the Zags but also indicated he would be taking an unofficial to Ann Arbor according to 247 sports ($).

Kessler had an interest in the Wolverines dating back to John Beilein and even took an official visit to campus. So when Beilein left for the NBA, things weren’t looking great for Michigan until Howard came on board and made Kessler a priority again.

Howard’s experience in the NBA, both as a player and a coach has also made a big impact on Kessler, particularly because Howard was an inside player and has had success developing big men in the NBA, most notably Hassan Whiteside. Here is what Kessler told Brian Snow of 247 sports last week ($): 

"“I am still very interested in Michigan. I have talked to Coach Howard a lot. Obviously, with him being a big man who played 15 years in the NBA who was a stretch big who could do it all, it is very appealing for a player like me.”"

That’s not the first time that Kessler has mentioned Howard’s NBA experience as a positive thing and it surely won’t be the last. Working with bigs and getting those guys ready for the league can be a real selling point for Juwan and it has worked well on Kessler.

Getting him for a visit is key and keeps the Wolverines in the running. But having to go head-to-head with powerhouse programs like Duke and North Carolina is going to make it difficult.

However, Michigan basketball has developed the reputation of an elite program. Under Beilein, the team has played for the national title twice in the past seven years and has reached the Sweet 16 five times in that span, including three years in a row.

Numerous players have gone in the first round of the NBA draft, including at least one player in four consecutive drafts with Caris Levert, D.J. Wilson, Mortiz Wagner and now Jordan Poole all going early. Ignas Brazdeikis also went in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft.

Add that reputation to Howard’s, a guy with 19 years of playing experience in the NBA and six more as an assistant under one of the top head coaches in the league, plus his work with Dwayne Wade and LeBron James and it has to be pretty appealing to a prospect.

These are all potential selling points for Howard and ultimately, Kessler will be a great test case. Howard should have an advantage recruiting big men with his background and with what appears to be genuine interest, we’ll see if the strategy will be enough to pull the upset.

Duke owns 70 percent of his crystal ball projections right now, so it seems like a long shot. But Howard has already made up some ground with Kessler and it will be interesting to see if he can make up enough to get him to commit in the coming months.