Michigan Basketball: Mike Smith in focus after miss on Bryce Aiken

Michigan basketball will focus on Mike Smith of Columbia now in the graduate transfer market at point guard after Bryce Aiken chose Seton Hall Thursday.

Things have been happening quickly for Michigan basketball over the past few days as two Wolverines, David DeJulius and Colin Castleton decided to enter the transfer portal.

Jace Howard, a committed recruit and Juwan Howard’s son, announced he would join Michigan basketball as a walk-on instead of as a scholarship player, effectively opening up three scholarships in three days.

The hope is that one of those scholarships would go to a graduate transfer at point guard and one of the targets for U-M was former Harvard point guard Bryce Aiken, who had the Wolverines among his top four teams.

Aiken was expected to choose Seton Hall and that’s what he did Thursday, telling Jon Rothstein in an exclusive announcement that he would be joining the Pirates. He will be immediately eligible.

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It doesn’t hurt Michigan basketball that much to see Aiken choose Seton Hall, however, it does mean there is one less point guard immediately eligible to pursue.

The other that Michigan has been connected to is Mike Smith of Columbia, who put up some impressive numbers last season playing on a poor team in the Ivy League.

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Smith would be a great addition and over four years with the Lions, he has averaged 18 points per game and started 90 of 92 possible games. He averaged 22.8 points last season and for his career is a 33.1 percent 3-point shooter.

While it’s hard to say if Smith would come in and start over Eli Brooks, who seems to be viewed quite favorably by Juwan Howard, he certainly would have a role to play off the bench.

As we learned with Jaaron Simmons back in 2018, just because a player is really good in a smaller conference — he was First-Team All-Mac — doesn’t mean they will dominate in the Big Ten. Simmons was solid and found a way to contribute but he couldn’t beat out Zavier Simpson.

I don’t think Smith could beat out Brooks. However, he could fill the role that DeJulius did last season as a scoring guard off the bench. Another ball-handler is necessary and one with that much experience would be a great get for the Wolverines.

Smith and Brooks would be a really good tandem at point guard. Both can shoot and Brooks is a really solid defender.

So even though it stings missing out on Aiken, Smith is still very much in play.