Michigan Basketball: Predicting where top targets will land in 2021

Chet Holmgren

247Sports Composite: 2nd overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Gonzaga, Minnesota 

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

I don’t have a great feel for the recruitment of five-star center Chet Holmgren. For being the number two overall player in the 2021 class, his recruitment seems to lack energy. That could have something to do with Gonzaga and Minnesota being the favorites to land him.

Michigan PG commit Frankie Collins did mention that he was trying to recruit Holmgren to Michigan a few weeks ago. Despite the effort by Collins, I think Holmgren goes elsewhere.

Prediction: Minnesota

Bryce Hopkins

247Sports Composite: 32nd overall, four-star

Contenders: Michigan, Kentucky, Iowa State, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Cal, Oregon, Providence

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Michigan basketball made the top nine for four-star PF Bryce Hopkins just over a week ago.

Despite being in the mix for Hopkins, this feels like a potential backup plan for Juwan Howard. There hasn’t been a ton of buzz for Michigan here and I personally don’t see Michigan making a strong push.

Prediction: Kentucky

JD Davison

247Sports Composite: 11th overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Memphis, LSU, Alabama, Auburn Kansas

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Back on August 20th, Michigan made the final six for five-star PG JD Davison. This came out of nowhere as Davison really wasn’t on the radar of any fans or insiders before this.

Juwan Howard was the main reason that Michigan gained momentum and made the cut for Davison. In an interview with Montgomery Advertiser, Davison had this to say on why Michigan made the cut.

"“You have Juwan Howard — Hall of Famer — and other good coaches. And their style of play really fits me.”"

Michigan certainly has made a late push here for Davison but I would consider the Wolverines a big long shot here.

Prediction: Alabama

Hunter Sallis

247Sports Composite: 8th overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Alabama, Auburn, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon and UCLA

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Michigan basketball making the top twelve for Hunter Sallis was yet another surprise to fans and insiders.

With twelve schools still in the running, it doesn’t appear that this recruitment will be ending any time soon. There hasn’t been much buzz for Michigan here, and with them being serious contenders for so many other recruits, I don’t see Michigan being a threat to land Sallis.

Prediction: Kansas

Charles Bediako

247Sports Composite: 22nd overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Alabama, Baylor, Duke, Maryland, Memphis, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas, USC

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

The only reason that I have Charles Bediako in the “longshot” category is because of how much I love Michigan’s chances at getting Efton Reid. Even though Michigan continues to pursue Bediako heavily, I believe it’s a backup plan for if they don’t land Reid.

Alabama recently picked up a FutureCast from Rivals Insider Corey Evans to land Bediako. Evans had this to say about his confidence level in that prediction.

"Don’t look too deep into my Charles Bediako FutureCast prediction, but Alabama has been the constant chatter with the top-20 center for the past year. Nate Oats and his staff have done an awesome job of recruiting the standout Canadian and the Crimson Tide’s work north of the border has been impressive, recently enrolling Josh Primo and Keon Ambrose-Hylton, two incoming freshmen that played travel ball alongside Bediako as recently as last summer."

Prediction: Alabama

Patrick Baldwin

247Sports Composite: 1st overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgetown, Northwestern, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Michigan made the top ten for Baldwin way back in May.  In recent weeks, it appears Duke has emerged as the favorite to land Baldwin. Michigan basketball fans, don’t get your hopes up for this one.

Prediction: Duke

Caleb Houstan

247Sports Composite: 7th overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Oregon, Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas 

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Houstan started off in the 2022 class and reclassified to 2021 this summer. He told ESPN that he’s in no rush to make his decision.

"In terms of his recruitment, Houstan says he holds scholarship offers from 14 schools and is still “wide open,” and “early in the process.” He says he does not have a time frame for a college decision, as he has not been able to take official visits or host coaches for in-home visits due to the pandemic.”"

Houstan also wrote in an SI Blog that Michigan was involved in his recruitment and had a zoom call with them.

"I’ve done a few Zoom calls with Michigan, Oregon, Arkansas, Arizona and Texas and I would say that they’ve all been coming hard along with Virginia, Duke and North Carolina."

It’s extremely difficult to gauge how involved Michigan is with Houstan right now. With Michigan’s class filling up fast and Houstan taking his time, I don’t see Michigan being in play down the road.

Prediction: Too early to tell

Jaden Hardy

247Sports Composite: 4th overall, five-star

Contenders: Michigan, Kentucky, UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon

Michigan’s chances: Longshot

Back in July, Rivals Insider Eric Bossi ranked Michigan as the fifth-best contender to land Hardy. He said this about Michigan’s chances.

"At this point, a guy like Hardy would be a luxury recruit for the Wolverines who already have three Rivals150 recruits from the class of 2021. They would love to have him and spent a good amount of time following him during the 2019-20 season, but now that they have landed top 65 combo guard Kobe Bufkin Hardy isn’t a must have. But, if Hardy wanted to tell Juwan Howard yes, he would be the easiest take ever and the possibility, while a long shot, isn’t totally off the board."

Prediction: Kentucky