Michigan Basketball Mailbag: Recruiting, Efton Reid, Nunez, Johns, and more

Every week, I will be tackling all of your Michigan basketball, recruiting, and even some Michigan football questions in a mailbag article.

If you want to submit a question for next week’s mailbag, comment your question below or tweet it at me @WolverineCorner. These mailbags will be primarily for Michigan basketball, but don’t be surprised if I toss a football question in here once in a while.

There were a lot of good questions this week so let’s dive right into it.

Michigan has so many options after missing out on Trevor Keels and Harrison Ingram. They could get a center and wrap up the 2021 class with five commits. This would likely result in them targeting transfers following this season to fill any open scholarships.

The second option is to find another wing to target as mentioned in the question. There’s not really a wing left on Michigan’s board but that could change quickly. Bryce Hopkins is more of a PF and not a wing but I’d love for Michigan basketball to make a big push for him. He’s a top-40 player in the class who listed Michigan in his top nine late last month.

The third option is to not worry about position and just try to land the best available player to close out the 2021 class. Someone like J.D. Davison, Hunter Sallis, or Caleb Houstan would fit this option.

Having options is good, and Juwan Howard has plenty of them as far as the 2021 class goes.

I have been stubborn on my opinions of centers in the 2021 class. The reason for that is because I would be absolutely stunned if Michigan basketball doesn’t land Efton Reid in this class. So in my opinion, any center not named Efton Reid is a long shot for Michigan to land.

But to answer the question, I’d say Michigan would have a better shot to land Chet Holmgren than they would with Charles Bediako. It seems like both recruitments are pretty quiet and I’m not sure at the moment how hard Michigan is pushing for either guy.

I think Chet Holmgren’s friendship with Michigan PG commit Frankie Collins could play a factor and that’s why I’d say Holmgren over Bediako.

This is a great question here. Yes, I absolutely think it’s a make or break year for Adrien Nunez. Last season was a struggle for Nunez. He was recruited as a big shooting guard and a sharpshooter. He was not extremely highly ranked coming out of high school so it was always thought he’d need a couple years to develop.

Going into year three, Nunez is a career 26 percent shooter from deep and has been a major defensive liability. I’m rooting for Nunez. He’s a great kid and one of the favorites on the team among his teammates. He’s going to have to prove he can be a deadly threat from deep this season or I don’t see him cracking the rotation.

Michigan is thin at guard but as it sits right now, unless he proves he can light it up from deep, it’s hard to imagine him playing much in front of Chaundee Brown, Eli Brooks, or even true freshman Zeb Jackson.

If for some reason Brown is not given his waiver, this would likely result in a significant minutes increase for Adrien Nunez.

I reached out to everyone I know close to the program and simply put, nobody has a clue. Michigan has a very good compliance department and that is the most important thing when it comes to these waiver requests.

It’s still assumed by almost everybody that Chaundee Brown will get his waiver to play this season and it’s a matter of when not if. With the season only about two months out, expect something soon.

I do not. Many people thought Nunez was a transfer candidate after last season. And I personally thought there was a chance Johns would seek a transfer with Isaiah Todd coming in and Isaiah Livers coming back. Well, Todd didn’t end up coming and it now appears Johns will have a big role on this team.

Transfer situations are weird. Sometimes the people you expect to transfer don’t and the people you don’t expect to transfer end up leaving. The situation could be very different in seven months but as of right now, I think they will both play four years at Michigan.

This is going to sound like a cop-out answer but it’s what I truly believe. I think Austin Davis and Brandon Johns will play pretty similar minutes backing up the center spot this season. Johns will obviously back up other spots as well and will play more minutes overall than Davis.

Juwan Howard has to find ways to get Johns more minutes this year, and small ball would be the perfect way to do it. You’ll have a true freshman starting at center in Hunter Dickinson. It may take him a while to get acclimated to the college game. Johns at the center spot playing small ball could create nightmares for opposing defenses.

So to answer the question, I don’t think either will be the primary backup center. I see them splitting that role pretty evenly depending on matchups.

From @cameronwilson64: When do you think Juwan will land his first 5 star?

This is a question that I have been getting a lot, and rightfully so. I honestly believe that it will happen in this 2021 recruiting cycle and I think it’ll be Efton Reid. Every person that I have talked to feels confident in this as well.

Reid has a great relationship with a couple current Michigan basketball players, Michigan needs a center, and Reid would have opportunity for early playing time. The fit makes sense, the relationships are there, and I think Efton Reid will be Juwan Howard’s first five-star.