Michigan Basketball: Ranking the contenders for 5-star Caleb Houstan

#1: Alabama

If you haven’t been following college basketball too closely lately, you may be surprised to see Alabama on this list. But head coach Nate Oats is absolutely killing it on the recruiting trail for the 2021 class.

Oats became the new Alabama coach in March of 2019 after winning MAC Coach of the Year for Buffalo after leading them to a 28-3 record. His recruiting success at Alabama started right away as he was able to land two top-50 recruits in his first full class. The momentum has carried right over into 2021.

Five-star PG JD Davison committed to Alabama earlier this month joining another top-150 prospect in the class, four-star Jusaun Holt. Alabama is also the overwhelming leader to land five-star center and Michigan basketball target Charles Bediakao. Alabama has picked up five 247Sports crystal ball predictions to land Bediako.

Houstan spoke highly about Alabama in a recent interview with 247Sports:

"“The style of play, I could definitely see myself in the way that they play as well as having the chance to develop, get good minutes and have an impact from the start. I also have a great relationship with them. With them, they did a lot of video of how they would use me and compared me to some of their wings that can really shoot the ball. That helped a lot.”"

I would rank Alabama as the number one contender to land Houstan for many of the same reasons as I listed for Michigan. He’s a great fit for the system and he will have a clear path for playing time as a freshman. The only thing that I think slightly puts Alabama ahead of Michigan is the opportunity to play with other five-stars.

JD Davison is recruiting Houstan very hard to Alabama and there is a clear connection/friendship there. I’m not sure if Michigan has that same connection. If they do, it has not become public.

I do think this will end in a two team race between Alabama and Michigan. At this point, I’d give Alabama the slight edge.