Michigan Basketball: One potential transfer is off the board for Wolverines

There are tons of potential targets in the transfer portal for Michigan basketball but one former five-star prospect has now committed elsewhere. 

Michigan basketball is going to have at least one roster spot open available for a transfer and there are a number of candidates for that opening.

One of those candidates was former five-star recruit Walker Kessler, who was recruited hard by Juwan Howard and the Wolverines but ended up at North Carolina.

However, Kessler ultimately ended up regretting that decision and didn’t start any of the 29 games he played for the Tar Heels and averaged just over four points per game.

Now, we know his destination Kessler has chosen Auburn out of the SEC.

Why it’s actually good news for Michigan basketball

As Jeff Goodman said, Kessler was buried on the depth chart with North Carolina. At the same time, playing with the Wolverines, Hunter Dickinson became an All-American and was Michigan’s leading scorer and rebounder.

Obviously, the two situations were very different and that had a lot to do with it, but Juwan is building a reputation as a really good coach for individual big guys.

Howard had that reputation already when he came to Michigan basketball to be the head coach and has only increased that with the development of Austin Davis, Dickinson, and even Jon Teske.

So it wasn’t a huge shock when Kessler entered the portal that Michigan was one of the schools that were mentioned as a favorite for him. Gonzaga was another.

That had a lot to do with the way the Wolverines recruited Kessler before and if Dickinson had entered the NBA draft, Michigan may have been the destination.

The fact that Kessler is headed to Auburn actually could be seen as a good sign that the U-M coaching staff expects Dickinson to return, otherwise, they might have expressed more interest in Kessler, who probably wants to go somewhere he won’t have to be a backup.

With Chet Holmgren, a five-star center likely headed to Gonzaga on top of the other talent, that wouldn’t have been a great fit either, which is why his landing at Auburn makes some sense.

Michigan fans also shouldn’t be disappointed, because the truth is that Kessler was only a possibility if Dickinson was actually leaving for the NBA or if he was willing to be a backup and if that was the case, he wouldn’t have entered the portal in the first place.