Michigan Basketball: Where do Wolverines need a transfer?

With the return of Eli Brooks announced earlier this week, Michigan basketball is one step closer to knowing what its roster will look like heading into the 2021-22 season.

We also learned on Thursday that Isaiah Livers wasn’t going to return. That’s something we knew, but now it’s official if you didn’t see his goodbye.

Additionally, Austin Davis and Chaundee Brown both announced this week that they won’t be returning, meaning the only players left to hear from are Franz Wagner and Hunter Dickinson.

You can’t count out the possibility of a transfer leaving U-M. However, Brandon Johns seemed like the most likely candidate but after a solid run in March, he feels like a solid rotation guy at worst.

So unless anyone else is added, assuming also that Wagner leaves and Dickinson stays, the roster would essentially be Brooks and Johns, plus the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes.

Obviously, Dickinson will be the Wolverines best player if he’s back. Brooks will be among the most valuable with his two-way contributions and then, the ceiling will be determined by how the young guys develop and contribute.

Yet, the other roster question lingering over the Wolverines right now, is whether or not Juwan Howard and company want to take on a transfer from the portal?

Where a transfer would make sense

Once Brooks returned, it seemed to lessen the need for a point guard from the portal, but Tim McCormick makes some good points to the Michigan Insider Podcast about needing veteran guards.

"“If Eli Brooks comes back, I would feel unbelievably good. I would be elated if Eli comes back and you get that other veteran point guard that you would put in the category of being elite. That’s what Juwan wants: He doesn’t want to be good, he doesn’t want to be real good, he wants to be elite. And to me they need a point guard that’s a vet, that’s seen a lot, and is a lot like Mike Smith. A lot like him, but a little bit bigger and a little bit more of a playmaker at the end.”"

Brooks has certainly filled some of that need, but he isn’t a true point guard. He also can’t be relied upon to be Michigan’s primary shot creator for others.

Dickison is going to do that a lot next season for U-M. Teams doubled down on Hunter, which allowed for open shots elsewhere on the floor.

But, Brooks, Frankie Collins, Zeb Jackson, and Kobe Bufkin would be the primary ball-handlers and none of those guys are proven, at least not yet, as ball-screen creators at the college level.

Brooks is much better playing the two-guard. He’s great at making the extra pass and finding guys, but he’s not a ball-screen shot creator as Dylan Burkhardt of UMHoops ($) points out. At least he hasn’t shown he can do that consistently at a high level.

Bufkin, Collins, and Jackson might be able to but that’s putting a lot of eggs into their basket and it might be worth Howard trying to find a Mike-Smith-like (but bigger) combo guard with one year of eligibility.