Michigan Basketball: Wolverines in the mix for No. 2 recruit in 2022
Michigan basketball missed out on Chet Holmgren, the top recruit in the class of 2021 but that doesn’t mean the Wolverines are done chase elite prospects.
If Michigan basketball fans were being realistic, then they had no real expectation that five-star center Chet Holmgren was going to choose the Wolverines when he announced his college of choice earlier Monday.
And true to the crystal ball predictions, Holmgren, the top-ranked recruit in 2021, according to the 247 sports composite rankings, did indeed, choose the Zags.
It would have been awesome for sure if Holmgren decided to go to Ann Arbor and the Wolverines were closer to the top than the bottom in his final seven, but they weren’t able to persuade him.
However, there could still be a chance at landing one of the top recruits in the class of 2022 in Jalen Duran, a five-star center and the No. 2 overall prospect in the class.
Duran is 6-foot-10 and out of Montverde Academy, which is where Caleb Houstan and Zeb Jackson played. When you look at his interview with Dushawn London, Michigan basketball seems to have as good a shot as anyone if Duran plays college basketball. Here’s what he said via 247 sports:
"“Juwan Howard is a great coach and I have a great relationship with him. He knows what he’s doing and I like their program over there. They had a good run at March Madness this year but it was expected. I feel like a lot of people expected them to go as far as they did, or even further but they are a great team. I’m definitely in talks with them. They use their bigs well and I feel like Juwan Howard really develops his guys and gets them playing together and playing well. I’m definitely looking at Michigan as one of my options.”"
A unique selling point for Wolverines
It’s not a coincidence that just about every five-star center is at least interested in Michigan basketball. That’s because of Juwan Howard. He had a strong track record of developing bigs even before he came to U-M and has only added to that with Hunter Dickinson and Austin Davis.
Kentucky and Miami were the other schools mentioned and you can never count out the Wildcats with an elite recruit, but Michigan has a solid shot here.
Next. 4 ideal fits in transfer portal. dark
The problem is that some are already predicting Duran to the G-League. His lone crystal ball is that he will play professional basketball, so that’s probably the biggest obstacle.