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Michigan Basketball: Caleb Houstan will be Big Ten’s best freshman

By Cameron Stokes

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 19: Caleb Houstan #22 of Montverde Academy in action against Sanford School during the City of Palms Classic Day 2 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 19, 2019 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 19: Caleb Houstan #22 of Montverde Academy in action against Sanford School during the City of Palms Classic Day 2 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 19, 2019 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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There has been a lot of talk about how good Michigan basketball can be next season as a whole but in terms of conference awards, U-M basketball fans have to feel good about freshman Caleb Houstan’s chances as a potential freshman of the year candidate.

247sports released its final rankings for the 2021 class, and Houstan is rated No. 7 overall in the class of 2021. He is ranked third at his position (small forward) and No.1 in the state of Florida. He is listed at 6-foot-8 and 205 pounds.

Houstan is the highest-ranked recruit in the Big Ten for next season. He brings a lot of versatility to the three spot, and can also play the two (shooting guard) and four (power forward) as well.

Michigan basketball brings back three players next season in Eli Brooks, Brandon Johns Jr., and presumably Hunter Dickinson (although nothing is official on that quite yet). All of them have started at some point in their careers for U-M basketball thus far.

Michigan basketball also added Sun Belt Player of the Year Coastal Carolina transfer, DeVante Jones, a few weeks ago.

The point being, Houstan will have a lot of veteran players surrounding him when he officially starts his Michigan basketball career. Juwan Howard is a veteran of the game himself, so all of these people will be helping him out.

With so much hype on this player, much less the highest-rated player in the Big Ten since Romeo Langford in 2018, the expectations will be very high for Houstan. He’s known as a sniper, through and through. He can shoot from anywhere on the court, with accuracy and consistency.

Michigan basketball fans should be cautiously optimistic though.

What to expect next season for Houstan

Although Houstan will more than likely be a lottery pick whenever he declares for the draft, he will still only be a freshman this year. It took Dickinson some time to get used to Big Ten play last year, and it almost surely will for Houstan as well.

Yes, I get that Dickinson didn’t start right away last season for U-M and Houstan will start for Michigan this year (which should help out his stats a lot more), but he will be in college for the first time and the speed of college is much different than high school, even though he played at prestigious Montverde Academy.

Overall, I expect Houstan to win Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten. He’s too talented not to. Generally, the better the team is overall, the more awards the players tend to receive on that team.

Michigan basketball should be a top-10 team this season.

I believe Houstan will have games where he just goes off. And he will have games where he struggles some. Even the best shooters on earth have cold stretches from time to time.

Next. Projecting U-M hoops starters in 2021-22. dark

As for his stats, I expect Houstan to average 13-14 points a game, collect 2-3 rebounds a game and have 2-3 assists per game.

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