Michigan basketball: Don’t worry when Juwan misses on a few prospects

As Michigan basketball fans right now, we are all on cloud nine. It seems that nothing can go wrong with the program as of this moment.

Michigan has the number one recruiting class in the country coming in for the class of 2021, with the highlight being two five-star prospects. Michigan is also in the mix for a lot of other prospects in the class of 2022, with big names like five-star guard Jaden Bradley, four-star big man Donovan Clingan, and many others.

Michigan basketball has a legitimate shot with all of these guys I mentioned and might be the leader for both of these prospects. Michigan just came off of an Elite Eight, winning the Big Ten regular-season title last year.

So, all is going well in the world of college basketball for the Wolverines. There are some changes coming to the world of college basketball though, and unfortunately, it will affect not just U-M, but all college basketball programs.

The issue is the professional ranks and the NIL. This is one of the reasons why Roy Williams decided to abruptly retire and why Coach K will be retiring at the end of this season. Both don’t like where the college basketball game is headed.

NIL stands for Name, Image, Likeness (for those that don’t know or forget), and when it is passed and becomes official in the world of college sports, it will allow athletes to monetize their own selves. For college basketball, old heads (and honestly a lot of younger coaches too) think this will be a huge distraction for their program or locker room.

Coaches think college basketball players won’t focus as much on their game as they do their image and selling themselves to make money. To be honest, this is a fair point, but at the same time, the college basketball landscape is changing and those who don’t like it can seek other opportunities.

The next thing that will really affect college basketball and already has is the professional sports leagues. Leagues like the G-League, Overtime Elite, and many others, are catching a lot of high school athletes by storm.

Why would a high school athlete stay a year in college when they could make upwards of $600k a year playing professionally and declare for the NBA draft after a season or two? Looking at it financially, it makes a lot more sense for a high school athlete.

Juwan Howard will ineitably miss on elite talent

Listen, Juwan Howard is a human being, and definitely not a dirty one. He can’t offer athletes $600k a year, a car, or a house to come play basketball for him. It is completely unethical and violates NCAA rules.

What Juwan Howard CAN do is try his best to sell himself to the recruits (the best he can), mentioning his many years of NBA playing experience, his very recent NBA coaching experience, and his ability to develop talent for the next level.

Not all of these G-League coaches and Overtime Elite coaches have the level of wisdom and NBA playing experience like Juwan. They definitely don’t have the NBA coaching experience. That has to account for something.

At the end of the day though, Juwan Howard (and many other great recruiting coaches) will miss out on some of these elite-level prospects. Some will go to the G-League, or Overtime Elite. It’s not the end of the world though.

At the end of the day, Juwan will still get plenty of elite talent to come to Michigan and UM basketball will be fine.

So Michigan fans. Don’t be super disappointed when Juwan Howard inevitably misses out on a few of his big board of prospects to professional leagues. That day will come, and it will come for a lot of programs as well. Breathe, and just know that Juwan always has a backup plan, and UM basketball will be alright.