Michigan Basketball: An unfavorable crystal ball for Wolverines
Donovan Clingan, A top recruiting target for Michigan basketball in 2022 received a crystal ball to UConn earlier this week.
Michigan basketball has one piece in its 2022 recruiting class as point guard Dug McDaniel committed recently. After point guard, center might be the biggest position of focus and despite some optimism surrounding the recruitment of Donovan Clingan, at least one expert sees things going the way of UConn.
It’s not a huge shock as the Huskies were considered to be the favorite for Clingan, who is from Connecticut and ranked 40th overall in 2022 according to the 247 sports composite rankings.
Out of Bristol, the 7-foot-1 center draws a lot of comparisons to Hunter Dickinson from Michigan fans and there’s a natural comparison. Like Dickinson, Clingan is more of a traditional center and with Hunter more than likely gone for the NBA after next season, there would be a perfect role available for a guy like Clingan.
Juwan knows how to develop big guys and that’s something he’s used to win other recruitments and with Dickinson, there is more proof in the pudding.
Clingan took a visit to Ann Arbor earlier this month and things seemed to go really well. There was even confidence on the Michigan side of things, but Eric Bossi of 247 sports, their national analyst, projected the center to the Huskies on Monday.
Bossi put his prediction in with a confidence level of six on a scale of 1-10. It’s an important crystal ball but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over.
We all remember the Josh Christopher recruitment when the Wolverines had double-digit crystal ball predictions and didn’t win out. In hindsight, that proved to be a good thing. But it’s also an example of how things can change.
Other 2022 big-man options for Michigan basketball
However, it does mean that Michigan has some work to do. It might also shed some light on why the Wolverines offered 6-foot-11 forward Kyle Filipowski earlier this week.
He’s also been rising fast up the rankings and is now among the top-50 prospects in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022. Unfortunately, he’s also trending with predictions to somewhere else — Duke.
Filipowski visited Duke over the weekend and the Blue Devils extended an offer, so they appear to be the favorite. Michigan is also after five-star big man Dereck Lively and recently made his top list.
Next. Predicting rest of 2022 recruiting class. dark
Clingan felt the best option though in terms of centers for 2022, so missing out on him and Lively would force the Wolverines to move even further down their board.