Michigan Basketball: A new 5-star visitor, plus more on 2022 recruiting

Last weekend was a big recruiting weekend for Michigan basketball as it hosted Jett Howard. Now, U-M will host a 5-star this weekend. 

When it comes to Michigan basketball recruiting, the Wolverines are at a key point in the 2022 cycle as they are looking to round out the class.

Top-50 big man Tarris Reed and point guard Dug McDaniel each committed to Michigan basketball over the summer, but head coach Juwan Howard is likely going to sign four recruits this class.

One of those is expected to be his son, Jett Howard.

Jett is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound wing who is ranked 37th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022 and has 10 crystal ball projections to the Wolverines.

However, Tennessee and North Carolina State are also in the mix and according to this report from Chris Balas of The Wolverine, Howard really likes Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes.

But Balas and others have been confident that Jett would commit to his dad and following his official visit over the weekend, it still feels like that will be the outcome. As for Jett’s thinking about his recruitment, here’s part of what he told Balas:

"“He (Juwan) tells me, ‘I don’t want you to look back in 30 years and have regrets … feel like I pushed you into doing something you didn’t want to do. I know he wants me to be happy.”"

Jett has said that he wants to play right away and he should get that chance with Michigan, especially if Caleb Houstan leaves for the NBA draft following this season as expected.

Even if Houstan stayed though, Howard has the kind of shot and scoring ability that will allow him to play early wherever he goes, which we believe will be Michigan.

If Jett takes the third spot in the 2022 class, who will be joining him? That’s the biggest question right now facing Michigan basketball recruiting.

Gregg Glenn, who is close to Juwan and the Howard family, also visited this past weekend, as did McDaniel. Glenn is ranked 109th in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022 and while Michigan made his top five, the question has always been, is he a take?

He’s not quite the shooter that Colin Smith is or the defender that Ty Rodgers has proven to be. But he does offer an intriguing skill set and U-M is looking to add to its frontcourt.

Michigan also hasn’t stopped recruiting Rodgers, even though things appeared to cool off after he visited earlier this summer and didn’t commit.

Smith is expected to visit this weekend according to Hoop Seen, but another name on the radar is that of five-star center Yohan Traore, who as it was reported late on Monday, will be visiting Michigan basketball this weekend.

A 5-star visitor for Michigan basketball

The 10th-ranked player in the 2022 class included Michigan in his top 10 but at this point, has only visited Texas Tech, which means this official visit could be significant.

Juwan will have to sell Yohan on playing with Reed but the Wolverines obviously think it can work and Howard has proven he can develop big guys.

Traore is out of Arizona and UCLA is strongly in the mix too. He could also choose the professional option.

Eric Dailey is another talented forward, who is more of a combo forward and is also looking to take a visit to Michigan according to what he told 247 sports.

Dailey is ranked 35th overall and in terms of skill-set, might be the best fit alongside Dug, Reed, and Jett, if indeed that commitment happens, with his shooting ability.

To sum up: Traore and Smith are set to visit this weekend, right on the heels of Glenn’s visit and Dailey could be visiting in October.

So there are five semi-realistic possibilities for that fourth spot but it feels like Traore is definitely the top target. After that, it will be interesting to see who Michigan prioritizes.