3 biggest questions facing Michigan Basketball this offseason

Can Michigan find help in the portal?

It’s easy to say that Michigan basketball should add a combo guard or a 3-point shooting power forward from the transfer portal, but it’s not that simple.

Michigan doesn’t even have an available scholarship right now. The Wolverines do have five guys going out (Eli, DeVante Jones, Brandon Johns, Zeb Jackson, Adrien Nunez) but Brooks used his COVID-19 year of eligibility and didn’t count towards the scholarship limit.

Now, we all expect Dickinson to leave for the NBA draft which leaves an opening and there is probably going to be at least one other transfer. Then, if Moussa or Caleb or both leave for the NBA draft, then you are looking at potentially four spots to fill.

The problem is that Michigan probably isn’t going to know if those spots are available until down the road. If Dickinson declares and hires an agent, then that gives you one spot, and if another current player transfers that’s two but that’s really going to be it, at least right away.

If Diabate and Houtstan declare for the draft, I doubt they will hire an agent right away. They will go through the evaluation process which goes nearly until the end of May.

So Michigan might not know the entire number of spots available until then. That’s what makes the transfer portal tricky, especially because the roster needs will change greatly based on those decisions.

If Moussa is back, Michigan doesn’t need a starting five. Just like the return of Caleb Houstan would lessen the need for shooting. U-M needs shooting but if the Wolverines lose their best 3-point shooter in Houstan, that need only grows.

Taylor Funk, who is pictured above, could be a great fit in the portal and he was originally recruited by Phil Martelli. Those kinds of complementary pieces are what the Wolverines need and while they need to act quickly if they can, it won’t easy with all the moving parts.