Michigan Basketball: Breaking down another key summer visitor

Michigan basketball has another visit set for this summer with Papa Kante, who has quickly become a top priority for the Wolverines in 2023. 

The offseason is heating up for Michigan basketball and we finally got word that Hunter Dickinson was going to return for his junior season, while Moussa Diabate decided to test the NBA draft waters while keeping his eligibility for now.

There still hasn’t been anything announced about Caleb Houstan, another former five-star recruit like Diabate but the NBA will be announcing the list of early entrants soon enough, so even if Houstan doesn’t announce it, the news will be out there.

The Wolverines have plenty of work to do building their roster for next season but you always have to balance immediate needs and the future.

In terms of the future, the 2023 recruiting class is starting to come into focus for the Wolverines, who have begun to establish priorities over the past few weeks during the live evaluation period.

One recruit we have talked about before is Papa Kante, a 6-foot-10 big man who Michigan basketball is said to be near the top of the list for and who will now be visiting the Wolverines on June 14, which is the same week another top target will visit.

According to a recent post by Jared Greenspan of UM Hoops, Juwan Howard is in regular communication with Kante and the two have developed a really strong relationship according to Kante’s head coach Raphael Chillious:

"“It’s all Juwan, and not in a bad way,” Chillious said. “Papa’s probably only talked to an assistant coach once or twice. Juwan, they talk all the time. … Every time he has an AAU game, during warmups, before they’ve even started yet, you see Coach Howard sitting there waiting already. The biggest deal is Juwan’s done a great job with the kid. Not just basketball — he just talks to him. I think that’s something that’s kind of unique these days because most coaches will call and say, ‘Hey, when are you gonna commit? When are you gonna do this?’ Juwan, he just calls to talk to the kid.”"

Juwan has Michigan in prime position

Juwan has proven to be an elite recruiter from the day he stepped on campus. He landed the No. 1 recruiting class in 2022 and has three top-15 classes, as well as the addition of Franz Wagner to his credit.

Howard was a former NBA all-star and also has a great reputation for working with bigs, which led to Michigan getting guys like Dickinson and Diabate, as well as Tarris Reed, a top-50 pledge in the 2022 recruiting class.

While Reed is a dynamic offensive threat in the post, as well as being a pretty solid shooter, Kante is better known for his defense, although his offense and his shooting are improving.

He’s ranked as the 10th-best center in the 2023 recruiting class according to the 247 sports composite rankings and he’s ranked 95th overall. Kante has a background playing soccer, so he’s got solid footwork and his hands are pretty good too. He also shows a nice feel for scoring out of ball screens as the roll guy and is also showing he can pick and pop too.

"“I play hard all the time, and like playing defense,” Kante told On3.com. “I can score 20 points per game, but I impact the game with my defense, guarding two or three positions in some games. I’m finishing better at the rim this season, and I’ve been shooting it well. I have been watching a lot of Joel Embiid and his footwork, how he scores the ball.”"

Howard has done a great job of developing a big-man pipeline at Michigan. Dickinson will be back for 2022-23 and even if Diabate returns, Tarris Reed should get some minutes to help him develop and eventually take over the job.

Kante can join that pipeline and if he wants to reach the NBA, Juwan is someone who can certainly help him on that path.