What to make of Joey Baker’s visit to Michigan Basketball

Michigan basketball has two spots open for potential transfers and the Wolverines are hosting former Duke five-star recruit Joey Baker on Tuesday. 

We have been speculating for weeks now about who Michigan basketball would add from the transfer portal because it was pretty clear that Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan weren’t coming back to the Wolverines.

There are a number of players that would make sense with one of them being Jacob Grandison of Illinois. Another is Emmanuel Akot of Boise State. They are both versatile wings with 3-point shooting ability.

That’s something Michigan desperately needs after the departure of Houstan. Jett Howard should be a capable 3-pointer shooter too, but the Wolverines still need more and that’s one thing Joey Baker has always been able to do for the Blue Devils.

Baker is a career 37.9-percent 3-point shooter and averaged 0.9 3-point makes during his career with Duke although he averaged just 12 minutes per game. He was formerly a five-star prospect but the 6-foot-6 wing could potentially come off the bench for Michigan basketball.

According to Chris Balas of The Wolverine, Baker was on campus in Ann Arbor today, which isn’t shocking as there was some mutual interest between the two sides. He also wrote this:

"“The sniper had 11 career games with 3-plus three-point field goals, the most recent a 4-of-5 shooting performance from long range against Florida State on Feb. 19. Michigan needs shooters, and the 6-6, 206-pounder is that. Though he only averaged 4.5 points per game last year, he’s a good “culture guy” who could be more in the right situation.”"

What to make of Joey Baker’s visit?

While Baker might be taking other visits, it’s clear that Michigan basketball is a leading contender. After playing for Duke, he surely wants to play for a winner, and Michigan should contend for the Big Ten title and have a team capable of another Sweet 16 run at least.

Especially if Michigan can add the right pieces from the portal.

Baker would be a great piece for Michigan. He’s a sharpshooter who isn’t used to playing a ton of minutes and would likely be fine as a designated shooter off the bench. It worked with Duncan Robinson a few years ago and it’s valuable to have a true floor spacer.

It will be interesting to see if this visit leads to a commitment. The Wolverines have also been recruiting Grandison, Akot, and Pete Nance, plus Emoni Bates looms.

Michigan needs more shooting, more playmaking and it could use a valuable defensive option too. Baker, more or less, would satisfy the need for shooting, while allowing the Wolverines to still pursue other options in the portal.

A lack of reliable shooting killed Michigan basketball at key times throughout the 2021-22 season and by adding Baker, the Wolverines would take a big step towards avoiding that problem again.