3 thoughts on Joey Baker’s transfer to Michigan Basketball

Baker likely means no Emoni

There has been a bunch of chatter about Emoni Bates to Michigan basketball but there never seemed to be anything on the Wolverines’ side that made things feel legitimate.

If Michigan missed on Baker, it might have been forced to add Bates simply because there wouldn’t be any other options and he did make 1.4 triples per game on 32 percent shooting last season at Memphis.

However, the Tigers were better without him in the lineup and it was just a bad situation. Juwan Howard, you would have to think, would command a different kind of respect but I don’t see Michigan adding Bates now.

Having him start at the four would be intriguing. But he and Baker would be competing for some of the same minutes and I don’t see Baker committing if Bates was coming down the road.

Michigan does have a scholarship available but just like it did a couple of years ago, I think that will be rolled over. Since Llewellyn could technically play two seasons at Michigan, if he chose, that would leave the Wolverines with two guaranteed scholarships for the 2023 class.

Baker and the open spot would create two.

Baker’s addition isn’t going to be as impactful as say Jacob Grandison or someone who could offer an impact on both ends of the floor, but Michigan has an All-American center and four other top-100 recruits set to start, as well as a slew of other top-100 prospects coming off the bench.

In Jett, Baker, Dickinson, Tarris Reed, and Kobe Bufkin, the Wolverines have five former top-50 recruits on their roster. Bufkin was also a McDonald’s All-American.

So the talent is there and it seems to me that Michigan has its roster for the 2022-23 season.