Michigan Basketball target Youssef Khayat nearing decision

Michigan basketball is hoping to land 2022 international recruit Youssef Khayat who is going to come to a decision soon according to 247 sports. 

We have all been wondering how Juwan Howard was going to replace Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan, two of the most talented players on last year’s Michigan basketball team.

While that talent didn’t always lead to production, there was some thought that both players were going to take a big jump heading into the 2022-23 season, which would allow the Wolverines to capitalize on their potential as they built their NBA draft stock.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way. Moussa and Houstan both stayed in the draft and will hope to get drafted. For Michigan, it meant it had two open spots and not many options for filing them with the transfer portal mostly picked over.

Michigan landed Joey Baker, a 3-point shooting specialist and high-character guy (former Duke captain) which solidified a need for a sharpshooter on the perimeter.

Some, including me, assumed Michigan basketball was done after that. We have talked about Emoni Bates but that only seemed like an option if the Wolverines were desperate and it’s clear now that Juwan had another plan all along — Youssef Khayat.

A perfect fit for Michigan basketball

The 6-foot-8 combo forward would be a great addition. He’s got NBA-level talent and Michigan could help him reach his potential as it did with Franz Wagner and others.

Khayat announced a top four of Michigan, Xavier, Wake Forest, and Depaul this week, and here’s what he told Dushawn London of 247 sports about the Wolverines:

"“For me they have experience with international players like Mo Wagner and Moussa Diabaté. I think them having experience with international players is very impressive. The name Michigan is so important in the USA so that paired with their experience with international players plus being a well known program is kind of unique.”"

To be fair, he praised Xavier too:

"“Sean Miller is a brilliant coach with experience with foreign players. He had Lauri Markkanen and a lot of big players come through his program. They’re a big program that I’ve been watching this past year. I think they’re very impressive. With the new head coach and assistant coaches they’re very hard working so they’re impressive.”"

However, there seems to be some confidence on the Michigan side of things and in terms of winning NCAA tournament games and sending players to the NBA, Michigan is on another level than the other programs.

It sounds like Juwan has played an active role in this recruitment, just like he did with Moussa Diabate, and hopefully, it works out in the end for the Wolverines.