3 thoughts on Michigan Basketball’s addition of Youssef Khayat

Michigan basketball filled out its roster on Sunday with 2022 international forward Youssef Khayat and here are three thoughts on what it means for the Wolverines.

While Michigan basketball fans had a good feeling going into Sunday about 2022 international forward Youssef Khayat, in the world of recruiting, you just never know.

Michigan fans have gotten so paranoid that the message boards were buzzing with concern when it was announced that Field of 68 would carry the announcement because Xavier head coach Sean Miller had been a regular on the show before.

In the end, all the worry was for nothing. The commitment was wrapped up before today and Michigan basketball, thanks to the work of Juwan Howard, got a 6-foot-9 forward (in that range) with the potential to contribute next season.

How much is an open question and while his highlights are impressive, the forward from Lebanon just spent his first year in France and shouldn’t be compared to Franz Wagner quite yet.

That doesn’t mean he can’t get there, but people should temper their expectations a little. Still, Khayat is a big pickup and here are three thoughts on his commitment.

Juwan deserves all the credit in the world

This offseason was tumultuous for the Wolverines. Michgan lost three players from the 2021 class as Frankie Collins transferred in addition to Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan leaving for the NBA draft.

Yet, Michigan responded in a big way, adding a point guard in the transfer portal, a 3-point shooter in Joey Baker and now, a versatile 3/4 forward in Khayat who has 3-point shooting ability.

Whether he can make an immediate impact is something we’ll talk about on the next slide, but Michigan needed a shooting upgrade at point, as well as valid replacements for Houstan and Diabate and with Khayat, Juwan delivered and did his best to build a winner around Hunter Dickinson.