Michigan Basketball: 5-stars, key visits and more in recruiting roundup

Things are picking up for Michigan basketball recruiting and here’s the latest on some of the top targets for the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes.

The focus right now for most Wolverine fans is the Michigan football team and rightly so. But it’s been a busy time for the Michigan basketball team on the recruiting trail.

Really, before you know it, basketball is going to be back too. We are only a couple of months away from seeing the 2022-23 Wolverines who returned not long ago from their trip to Europe.

We definitely learned some things about Michigan basketball on that trip, yet right now, the focus is on recruiting and Juwan Howard and the staff have been busy.

Four-star big man Papa Kante has long been a priority target for Michigan basketball. The Wolverines even felt like the leader at one point this summer.

However, things are much more up in the air. Kante took an official visit over the summer but also took officials to Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and Maryland. Memphis is also in the mix now and he told Dushawn London of 247 sports a visit to Memphis, as well as second visits to other contenders, such as Michigan and Rutgers, could be on the way.

Here’s what Kante told 247 sports about Michigan:

"“Coach Howard has been recruiting me by himself. He came up here, didn’t know me but offered me and has been on me since. I visited his school and he’s a good guy who cares about his players. They see me as a big-impact freshman by the way I play, move my feet on defense, the energy I bring, and see my offensive skills coming up. Coach Howard was a 4/5 so he said he can help me get to the next level. Coach Juwan talked to my family when I was back home. They don’t speak much English but he told them how they care about me and want me.”"

I don’t know what else Juwan can do in this recruitment. Michigan basketball has pushed hard but the decision is now coming in November when it was supposed to come around August.

That’s worrisome for the Wolverines. Rutgers and Memphis are the teams I’m watching the most and the Scarlet Knights lead right now according to the On3 prediction machine and have a 29-percent chance of landing Kante.

Michigan is in fourth at 14 percent. Kante is ranked 76th overall in the On3 consensus rankings for the 2023 class.