Michigan Basketball: New Look Wolverines Land Massive Transfers

Michigan Basketball just finished a disappointing 2022-2023 season, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years and losing in a laughable manner in the NIT. However, the Wolverines have been busy this offseason focusing on a major rebuild!

Losing three starters is never easy to overcome, especially when the team didn’t perform as expected last season, but Juwan Howard is doing his best to replace his three leading scorers.

Michigan basketball lost Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin to the NBA Draft, and also lost three-year starter and All-American, Hunter Dickinson surprised everyone by entering the transfer portal.

Those three players were the leading scorers for the Wolverines last season, including Dickinson, who has been the team’s leading scorer and rebounder for the last 3 seasons.

Transfer Commits

Juwan Howard, knowing that he had massive holes to fill, hit the transfer portal aggressively. The first news from the transfer portal came last week with the addition of former 5-star, McDonald’s All-American, Nimari Burnett, who transferred from Alabama.

This commitment has seemed to spark something in the transfer portal because today has been by far the best recruiting day for the Wolverines in recent memory.

Former North Carolina Tar Heel and 7th overall recruit in the country, Caleb Love, announced he was transferring to Michigan basketball, which is a massive grab for Juwan Howard and the Wolverines!

Caleb Love was a three-year starter for North Carolina and had a breakout season last year as he helped take the 8-seed Tar Heels to the NCAA Championship game. Love averaged 15.9 points and 16.7 points in his last two seasons at North Carolina.

Similar to Michigan, North Carolina had an extremely disappointing season where they started the season out ranked #1 in the nation and then failed to make the NCAA Tournament. There was also some conflict and drama between a couple of players on the team, including Love, which probably influenced his decision to enter the transfer portal.

Just before the news of Caleb Love’s transfer, Michigan basketball landed another huge graduate transfer from Seton Hall. Tray Jackson, a 6-10 power forward from Detroit committed to playing his final college season with the Wolverines.

Jackson was a 4-star recruit in the class of 2019 and originally committed to Missouri where he played one season before transferring to Seton Hall. Jackson only started 18 games in his career, but his size will help fill the void after the news of Dickinson’s departure.

Juwan Howard’s Strength in the Portal

Michigan basketball has made the signing of transfers a vital part of its recruiting process, and the commits this week continue the streak of Michigan Basketball landing massive transfer athletes.

The transfer portal is a gauntlet, and it is a tough task to keep players on your roster for the duration of their career. It is also especially hard to keep star players who are disappointed with the outcome of the season, but what Juwan has done to combat the departure of key players from his program is unbelievable.

Howard’s recruiting abilities are up there as the best in the country, and if he can continue to bring 5-star talent to Michigan, then the program will be just fine!