Michigan Basketball is a transfer portal loser, but there’s still time
Michigan basketball was ranked by 247 Sports as one of the biggest losers in the college basketball transfer portal and it’s hard to disagree. But there’s also still time.
It’s not really a bold statement to say that Michigan basketball is one of the biggest losers when it comes to the 2023 college basketball transfer portal.
Yet, to rub salt in the wound, 247 Sports put together a list a few days ago to remind us that Michigan basketball is one of the biggest losers this spring in the transfer portal.
The Wolverines lost Hunter Dickinson, a former All-American to the portal, and the Kansas Jayhawks, who were able to drop a big enough bag to secure him.
If that was the only blow, things probably wouldn’t be that bad. After Juwan Howard was able to land Caleb Love, in addition to Nimari Burnett and Tray Jackson, it looked like the Wolverines were at least going to field a team with NCAA tournament capability.
Right now, that’s still up in the air. It’s possible with the current roster as is, but some guys are going to have to make huge leaps. Jackson and Burnett would both need to start and be relied upon to score more than they ever have in college.
True freshman George Washington III would also have to play a lot. Youssef Khayat too and those two guys would essentially have to replace Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin.
The loss of Love due to the admissions office was probably as big a deal as losing Dickinson to Kansas. Love has first-round pick ability and Juwan Howard could have gotten it out of him.
Michigan baskeball still has options
The Wolverines are still working on landing Olivier Nkamhoua and others such as Zyon Pullin and Rayj Dennis, although Dennis doesn’t seem likely.
Other guys will be returning to college after declaring for the NBA draft, so there will be more players available. Juwan and the Wolverines need to make some moves quickly. But say they were able to land Nkamhoua and Pullin — all of a sudden, they don’t feel like such big losers.
Adding those guys to the roster and you never know, with leaps from Dug McDaniel, Tarris Reed, Burnett, Jackson, and others, this team could be much better than expected.
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But help is needed and the Wolverines are running out of time to acquire it.