To stay on top of the food chain, Michigan basketball and the rest of the collegiate sports world got another lease on life to improve their teams via the transfer portal on Friday. Granting a fifth year to the 2022 class members who were on their way out the door has opened up the floodgates for schools to pounce with fresh new meat on the table that will be available as soon as this Monday.
Most assume that Roddy Gayle will slide right into the open spot left by LJ Cason, but not so fast. Perhaps Mike Boynton and Michigan want to explore the portal first to see if they can maximize their talent. Enter Missouri transfer, Mark Mitchell.
Missouri transfer Mark Mitchell would look good in maize and blue
When Mike Boynton was coaching Oklahoma State he was visited by Mitchell in 2021 and offered him a scholarship. Mitchell ultimately chose Duke, before transferring to Missouri, where he improved his game every year there. Now he's being crowned as one of the richest prizes available in such short notice.
Whether or not he is interested in Michigan basketball remains to be seen, but if you are Boynton and Michigan, you will gladly find room for him to be the missing piece in the lineup. The five-star product shined in many games for the Tigers, including two 32-point outbursts against Kentucky and Arkansas. As a junior, he poured in 31 versus Alabama and was a fingertip away from the Final Four as a sophomore at Duke.
Placing him on this Michigan roster would be the exclamation point needed to repeat. He could keep someone like Brandon McCoy or JP Estrella on the bench where they can come in fresh as the sixth man in the rotation. On the downside of the argument would be that there is not enough shots to go his way with Elliot Cadeau, Trey McKenney and Moustapha Thiam already expected to be the focal point of the offense.
Either way, Michigan basketball should do its due diligence and test Mitchell's interest in joining the Wolverines program. You never know, he could turn out to be next year's version of Yaxel Lendeborg.
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