The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2020 THE WOLVERINE 43 BASKETBALL RECRUITING tionally, but in the end Ingram chose longtime favorite Stanford over Mich- igan, Purdue and North Carolina, an- nouncing his decision Sept. 18. Others off the board include an- other five-star in shooting guard Trevor Keels (6-5, 210) out of Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI. Michigan fans hoped Keels would give the Wolverines a more serious look given that he played AAU ball with U-M fresh- men Terrance Williams and Hunter Dickinson, but the Team Takeover AAU standout never really seemed to have U-M that high on his list. He cut his finalists to Duke, Villanova and Virginia in September. Another guard, 2022 Skyy Clark (6-2, 200, No. 13 prospect nation- ally) plans to reclassify to 2021, and Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA are his finalists, while four-star shooting guard Brandon Weston (6-5, 190, No. 81 player in the country) of Glendale (Ariz.) Hillcrest Academy committed to Seton Hall. Several offerees remain on the board, however. Here's a look at the situation with each, in order of high- est probability of landing at Michigan. Efton Reid 7-1 • 225 • C Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy Rivals.com No. 27 senior nationally The big man dropped from No. 24 to No. 27 in the recently updated Ri- vals rankings, but he's still one of the most coveted centers in the coun- try. Florida, Louisville, Pitt and oth- ers are right there with him, and we don't believe he's close to a decision despite lots of smoke that he really likes Michigan. Reid does play at the same school as Howard's son, Jett, a probable future Wolverine. That doesn't hurt U-M's chances. Reid averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per games last season at Richmond (Va.) Steward School. Charles Bediako 6-10 • 220 • C Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy Rivals.com No. 25 prospect in the senior class Bediako, another transfer in to IMG Academy, fell from No. 22 to No. 25 in the Rivals rankings. He played the last two seasons at the International Sports Academy (ISA) in Willoughby, Ohio, before transferring and boasts a great inside-outside game, report- edly averaging 39 percent from three- point range a year ago. Jett Howard will also likely work on him, but Alabama might be his leader. Duke Ohio State, Tennessee and Texas are all in the hunt. Jaden Hardy 6-4 • 180 • SG Henderson (Nev.) Coronado Rivals.com No. 5 senior prospect Hardy, a Michigan native, was Ne- vada's Player of the Year last sea- son after posting 30.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. He's an elite scorer, and while the Wolverines are on his list and pledge Frankie Collins is his teammate, this would be a tough pull. "I love playing with Frankie," Hardy said recently. "Juwan How- ard is a great coach, and he obviously knows what it takes to get to the league since he had a long career." Kentucky is the favorite, followed by UCLA and Arizona, and the G-League is also a strong possibility. Caleb Houstan 6-8 • 200 • SF Montverde (Fla.) Academy Rivals.com No. 11 senior Houstan is a special scorer and proved it by averaging 22.8 points in 29 minutes per game for the Cana- dian U-16 National Team. The wing dropped two spots to No. 11 in the Rivals rankings, but that doesn't make him any less elite. U-M is a long shot here, however, and has work to do to just to make his top three. "Once he received a Kentucky of- fer last month, things began to speed up," Rivals.com's Corey Evans said. "And while Kansas and North Caro- lina were the favorites beforehand, U-K should now be thought of as a potential leader." Alabama is also a dark horse, he added. JD Davison 6-3 • 180 • PG Letohatchee (Ala.) Calhoun Rivals.com No. 13 senior Davison moves up two spots from No. 15 after averaging 33.4 points, 12.0 rebounds, 6.0 steals, 5.0 assists and 4.0 blocks per game last season. Michigan is in his top six after a relatively late of- fer with Alabama, LSU, Kansas, Mem- phis and Auburn, but the Wolverines are likely low among that group. Hunter Sallis 6-5 • 175 • PG Omaha (Neb.) Millard North Rivals.com No. 6 senior Michigan got its point guard in Collins, but the Wolverines would take Sallis if he wanted to commit. He moved up five spots from No. 11 and is one of the more highly coveted players in the class. He cut his list to 12 recently (Ala- bama, Auburn, Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Louis- ville, Michigan, North Carolina, Or- egon and UCLA) after setting school records for points in a season (644) and career (1,175) in 2019-20. Chet Holmgren 7-0 • 190 • C Minneapolis Minnehaha Acad- emy Rivals.com No. 3 senior Holmgren averaged 18.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game last sea- son and is the longest of long shots. U-M is in his final seven, but the G- League is a distinct possibility and the Wolverines probably aren't in his top five, behind Memphis, Gonzaga, Georgetown and others. ❏ On The Web For regular reports on Michigan basketball recruiting plus videos of U-M commitments and targets visit TheWolverine.com. Efton Reid — a 7-1, 225-pound center at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, and Rivals' No. 27 overall prospect in the class of 2021 — reportedly really likes Michigan, though he is not close to making a decision. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM