The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1468055
22 THE WOLVERINE JUNE / JULY 2022 2022 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY CHRIS BALAS O ne recruiting class alone can change the fortunes of a col- lege basketball program or bring a team from good to great. There's no better example than Michigan, where the 1991 Fab Five fresh- men led Michigan to the national title game in 1992, a year after the Wolverines missed the tournament, and followed up with another championship game ap- pearance in 1993. As a player, Juwan Howard and Co. narrowly missed a Final Four berth a year later in a loss to Arkansas, but the pro- gram was humming. Most of the time, though, it takes a blend of a few classes — and now a portal transfer or two — to separate from the pack. Now Michigan's head coach, Howard and his staff took a huge step in 2021 by signing the nation's top-ranked recruit- ing class, led by wing Caleb Houstan and forward Moussa Diabate. This year, the Wolverines followed up with the No. 18 class in the On3 Consensus, landing a quartet of newcomers with great prom- ise. "I thought that the 2022 class was, in a way, not a separate entity, because while we were recruiting the 2022 class, we were still trying to determine how this No. 1 recruiting class in the country was going to play out," Michigan assis- tant Phil Martelli said. "So, as these kids made their decisions — Jett Howard, Dug McDaniel, Tarris Reed and Gregg Glenn — that was still there, because you had a couple things going on." One big one — would Houstan and Dia- bate even return for their sophomore sea- sons after declaring for the NBA Draft? Diabate was set to go through the Draft Combine May 18-20, while Houstan, for reasons unknown, declined a bid. Both have until June 1 to pull out of the draft. Point guard Frankie Collins has de- parted, transferring to Arizona State, and has been replaced by Princeton grad transfer Jaelin Llewellyn. But there are still a lot of moving parts heading into the summer. "What were their roles going to be, Ca- leb and Moussa and guys like [classmate power forward] Will Tschetter … what's their role going to be?" Martelli contin- ued. "Are some of those guys really going to be one-and-dones? "Against that backdrop, I thought these four kids [in 2022] were another blending … another kind of team. Be- cause that's what [sophomores-to-be wing] Isaiah Barnes, Will Tschetter, [guard] Kobe Bufkin, Frankie Collins, and Moussa and Caleb were. They were really a team. There was one of each spot." Heading into the 2022 cycle, it appeared Michigan might need more than one big man, as well. Then, big man Hunter Dick- inson surprised everyone and chose to come back for his junior year. "You go back and say, 'OK, for the 2022 class, is Hunter staying or is Hunter go- ing?' At that time when he announced, there was the idea that he was going to be here for only one more year," Martelli added. "So, identifying the holes on the roster, or thinking point guard needed to be addressed …" Those weren't really thoughts at the beginning of the cycle. By the end, how- ever, it changed the dynamic of the class as well as what Michigan needed. U-M MET ITS BACKCOURT NEEDS, BUT MIGHT NEED ONE MORE Regardless, the Wolverines were likely going to need two more ball handlers with guards DeVante' Jones and Eli Brooks moving on for their shot at the pros. Enter Llewellyn and McDaniel, a two-sport athlete who also excelled on the gridiron as a wide receiver at Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI. In Llewellyn, Howard landed his third overall guard from the portal and second from the Ivy League. Columbia's Mike Smith was hugely successful in helping lead Michigan to the 2020-21 Big Ten title, while Jones (via Coastal Carolina) came on strong by the end of last season to average 10.3 points and 4.6 assists per game along with 4.5 rebounds. On3's Jamie Shaw called the 6-foot-2 Llewellyn a "perfect fit" who makes "too much sense" to not have ended up at Michigan. STACKING THE DECK Juwan Howard And His Staff Haul In A Top-20 Recruiting Class