The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1468055
36 THE WOLVERINE JUNE / JULY 2022 2022 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE All five first-team All-Big Ten honorees opted to declare for the 2022 NBA Draft, so the conference is expected to lose quite a bit of star power. However, given that some high-level recruiting classes are coming in, the league will be injected with a crop of new talent. Five Big Ten teams reside in the top 25 of the On3 Consensus 2022 basketball team recruiting rankings, with Indiana lead- ing the way at No. 15, followed by No. 18 Michigan, No. 20 Illi- nois, No. 22 Michigan State and No. 25 Ohio State. That's tied with the SEC for the most top-25 classes out of any league, although the SEC has three top-10 groups to the Big Ten's none. The Big Ten doesn't have any five-star signees, but does possess 18 four-star pros- pects, led by a pair of top-30 future Hoosiers out of Montverde (Fla.) Academy in combo guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and power for- ward Malik Reneau, the 25th- and 26th- ranked prospects in the nation in the On3 Consensus. The duo headlines Indiana's four-man haul that also includes Fayetteville County (Ga.) High four-star power forward Kaleb Banks (No. 107) and a local product in Indianapolis Lawrence North three-star shooting guard CJ Gunn. Indiana has now reeled in the Big Ten's top-ranked class in three out of the last four cycles, with 2021 — when it still finished a respectable 20th nationally and fourth in the league — being the exception. Hood-Schifino and Reneau are two of the seven top-50 players set to join the Big Ten this fall, along with Michigan signees Tarris Reed Jr. (No. 31) and Jett Howard (No. 36), Illinois point guard Skyy Clark (No. 34 out of Montverde), Castaic (Calif.) Southern Cali- fornia Academy power forward Jaxon Kohler (No. 41), who's headed to Michigan State, and Ohio State shooting guard Brice Sensabaugh (No. 44 out of Orlando [Fla.] Lake Highland Prep). The Maize and Blue have brought in top-20 classes four out of the last five years, and Illinois has met that threshold in three of the last four cycles. The Illini have four four-stars, all of which are ranked in the top 100, with Grand Blanc (Mich.) small forward Ty Rodgers (No. 65), Suffolk (Va.) Combine Acad- emy combo guard Jayden Epps (No. 74) and Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary's combo guard Sencire Harris (No. 97) join- ing Clark. Michigan State has a lighter haul, with just three incoming freshmen. Four-star point guard Tre Hol- loman (No. 97 out of St. Paul [Minn.] Cre- tin Derham Hall) and unranked big man Carson Cooper out of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy are the other two signees along with Kohler. The Spartans have been as steady as they come on the trail, with eight consecutive top- 25 classes now. In addition to Sensabaugh, Ohio State holds letters of intent from Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton four-star point guard Bruce Thornton (No. 55), Youngstown (N.Y.) Wasatch Acad- emy four-star shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr., Branson (Mo.) Link Year Prep center Felix Okpara (No. 66) and Cincinnati Princeton three-star shooting guard Bowen Hardman (No. 281). That group will comprise five of the eight newcomers on the projected OSU roster, with the Buckeyes also holding com- mitments from three incoming transfers. The Big Ten is a bit top heavy this year. The five aforementioned classes are the only ones that stand in the top 50, with Purdue check- ing in sixth in the league at No. 54 nationally. All but two of the 19 four-stars heading to the Big Ten come from the top five hauls. Team rankings naturally favor programs with bigger classes, but it's not as if the all the rest are adding just one or two players. Purdue has three signees — one four-star and two three-stars, while Penn State's crop composed of five three-stars checks in 65th in the country. Nebraska (eighth in the Big Ten, 67th nationally) and Minnesota (12th, 92nd) have four signees apiece. Understandably, other lesser- ranked squads like Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Rutgers all have two or fewer signees. — Clayton Sayfie 2022 BIG TEN RECRUITING CLASS BREAKDOWN National Big Ten Total Team Rank Rank 5-Stars 4-Stars 3-Stars Signees Indiana 15 1 0 3 1 4 Michigan 18 2 0 4 0 4 Illinois 20 3 0 4 0 4 Michigan State 22 4 0 2 0 2 Ohio State 25 5 0 4 1 5 Purdue 54 6 0 1 2 3 Penn State 65 7 0 0 5 5 Nebraska 67 8 0 0 3 4 Iowa 70 9 0 0 2 2 Maryland 86 10 0 0 1 1 Northwestern 89 11 0 0 1 1 Minnesota 92 12 0 0 3 4 Wisconsin 106 13 0 0 1 1 Rutgers 108 14 0 0 1 2 * All data from On3 Consensus database ON3 CLASS OF 2022 NATIONAL RANKINGS Rk. Team 1. Duke 2. Arkansas 3. Texas 4. Oregon 5. Kentucky 6. Baylor 7. UCLA 8. Alabama 9. Houston 10. Kansas 11. Tennessee 12. Notre Dame 13. Villanova 14. Auburn 15. Indiana* (Big Ten) 16. LSU 17. USC 18. Michigan* 19. BYU 20. Illinois* 21. North Carolina 22. Michigan State* 23. Connecticut 24. Syracuse 25. Ohio State* 2022 Big Ten Basketball Signees Overview