The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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8 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JUNE/JULY 2023 M ichigan basketball stands at a crossroads, just three sea- sons removed from a Big Ten championship and Elite Eight appear- ance. Juwan Howard's Wolverines ap- peared only in front of their television sets during this Big Dance, after an 18- 16 season featuring more heartbreaking defeats than a season of "The Bachelor." It's a different world now. The Wild West, Free Agent Follies, call it what- ever you want. Basketball rosters will consist of however much talent pro- grams can collect and keep, with widely varied means of doing so. Three-year starter Hunter Dickinson — the centerpiece of Michigan basket- ball since the 2020-21 campaign — will wear Kansas blue next winter, rather than maize and blue. He's going to be better funded, he insists, although the amount of the Jayhawks' NIL (name, image and likeness) largesse has yet to be revealed. Put it this way: the cash and a shot at a national championship proved enough to pull him out of Crisler Center, despite his affection for the block M. "I did have a legacy there and I gave that up to try to be selfish and do what's best for me and my career, not what's best for ever ybody el se's ca reer," the 7-foot-1 center noted on Barstool Sports' "Roundball Podcast." Dickinson insisted he received less than $100,000 in NIL funds last year at Michigan. There's little doubt he'll see some cash pile up in Lawrence, where they've been making certain players have been well taken care of long before NIL made it easy. "T he people hating on me wou ld leave their job right now for a $10,000 increase," he said. "I got, at Michigan, less than six figures. I got less than six figures at Michigan for the year." That situation certainly could have factored into Michigan athletics direc- tor Warde Manuel hiring a strategic ad- visor to help with NIL recently. Charles Scrase, a 1998 U-M grad with an MBA from Duke, is signing a three-month contract with Michigan. Scrase lives in Ann Arbor and built a $500 million business at Google in public sector ad- vertising sales and marketing. That's where it stands these days. Who can scramble up the most cash, and turn it into talent — on the floor, on the field, etc. Dickinson certainly doesn't represent the only personnel loss from a Michigan men's basketball program that previ- ously racked up five straight Sweet 16 appearances. The Wolverines also lost a pair of projected first-round NBA Draft picks, and more. So long to sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin and freshman guard Jett Howard, both of whom bolted for (literally) greener pastures following the season. Toss in transferring redshirt freshman guard Isaiah Barnes (Tulsa) and freshman forward Gregg Glenn III (Tulane), and the positive spin involves plenty of opportunities existing for minutes at Crisler next winter. That sounds a lot better than saying Michigan's top three performers just hit the road, two of them before their junior season and a third not for the NBA, but for a new home amid the tumbleweeds. Now, any notion that Howard's roster heads into next winter bereft of talent doesn't wash. Freshman guard Dug Mc- Daniel showed plenty of promise a year ago, and grad transfer Jaelin Llewellyn — the guard who was supposed to run the point for Howard last year, before an ACL tear claimed his season — is ex- pected to be back. Freshman forward Tarris Reed Jr. showed strength and skill among the big men, and several oth- ers on last year's roster could step for- ward. These pages detail the one-man freshman class of George Washington III along with three incoming transfers Caleb Love from North Carolina, Tray Jackson from Seton Hall and Nimari Burnett from Alabama. The Wolverines might not be done yet in the hot stove spring portal season. These days, it's how you survive in col- lege basketball. Clearly, Michigan has to bump its NIL game up, and the hiring of a strategic advisor stands as recognition of that fact. The football side of things hasn't been hurt by any deficit there yet, but that's partly because the on-field break- throughs the past two seasons make The Big House an undeniably attractive place to land. Basketball can again be- come so quickly, but it can't afford many more seasons like last year's, combined with the perception of playing catch-up in the cash contest. The sight of Dickinson dominating in blue and white next winter will no doubt prove jarring to Michigan bas- ketball fans. He's not the only personnel loss Michigan's high-profile programs have endured, to be sure. But if he be- comes the poster child for an inability to compete in a whole new arena, that's a 7-foot wake-up call. ❏ WOLVERINE WATCH ❱ JOHN BORTON Talent Scramble Is A Different Dance Hunter Dickinson entered the transfer portal and elected to wear Kansas blue next win- ter, rather than maize and blue. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB_Wolverine.