Michigan Basketball Scholarship, Roster Breakdown
Every program is dealing with the same sort of things right now. Some players are testing the NBA waters, while others are definitely coming back and gearing up for next season. Some teams are shopping for transfers who can help immediately, while others are hemorrhaging players into the portal. Some programs have a large group of freshmen getting ready to arrive on campus, while others will only welcome one or two new faces to the currently existing squad.
For Michigan, there's a little bit of everything going on.
The biggest development — literally and figuratively — is that All-American Hunter Dickinson has decided to return to school for his junior season. He's a building-block type of player and automatically gives U-M someone to rely on.
Another big development was the addition of Princeton combo guard Jaelin Llewellyn. The 6-2, 175-pounder can play the 1 or the two, shot the three at a 39% clip last year and will arrive in Ann Arbor as a presumed starter. His arrival may have pushed out Frankie Collins, but he should be a solid addition for U-M.
Rising sophomores Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan are currently testing the NBA Draft waters, and both of their statuses seem a bit up in the air at the moment. Diabate was invited to the NBA Combine and will attend, while Houstan will not. There's been some confusion surrounding Houstan's motives and whether or not he was actually invited, but however it played out up to this point, it's been confirmed that he will not be in attendance. Somewhere around 90% of players who participate in the combine get drafted, which makes it look like Diabate's Michigan career is over. Houstan's, on the other hand, might just be paused for the time being as a return to Ann Arbor seems most likely and necessary.
Zeb Jackson entered the transfer portal during the season last year, while Brandon Johns Jr. and Collins did so after Michigan was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. Jackson and Johns Jr. will both play for VCU next year, while Collins picked Arizona State as his new home.
Michigan is set to welcome a four-man recruiting class consisting of three top-100 players and a fourth coming in at No. 114 per 247 Sports. All four players received a ratings boost to close out the cycle and all of them may have what it takes to contribute in year one.
Gregg Glenn III is the one player who may not be needed in year one. The 6-7, 215-pounder out of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Calvary Christian Academy is physically ready for the college game, but he needs polish and figures to be behind guys like Jace Howard, Terrence Williams, Jett Howard and Caleb Houstan (if he returns) as a versatile, wing player who can play multiple positions.
The younger Howard is very intriguing. At 6-7, 220 pounds, he too is physically ready for the next level and has a complete game that will likely result in minutes. He can defend, shoot from the outside, get to the basket and he's a heady, smart player. How much he plays might also depend on Houstan's final decision, but we'll likely see him regardless.
Dug McDaniel is another intriguing players because Michigan is very thin at point guard. Llewellyn can definitely play the spot, but he's not a true 1 like McDaniel is. At just 5-11 and 167 pounds, McDaniel is diminutive, but he's an absolute blur with the ball, can finish in transition with the best of them and has improved as an outside shooter. He could be a bit of a liability on defense at the Big Ten level because of his lack size, but definitely not because of his lack of tenacity and effort. It's going to be interesting to see how much he plays given Michigan's current roster make up.
Finally, Tarris Reed, a 6-10, 260-pound center out of Branson (Mo.) Link Academy, will be Michigan's only other true center on the roster behind Dickinson, so he'll likely earn minutes as a rookie this season. If Diabate stays in the draft, that would all but guarantee that we'll see Reed often during his freshman campaign.
Michigan's current roster is intriguing. There's obviously some veteran experience and production from guys like Dickinson and Llewellyn, with some lower-level experience from Terrence Williams, Houstan and Diabate (again, contingent upon the latter two returning) that could morph into high-level play this season, accompanied by high-upside potential from a guy like Kobe Bufkin and then plenty of unknown from a talented, four-man freshman class. We'll see how much guys like Jace Howard, Isaiah Barnes and Will Tschetter contribute this season, but they seem like depth bodies at best right now.
If one or both of Diabate and Houstan leave, that would obviously open up some roster space for Juwan Howard to think about. One would assume that Howard and Co. would hit the transfer portal hard with scholarships available, but we'll have to wait and see what the rising sophomore duo does. Here's a look at Michigan's entire scholarship chart (with Houstan and Diabate on it) as offseason developments continue into the month of May.
It's worth noting that Michigan doesn't currently have a 2023 commit in place, but does have a 2024 commit in the fold in sharp-shooting point guard Christian Anderson.
