Olivier Nkamhoua Has Committed to Michigan, Basketball Is Back On
Just when we thought we were out, we pulled him back in! Tennessee big Olivier Nkamhoua just announced he's committed to Michigan.
NEWS: Tennessee transfer Olivier Nkamhoua has committed to Michigan, he tells @On3sports. https://t.co/xF541AOFmF pic.twitter.com/Q7zi4sIwya
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) June 7, 2023
This is, uh, *REALLY* big news for the basketball program, which was one wing from making the Tournament last year and has spent the offseason taking body blows. Nkamhoua led Tennessee's offense last year in overall usage, and was one of the best defensive pieces of the best defensive team in the country. His statistical profile is that of a do-everything four.
Michigan was in dire need of help in the frontcourt after losing Hunter Dickinson, and very seriously in need of guys who could soak up attention after losing both Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard to the draft, and expected portal replacement Caleb Love to our own transfer credits intransigence. If you're wondering why you don't remember Olivier from the Tournament game a few years back, he was hurt in the middle of that season. That was a big blow to those Vols, who had to lean hard on a freshman backcourt in his absence.
Adding the Finnish forward now gives Michigan a serious defensive presence, and a major roll man and finisher at the rim, with adequate shooting, rebounding and spacing. Given the roster makeup, Nkamhoua is probably going to have to be their #2 scoring option, or more specifically the pick & roll game between him and rising sophomore PG Dug McDaniel will be the cornerstone of their offense. The career 36% three-point shooter can also step out about as effectively as Dickinson could.
More importantly it fixes one of the major holes in the roster, and gives fans hope of at least returning to the Tournament, though returning to contending for the Big Ten would still require a lot of work and/or major developments from the guys they return.
[Hit THE JUMP for a quick scouting report and how he fits]
Recruiting Story
Nkamhoua was trying to go the NBA route until he was not invited to the Combine, and pulled his name from the draft. He also pursued options overseas. If college happened Michigan was long rumored to be his preferred destination, but some schools throwing around major NIL incentives picked up a lot of momentum once pro options seemed to be exhausted. Reports came in yesterday that Michigan was back in it for Nkamhoua after an announcement from Joe Tipton on Monday that it was down to Baylor and West Virginia.
Michigan is now back in consideration for Tennessee transfer Olivier Nkamhoua, per source. https://t.co/FcF3WtvMYV
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) June 6, 2023
Sam Webb was like I "don't know that I've seen Michigan achieve a bball recruiting comeback like the one it just pulled off."
Things certainly looked dire yesterday. That new Michigan was out came around the same time Michigan learned they were out of it for UC Riverside Zyon Pullin, who would have shored up the wing-guard spots that at times we hoped Bufkin, Howard, and Love would fill. Michigan does still have Bama/Texas Tech transfer Nimari Burnett coming in to add more athleticism to their defense, but scoring for next year was basically, "uh, Dug, and, uh."
Highlights
From College Basketball Scouting:
Scouting
Davis Mosely of 247 sees Nkamhoua as an All-B10 addition.
At 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds, Nkamhoua is a big body, physical four man. He excels in the high post and when cutting to the basket. He picks his spots, makes plays for others, and alters shots at a high level. His ceiling is an all-conference player who immediately raises UM’s floor and ceiling. An elite athlete with an NBA body, he very well could turn himself into a pro prospect.
Joe Yeager called him the "most athletic 6'9" player in CBB last season."
Offensively, Nkamhoua has every weapon in the arsenal. He has an excellent midrange face-up jumper and even shoots it respectably from beyond the arc. Nkamhoua is comfortable with his back to the basket, and can hit the turn-around J, or put it on the deck and get to the hoop where he is a ferocious finisher. Nkamhoua can also face up and drive it effectively from about 16 feet in. And finally, he is a lethal weapon on the screen-and-roll.
NBA scouts are understandably harsher. NBA Scouting Live calls him a decent shooter, low post scorer, playmaker, and rebounder for his size who "excels at scoring on off-ball motion plays" and could project to a 3 and D player in the pros. They knock his reluctance to shoot outside, free throw shooting (70%) and tweeneritude.
Dylan Burkhart has his scouting report up too($).
Role & Roster Rundown
Pos | Commits | Freshmen (c/o 2027) |
Sophomores (c/o 2026) |
Juniors (c/o 2025) |
Seniors (c/o 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PG (2) | C.Anderson | D.McDaniel | J.Llewellyn*^ | ||
SG (2) | D.Brooks | G.Washington | N.Burnett^ | ||
Wing (2) | Y.Khayat | Ja.Howard^ | |||
PF (3) | W. Tschetter* | T.Williams^ T.Jackson*^ |
|||
C (2) | T.Reed | O.Nkamhoua^ | |||
Total | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
[bold=returning starter. *=redshirt. ^=COVID redshirt.]
He's probably going to have to replace at least half of Dickinson's minutes in the post. They also couldn't get 2023 center recruit Papa Kante into school, and rising sophomore big Tarris Reed is not a guy they can expect to carry 30 mpg. Seton Hall transfer Tray Jackson is also a 4/5 tweener if you go by minutes, but more of a step-out kind of guy you don't really want to play a ton at center (as Seton Hall did last year). Nkamhoua is listed an inch shorter, but 21 pounds heavier than Jackson, and probably could have playing more center if the Vols didn't have two giants in the rotation. Michigan will probably look to have Nkamhoua split time with Reed at the five and Jackson at the four.
Between all of these transfers and more minutes for the athletic Reed, Michigan has seriously updated their defensive potential from last year. Juwan Howard had a tough time last year putting together lineups without multiple defensive holes. Jett's defense improved over the course of his true freshman season, but when he wasn't available there were times when two or three of athletically limited Joey Baker, Terrance Williams, Will Tschetter, and Dickinson were all on the court at the same time.
Defense will have to carry them. Neither Reed, nor Jackson, nor Nkamhoua will be near Dickinson's level as a scorer and distributor, and Burnett does not seem to be a fount of offense either. PG Dug McDaniel's progress from freshman to sophomore is the only offsetting factor against the loss of all three of last year's major scoring threats, unless there's some major development from Youssef Khayat or a healthy Jaelin Llewellyn.
Michigan hasn't exhausted portal options for backcourt scoring. Kentucky's Antonio Reeves is expected to hit the portal soon, and Michigan could offer the 6'5" wing a major offensive role.
Man looking at that roster chart is... oof.
Once again, thank you admissions for making even a table hard to look at.
Our recent experience with Admissions has me scarred and thinking they will pull defeat from the jaws of victory on this and deny him admission last minute.
He's good. Extremely bright young man using that year of graduate eligibility
MGoPosters are really beating the admissions thing into the ground. It’s not that complicated: we can get underclassmen and grad students. We won’t get an upperclassman who hasn’t graduated. Those are the parameters our coaches have to operate under. If Caleb Love was longshot to graduate, it wasn’t worth our time.
The basketball program has managed to bring in three transfers already this offseason (Burnett, Jackson and now Nkamhoua) so it’s not that hard to get guys in. They just have to fit in one of those two categories.
I think the gray area is when guys are close to graduating but then do not due to summer classes or specific graduation requirements (Shannon, Love, etc.).
Mlive says he graduated last month.
The fact that this even has to be discussed (admissions) is ridiculous. If Michigan wants their basketball program to be relevant, some changes need to be made to allow transfers in.
This isn't a diploma mill. We have our standards, and that's fine. It hasn't stopped us from winning a bajillion Big Ten titles across the board. We just need to be smart about who we target in the portal.
Lol, diploma mill? To act like the majority of fans and alumni actually care about these athletes academics is laughable. Sure it’s nice if a guy gets a good education but in the long run who cares? Just win is the bottom line. May sound awful but it’s reality.
Edit: I should just stay off message boards.
Putting this here since it isn't posted Michigan officially announced him as part of the team so he has cleared everything to be a member of the team.
We have to pray a wing who can legitimately be our leading scorer hits the portal.
I like...
- McDaniel
- Burnett
- "Leading Scorer Wing"
- Nkamhoua
- Reed
and then...
- Llewellyn
- Howard
- Khayat
- Williams
- Jackson
and finally...
- Washington
- Tschetter
- "Big body, think Austin Davis before he got good."
Is that a Final 4 team? Probably not. Is that a legit roster that could make serious noise if the stars align? No question.
The coaches have to fill those spots, and IMO, the roles are obvious. You need the best player on the team (easy, right?) and you need the biggest player on the team (easier?)
Put a Charles Matthews, Franz Wagner, or Caris Levert on this squad with a sophomore Austin Davis and I'll take it.
Impressed by this young man's head fake
We were lucky Suomi was no longer a factor in the recruiting battle.
Well the one thing we can be certain about....next year's defense is going to be a major improvement
I will miss a lot in regards to Dickinson, but i sure won't miss watching him defensively.
Honestly, that's the only thing that gives me optimism next year. Defense can keep the team in many games and give them a chance to win at least. It will depend on how Howard coaches them up too, obviously.
uhh what just happened? lol
Who came in last minute to save this?
Juwan wrote a personal check
So is this actually official? Or is the Admissions Department still licking its chops over the possibility of giving Howard yet another dong punch?
I just posted similar content above. I have no faith he is truly signed and secure and won't until I see him at an offseason camp ON campus.
Agreed, went to the comments section to verify admissions will actually let him in.
He may have committed to the University of Michigan, but has the University of Michigan committed to him?
/BPONE (hopefully)
Yeah, with a potential two more guys to add to the roster, I don't think we know what we've got yet. The one thing we know about haters is that they're going to hate, but this should shut them up for a minute. Plus Nkamhoua seems like a very appealing guy.
On the editorial side, I guess that splashing the Tipton tweet there lends some visual something, but giving oxygen to someone who got it wrong. . . wonder if you debated that.
It should always be reported/made public when a reporter gets something blatantly wrong.
DEEEEEE-fense!
What a rollercoaster of a portal recruitment. Glad it fell the good guy's way! Welcome Olivier!
I can see us winning some games with this roster. I can see a lineup of Dug-Burnett-Jace-Nkamhoua-Reed. Unfortunately for those watching, we may be winning games 45-44. The game against Wisconsin could be unwatchable.
If we could somehow find a high scoring 2 and slide Burnett to the wing, we'd have something.
Yoyo will be starting at the 3.
Yeah it's possible he could be much improved. Big leap going to u of m from turkey when you're a teenager.
If Caleb Love would have stuck, with this guy, our team would have been really good, maybe/potentially one of the better defensive teams in recent Michigan history. Very nice land.
We are all Jon Snow when it comes to Michigan hoops news. Thank God, yesterday's reports were dead wrong and Olivier is a Wolverine. Hopefully we can "Pull in" a 2 guard as well!
Trust the process; unless admissions gets involved.
If Youssef makes a big sophomore leap, then this roster is good to compete in the B1G. We really need a scoring wing to unlock the full potential of this roster. Defense is going to be fun to root for this year.
I think a YoYo breakout is really our only hope at becoming a tournament team next year. Our team is devoid of wings, shooting, and scoring.
If YoYo has a breakout season, you can squint and see strong defensive team with Dug, YoYo, and Olivier as scoring options + Lewelynn/Burnett/Reed/Jackson as complementary scorers.
Breakout season would have to be like: 12 PPG on 38-40% three point shooting and being able to finish at the rim. Tbh, I liked his tape. I don't think this is super likely, but I think it's possible.
I like Yoyos film the last few games. You could see the confidence forming.
And it's been said they can't count on Reed for 30+ minutes, but I think he can, and we will be fun to watch.
Yep. I'm of the same mind. Yo Yo is likely the key player in deciding whether they have a tourney berth in their future. He seemingly has a lot of upside as a scorer, and he could certainly make a big sophomore leap.
Otherwise, it is really hard to see where scoring will come from on the roster, and particularly at the wing spots. Maybe they can find another late grad transfer option that could boost scoring, but those options are going to be few and far between.
Certainly a crazy process but glad it worked out.
Still feels like they're going to have to manufacture minutes at SF but I guess we'll see.
I contend that saying Jett's defense "improved" over the season is being quite charitable, and underselling Dickinson's defense (even if athletically limited) is a bit unfair. They'll be much better defensively next year and if Bufkin had decided to hold off another year I'd be pretty excited about UM putting out one of the best defensive units in the conference.
It's crazy to think about Kobe blowing up so much throughout the year that he's a borderline lottery pick. And how much that changed the course of our program.
There's an alternative universe where he comes back as a presumptive all-conference guy. That makes Dickinson's decision more interesting. If they're both back with the addition of Olivier and another year for Dug/Reed, we're looking at a Top 15 team. Alas.....
Dickinson was fine when he could just be a big who guarded bigs, and being tall was its own defense. What I mean is he was NOT switchable except on the most Big Ten West PFs. If you put him with a 4 who can guard 3-4, a 3 who can guard 2-4, and a 2 who can guard 1-3, you're fine. If you put him with Cheddar, T-Will, and Baker all at the same time, you're going to get carved up by a Wisconsin 3-star and then they'll put a photo of him wearing a Michigan jersey as a 10-year-old on screen to make you feel worse.
This is great news. When I saw west Va was a finalist I smelled a rat.
And people are sleeping on YOYO. Gonna be fun to watch.
From Tennessee's website: "Completed his degree in Public Relations in May of 2023."
Thank god.
Huzzah! Howard haters gunna hate, but he keeps plugging away. 2/3rds of our upper classmen are transfers.
Talk about a roller-coaster! Finally a win for the good guys
Hyva Suomi!
Sisu!
Great addition. I'm really hoping for Kayyat to blow up offensively. Would be great to have that type of option and add a little bit of offense to this team.
I have to give credit to Juwan. What a tumultuous offseason. I doubt he ever thought he would have to work so hard in May and June to patch up constantly opening and shifting roster holes.
Good write up Seth! I have been a bit critical of the basketball coverage here but this is a pretty spot on summary.
He won't be a star, but he will be a steadying plus starter who probably improves the culture as much as he does the offense or defense. I don't know if there's a YMRMFSPA in recent Michigan memory....maybe a poor man's Juwan Howard? Or a billionaires Brandon Johns?
The biggest wildcard for next year is how our ball screen game progresses. It wasnt very good this year with freshman Dug so he needs to make a big leap (especially without a second on ball playmaker on the team) but so does everyone else. Reed, Nkamhoua, and Jackson project as better athletes and lob threats....but none have shown their ball screen skills either. Tennessee doesn't run ball screens so Nkamhoua is a blank slate there. His desire to get a pro contract and Juwans pro style offense should bode well....
Stop blaming the academic admissions office for the state of the roster instead of Juwan. The fact that his is reliant on the portal is 100% a coach/program issue. The admissions "issue" (if you want to call it that) has been there forever. The dumpster fire of outward transfers and early departures is on the coach.
Yo the straw man you're yelling at sounds like a real jerk, but I don't see him anywhere. Would you like to talk to me instead? Mind you, I do get exhausted quickly by takes that can't account for more than one factor being active at a time, but the nice thing about an internet message board is you won't be able to see my eyes roll at that.
Didn't AntWright just yesterday say Michigan was eliminated? Can people please stop taking him seriously now.
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