Exit: Papa Kante
[Scroll down for Hello: Blake Frazier]
Admissions giveth (Brandyn Hillman) and admissions taketh away. Just as football's newest safety asked out of his letter of intent after an academic "hiccup" derailed his matriculation to Notre Dame, Michigan basketball is losing its 2023 center to enrollment issues.
Alhamdoulilah 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/kbHt1Q1eUJ
— Papa amadou Kante (@papaamadoukante) April 18, 2023
Kante is an athletic center prospect who wasn't expected to be an impact player for at least a couple of a years. With Hunter Dickinson in the portal, however, Kante was next in line to take on minutes whenever Tarris Reed wasn't on the court. Rumors of an issue with Kante's enrollment started circulating before Dickinson put himself on the market, so it's likely that Michigan has already been in contact with other centers in the portal.
They probably wanted another big anyways, but they're going to need one now, whether that's coming up with the money to keep Dickinson, finding another starter, or at worst recruiting a big who can complement Reed. Transfer forward Tray Jackson played center for Seton Hall, but that was such a bad fit that Jackson's transferring to Michigan.
Michigan's freshman class is now just George Washington III. Guessing that will be a topic down the road.
Sadly not a huge surprise. Wish him luck and maybe he'll transfer back in once he can get his academics in line.
Too bad. Wish him well.
I thought Santa Ono was gonna fix this policy
I’m not going to pretend that I know specifically what Papa’s academic issue(s) are, but the NCAA has their own requirements (GPA and standardized test score) that must be met to receive a scholarship. I’ll cede to someone in the know but this might not have been a ‘Michigan’ issue.
This may not be the typical "failed to qualify academically". Kante came to the US from Senegal in 2019. I'm sure there were a number of academic (and life adjustment) hurdles to clear to be division 1 eligible that your typical North American recruit doesn't usually face.
English is probably Papa's third language (Wolof and French), so even the European recruits who had English as a second language (Franz/Moe/Moussa) would have had it easier with TOEFL, academic credit requirements, etc.
Knowing that Michigan takes the bare minimum NCAA qualifications for athletes coming out of High School. I'll be curious if Kante ends up at another D1 school this upcoming season. If he does, I'm not so sure it's entirely academics for why he was processed.
I think the portal is playing a role in this. It's a new world out there and this is a massive off-season for Juwan. No time for projects. We have enough of those already on the roster.
The above statement is not correct. Gradepoint and test scores are same as NCAA. The catch is that NCAA requires 16 full year credits in the designated academic areas and Michigan requires either 19 or 20 depending...
This is the "Worthy" problem...aptly named.
Once again, I hear paying Hunter enough to keep him. Are we really that far behind with an established player?
In just the first few comments, there are a lot of people making unverifiable assumptions as to why Papa decommitted.
Santa Ono can't wave a magic wand and "fix" the perceived admission issue. Michigan may have different/higher admissions standards than other schools. And I doubt that Santa Ono wants to "fix" that by lowering/changing those standards just so that certain athletes can be admitted.
I think many people forget that, while Michigan is a large public school with a very successful athletic department, it's still an elite academic institution in every way. A top-25 ranked university with at 20% acceptance rate. (My daughter's class - '26 - had 80K applications; 16K were admitted).
This individual situation is most likely just that...and individual situation...and not an indicator of any major issue or effort to process Papa out of the class to accommodate transfers.
Hard for Juwan to do anything when you can't get the players you want.
In the last two years Juwan has gotten 4 McDonald's All-Americans and 6 Top 50 recruits and is 36-30 during that timeframe. Pretty sure the issues go way beyond "getting players he wants"
Keeping the top recruited players after they have a full year developing under J Howard, former NBA coach, was never going to be easy. That's the main issue.
I'd be surprised if he didn't know the kid was an academic risk when he signed him.
It’s also Juwans job to assess which recruits are going to actually meet the admissions requirements of the university. If he’s spending time on guys that are not going to qualify, that’s his own fault. Every other college sport has to take this into account, so this shouldn’t be a surprise to the coaching staff.
Again, we don’t know if this is a Michigan issue like not letting him in because of an ACT of 18 or if it’s an ACT of 7, etc. No one can really pass judgment since we don’t know the reason. Juwan should be very aware of the requirements however.
Part of the recruiting process is to get the recruit's HS to submit transcripts to Michigan Admissions. Coaches don't seriously pursue anyone without hearing from Admssions first and they certainly don't sign them. That's true for every sport.
If this was due to academics, it's very likely that something changed late in the process. Kante is still in school and that can happen.
It seems likely something happened late in the process, but it's also likely that he was near the borderline prior to whatever happening. It's a balancing act for coaches for sure.
Yeah, sad about Kante--and in time he might have been really, really good. But short term this is likely better for Michigan, including in the way it may impact prospective players. Dickinson is such a strong player that we may end up only treading water, in strict hypothetical terms, if he is gone (my suspicion is yes). But my hat's off to the coaches for being proactive thus far, and we're guaranteed what I think will be a more fun, better defense-playing team next year. And although we've been spoiled with the talent the last few years, it's worth remembering that most of the Beilein teams we treasured were not made up of five stars, but scrappers who learned how to play as seasons wore on and often came up big down the stretch. It's important not to be idiots and take it too personally when our teams aren't world beaters year in and year out. That isn't the way it worked in the past and it may be less and less the case in future. Basically, schools are assembling squads based on eye and feel from spring to fall now, seeing how they turn out.
It's worth noting that the main complaint regarding admissions was their stance on transferring credits from one school to various programs at Michigan, not anything to do with admissions for new students. As far as I can tell, Michigan's undergraduate admissions policy for athletes isn't all that different from comparable places.
Perhaps it's the TOEFL testing for foreign students. Michigan has a very high bar for that score, I think over ten points higher than the average.
i think we'll be fine. the first couple George Washingtons worked out ok.
Holy Shit, we're getting THREE George Washingtons??
yes. but they will leave after just two terms, setting a new president [sic]
Unfortunate for both Papa K AND UM.
On the bright side, Lunardi has us as his "last team in" next year.
I'm no recruiting expert but seems like it should be possible to figure this academic eligibility stuff out before you offer a kid an NLI.
Wow, I know there's been rumblings of this but this sucks. Is it literally a 1 man recruiting class now?
Who cares...this team needed a talent infusion and there is no point at getting a bunch of recruits.
If you get highly rated ones, they're going to leave after a year or they're going to transfer if things didn't work out. And if they don't transfer and they get good the next year...they're gone (for example, Bufkin).
You can't build a roster around a bunch of under the radar/developmental types. And half those guys leave for more PT anyway (for example, Tschetter stayed, Barnes left...50%).
So what are you getting? You have to use the transfer portal.
Michigan could've had 3 more guys in this class...you really think what we have left plus three more freshman is going do anything?
Also, many of the instant impact freshman that you're okay with being a one and done...those guys aren't going to college (Kevin Durant, for example).
So you end up with these 5* guys that are two year players, but think they're one year players (for example, Houston, Diabate, and Howard). Those types aren't carrying teams, they're basically using it as free year to develop before going to the NBA.
...give me a small number of developmental guys and hope that you find an Eli Brooks or Spike Albrecht, but not so many that you end up with a team of Tschetter's.
I might take 2 per year, the rest...all transfers.
This is exactly right.
People point to all of the "NBA" players Juwan has had on the team as evidence of his failure as a coach...because how could a team with so many NBA players be so mediocre?
The reality is that the four NBA players from the past two years have been or will be drafted on their potential...rather than any substantive effect they've had on their teams.
Caleb, Moussa, Jett all failed to consistently and positively impact their teams' play. They were all one-dimensional players who showed potential...but did not come close to realizing it wearing a Michigan uniform.
Kobe Bufkin is the only one who showed anything resembling a complete game...and who meaningfully contributed to the team's performance.
Mackenzie Mgbako would most likely either start or play major minutes if he came to Michigan. He’s looking for a late home and Michigan just so happens to have an open roster spot for a big man. Even if we got the TN guy, which who knows what is going on there, this kid would still play a lot of minutes
Yes, please!
If not him, give me Traore and let's roll.
My thoughts...
C: Reed
PF: Nkamhoua*
G: Burnett
G: Love
PG: McDaniel
C: Traore*
PF: Jackson
F: Williams
F/G: Khayat
PG: Llewellyn
PF: Tschetter
PF: Glenn
F/G: Ja. Howard (walk-on/NIL)
G: Washington
(OUT: Dickinson, Baker, Bufkin, Barnes, Je. Howard, Kante)
--------------------------
Minutes (depth chart):
C: Reed - 23
PF: Nkamhoua* - 22
G: Burnett - 24
G: Love - 31
PG: McDaniel - 30
C: Traore* - 17
PF: Jackson - 17
F: Williams - 14
F/G: Khayat - 0
PG: Llewellyn - 22
--------------------------
Minutes (ranked):
1. Love - 31
2. McDaniel - 30
3. Burnett - 24
4. Reed - 23
5. Nkamhoua* - 22
6. Llewellyn - 22
7. Jackson - 17
8. Traore* - 17
9. Williams - 14
April 18th, 2023 at 10:05 PM ^
The way you have the roster set up is the whole reason I really want Cleveland to come. We need another wing. I feel like Burnett would be better coming off the bench with Llewellyn.
This is one of the reasons I’m hoping Khayat makes a huge leap and starts. I feel like Jackson, T Will, Glenn and Tschetter are all still redundant. Throw in Nkamhoua and that’s five 4’s. At this point we would be better getting one of Traore/Nkamhoua and another wing.
With your roster I’d rather T Will’s minutes go to YoYo, he provides more positional flexibility. I feel like 1-6 and 8 in your numbers would all get run but only one of T Will, Jackson, Cheddar is going to get any run. I think Glenn is the odd man out either way and Jace’s role should decrease with more talent on the roster. So I guess 1-6, 8 and the best two of all I’ve just listed right above.
April 18th, 2023 at 10:44 PM ^
You can't move a scholarship player to walk-on status. It's not allowed. How many times does this need to be said?
it's likely that Michigan has already been in contact with other centers in the portal
Would one of those centers be named Hunter Dickinson?
Not shocked at all. The roster is pretty full and this guy seemed like a major project with potential big upside but also could have been a Butch Wade (mid 1980s) kind of guy who just gave you minutes and a few rebounds.
At this point in time, I just want a team of hungry 3 star guys (that worked for NW). Tired of the 1 or 2 and done guys who didn't develop real skills in college and will flame out after 2-3 years in NBA like Frankie, Caleb, and Moussa.
That’s a bummer. The staff and the board were real excited about getting him. He seemed to be a guy who would out play his ranking. Hope the kid works everything out and finds success.
Making roster projections a year out or hell even six months in college hoops has become a real problem. The fix is pound the portal, find the correct fits talent and team wise and roll on. It lessens my desire to emotionally invest in a team that may have one or two kids playing minutes from the last years squad. Michigans specific problems is lack of recruiting wing players, keeping PG you have invested a full year into and losing players to the draft that have "potential" that we never really got to enjoy here at their best. Its going to be interesting to see how the roster roll over impacts the teams success next season.
April 19th, 2023 at 10:03 AM ^
Papa was a rolling stone
Papa dont preach
Papa's gotta brand new bag
Papa John
Big Papa (Sp?)
At least Jake Butt stayed
So we're down to a one man recruiting class. Now we have to rely some more on the portal. Teams are no longer built through traditional recruiting - or rarely so. Looking at our last four classes (translating to freshmen through seniors for the upcoming year), we will have 8 recruited players left on the roster (assuming no further attrition) but only two of those (both sophomores) are likely to be starters this year. There won't be any recruited upper classmen starters. Our main contributors and rotation players will probably be mostly transfers.
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