Caleb Houstan declines Combine Invite, clearing the way for UM return?
Interesting news here, apparently Houstan has declined an invite, making it highly likely that he will return next season.
Honestly, who knows what's going on. This seems fluid.
Also reported by Alejandro Zúñiga on twitter.
In really enjoying the mental gymnastics of people saying he's not good enough for the NBA while simultaneously admitting how much better the team will be if he returns.
Doesn't take a lot of mental gymnastics to say that Colin Gillespie won't have more than a cup of coffee in the NBA but was a tremendous college player that made Villanova better. Maybe learn a little bit about the NBA and what skill sets work there versus the college game.
"It doesn't take a lot of mental gymnastics" to compare Collin Gillespie to Caleb Houstan?
The point. You missed it
he should at least have a donut or a bagel with his cup of coffee.....
also, is the NBA's coffee really that good?
You're kidding, right? Have you not been paying attention to Michigan bball for the past few years? Aside from Franz Wagner and Dickinson, there are a zillion examples of other teams' college players who clearly weren't good enough for the NBA, but who came back and made their teams much, much better.
I’m more concerned he knows someone is taking him. If the goal is the NBA, what harm would it be to accept the invite?
I think most of us accepted that Diabate and Houstan might well only be here for a single season, but our hope was that the single season would be spent atop the Big Ten with a realistic shot at a national title.
This feels a little dumb - hoping that Houstan will come back and suddenly be the player he was supposed to be last season, yet hoping at the same time the experts in the NBA don't see that happening.
Howard gives us access to these great talents. Collect enough of them, and you can build a Kentucky or a Duke. That seems to be where Howard would like to be headed. Given the recent NIL wrinkle, though, I'm not sure that's a reasonable goal.
If Houstan does return, it's not terrible news, but he probably won't turn into much more than a mid-range starter here. If there's lottery potential with one more year of college seasoning, then he'll get drafted this year. Right now, given the NBA structure, players don't turn that opportunity down.
If the NBA wanted to "fix" this and improve college basketball, they'd have an almost-unwinnable fight against the union.
Beginning of the year Caleb and end of the year Caleb were markedly different guys. Not insane to think that one or more NBA teams -- which focus on potential -- would see that line, extend it, and take a crack at him in the first two rounds.
He gone
Well congrats to him if he stays in the draft. I still think he has Cam Johnson like potential, I just figured he'd do that for 2 years here before leaving. Next year's roster seems to be really light on shooting and obviously guard depth is an issue.
It is a little annoying putting so much effort into getting these 5 stars just for them to be average for a year and then leave. I hope these guys kill in the league and get Michigan a few more players in the league to root for.
If a guy can play like Houstan did and still get selected in the first round, it tells me that one and done is just stupid. Let him go pro right out of high school.
I think it’s the opposite. This signals he has a guarantee to get drafted by some team. F the NBA.
Hope we can pull in two shooters in the portal or it could be a long season.
Seems like he's not confident enough to improve in college after another year to solidify his draft stock. If he is what he is, he might as well leave now and take the paycheck. If a team is locked in on him now, why would they want him after another unproven and mediocre year in college. Leaving now seems like the best move he can make if he doesn't have faith that he'll improve.