MBB portal analysis from The Athletic
With peak Portal SZN nearing full bloom, many on the board (myself included) are interested to see how Dusty May plans to approach the task of roster reconstruction. The portal almost assuredly will be part of the plan if Michigan plans to improve on their 8 win watermark this past season. The Athletic recently released their evaluation of the portal prospects as of late last week.
Some notable differences in perspective from 24/7's portal evaluation; and so I thought a fun, mindless exercise would be comparing the evaluations from each publication, and highlighting a few prospects that project to have a better-than-doubtful chance of clearing Michigan's transfer admissions policy (i.e. either a true freshman or grad transfer).
Link to The Athletic portal evaluation for those that subscribe($): https://theathletic.com/5360188/2024/03/28/ncaa-transfers-portal-rankings-list/
The Athletic's Top 10 Portal Prospects:
1. Tucker DeVries, 6-7 Wing
- College: Drake
- Class: Junior
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 97, 4*, #4 overall transfer prospect
- Fringe NBA prospect, committed to West Virginia when his dad accepted the head coaching job this past week.
2. PJ Haggerty, 6-3 CG
- College: Tulsa
- Class: Rs. Freshman
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 94, 4*, #23 overall transfer prospect
- Slasher that looks to attack the rim and finish, or make plays for his teammates by collapsing the defense
3. Malik Mack, 6-1 PG
- College: Harvard
- Class: Freshman
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 95, 4*, #11 overall
- three-level scoring guard that thrives in the pick-n-roll
4. Myles Rice, 6-3 CG
- College: Washington State
- Class: 3rd yr Freshman (RS, medical)
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: N/A
- scoring first combo guard that has shown the ability to play the point, but prefers to play off-ball
5. Kaanan Carlyle, 6-3 CG
- College: Stanford
- Class: Freshman
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 95, 4*, #6 overall transfer prospect
- streaky scoring guard who has looked like an NBA prospect at times, and a P5 rotation player at others
6. Cade Tyson, 6-7 Wing
- College: Belmont
- Class: Soph.
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 94, 4*, #19 overall transfer prospect
- lights out 3-point shooter, but has shown a little wiggle to his game as well
7. Terrance Edwards, 6-6 Wing
- College: James Madison
- Class: Graduate
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 93, 4*, #37 overall transfer prospect
- versatile wing that fills the stat sheet, '24 conference player of the year
8. Danny Wolf, 7-0 Center
- College: Yale
- Class: Soph.
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 95, 4*, N/A
- Agile big that has some ability to create his own shot, and can stretch the floor from the 5 position
9. AJ Storr, 6-7 Wing
- College: Wisconsin
- Class: Soph.
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 97, 4*, #1 overall transfer prospect
- Committed to Illinois
10. Cliff Omoruyi, 6-11 Center
- College: Rutgers
- Class: Graduate
- TA Rtg.: High Major Plus
- 24/7 Rtg.: 97, 4*, #3 overall transfer prospect
- powerful & athletic big that pounds the glass and is an imposing shot block in the paint
...now, taking Michigan's admissions policy into consideration, our realistic portal prospects are either graduates or players that just completed their true freshman season. Some other names worth noting:
- Brandon Garrison, 6-11 Freshman C, OK State - #13 TA | #7 24/7
- Gibson Jimerson, 6-5 Graduate Wing, St. Louis - #15 TA | #74 24/7
- Darlinstone Dubar, 6-8 Graduate Forward, Hofstra - #26 TA | #47 24/7
- Andrej Stojakovic, 6-7 Forward, Stanford - #31 TA | #8 24/7
- Amari Williams, 6-10 C, Drexel - #32 TA | #16 24/7
I will be reviewing this once our massive hockey game ends. Go blue, beat sparty!
That pass was unreal!
That third period was simply ethereal!
Thanks for sharing. Need a goal in the hockey game. Mental lapse and now we are tied 2-2 late in the 3rd
How about 3 goals? Go Blue!!!
We've got bags full of transformation. Come get it, hoopers.
Unless they are grad transfers, it’s worthless to speculate that any will come to Michigan
Freshmen can get in without issue and there seems to be optimism with sophomores now, too. Michigan has reached out to a few this cycle.
To a certain extent, I get it. UM has substantial academic rigor no matter the degree. Players will get a lot of tutoring to help them balance the multitude of activities. Nonetheless, if your grades from a previous institution suggest that you're only here to play school, then maybe this isn't the best fit for either of us.
I guarantee the young guys from Harvard and Yale would get in as long as their grades have been decent at those institutions, i.e. 3.0 or better. They don't offer athletic scholarships, but of course they do give some weight to athletic ability and potentially playing varsity. So, these had to be very good HS students to get into Ivy League schools.
I think MH20 is referring to some rule that you have to earn at least 60 of your credits from Michigan to graduate from Michigan. Michigan allegedly also doesn't take some transfer credits. Back in the day I remember transfers having to retake the intro to writing class and Calc I (Math 115?). I'm curious how bad it really is.
The issue as I understand it is that the NCAA requires students to have "40 percent of required coursework for a degree must be complete by the end of the second year, 60 percent by the end of the third year and 80 percent by the end of their fourth year."
So if you're a junior at [the Air Force Academy] and your math, intro to English and war history classes won't transfer, you won't be eligible to play. Why would we accept USAF's intro to football class? Triple option isn't up to our standards.
The more likely scenario is that the general studies major at some other university is going to have a bunch of odd electives that don't have equivalents at Michigan. I mean Michigan has some classes that other institutions probably think are BS too: Voting is Sexy, Emoji Worlds, Elementary Nahuatl, Fake News, Intro to AR/VR, History and Evolution of Hip Hop Culture, etc. All legit classes (I think) but probably hard to find an equivalent credit.
We’re talking to Wolf, reportedly:
2 years of Yale credits should mostly transfer over and he still has 2 years to get 60 credits at Michigan. Juniors are really the only non-starters the way things are. So it’s odd Juwan targeted juniors. Whatever. Go Blue.
Wolf's mom is a Michigan grad. I'd be shocked if he does not transfer to the good guys!
Yeah Yale credits are probably alot better than Stanford credits.
Sorry - Harvard Yale and Stanford credits are no good here...
Gotta like a third year freshman
Has there ever been a freshman grad transfer? This seems possible.
Lots of potential targets there for May, particularly in the backcourt.
With consultation, sophomores shouldn't be a problem for admission, witness Josiah Stewart. The transfers that are difficulty are ones that would potentially be doing less than half their undergrad credits at UM. Absent very unusual circumstances, those are usually a no go.
Whoa. Storr left Wiscy for Illinois? I missed that.
Still waiting for any FAU guys to enter the portal.
I’m mostly good with NIL and open transfer rules, but something seems really dumb about a guy who transferred to Wisconsin, had a pretty good year, was featured in the offense on a team who made the tournament as an at large, and then transfers within conference to Illinois??? They are basically the same program! He will get yelled at and not win a National Title at both schools. Why? Can Illinois’ NIL be that much better than Wisconsin?
Andrej Stojakovic is intriguing, and UM has taken at least one Stanford transfer in Grant Mason.
And the 2 OL from last year.
March 31st, 2024 at 11:57 PM ^
Malik Mack PG Harvard FR
Kanaan Carlyle CG Stanford FR
Andrej Stojakovic SF Stanford FR
Colin Smith SF Vanderbilt SO
Jevon Porter PF Pepperdine SO
Danny Wolf C Yale SO
Hopefully we get a bunch from the FAU grad transfers (if they enter,) and the Stanford freshmen.
It's been over a week now, even with the outside hire done there, not a peep of anyone in the portal. Maybe they're just taking their time or Easter distracted them, but I feel like it would have happened by now. Surely they've spoken with Jackuss by now and would be anxious to secure a spot with Dusty if that was their plan? Goldin might already not have a spot here if it's true Wolf is coming.
This is a huge decision and they have plenty of time. I wouldn't be rushing to jump into the portal. I would want to hear the story from the new coach, see what my current teammates feel like they want to do, talk to my parents, old coaches and any other mentors and then make a decision. Adding in Easter, I wouldn't expect to make or announce a decision for another week.
Entering the portal isn't a commitment. They'd almost certainly have a spot should they choose to remain at FAU afterward. So I stand by it being telling they haven't entered yet. You're making entering the portal out to be the rash decision, but that might not be so. And literally everything you said you'd want to do can be done once in the portal.
Been thinking of making a post on portal targets as I've been surprised to not see it reported on at all on here. Wolf seems like he's likely ending up here, which is exciting, he's better than Goldin. Goldin and the FAU guys are looking like they aren't going to hit the portal even with the outside hire which is wild to me, but I guess kinda cool to see the culture Dusty built being so strong. Hopefully the blog makes a post or podcast about it this week, there's a lot out there already!
lots of good ivy leaguers on the list. No idea of Mack's game fits with May, but he's a PG and the team desperately needs one...
hopeful with the positive wots with Wolf...hoping that one can land soon.
What I liked the most about the May hire and his 1st press conference was the mention of having an offense pleasing to the fans' eyes. Something with rhythm. Something with purpose. Something to motivate recruits to come here and learn an effective system.
The last few years, the offensive gameplan was brutal. Then the D fell apart this year.
Plenty of good possibilities out there. Please, no more 1 and dones.
While I readily admit I don't pay much attention to the X's and O's, I thought the critique on Howard's gameplans, at least before this year, wasn't so much that they didn't make sense. They did, but it was just that he couldn't coach the team to a point, post-COVID season, where they could be properly executed.