hunter sallis

Michigan currently holds a top 5 recruiting class for 2021 after 4-star guard Frankie Collins announced for Michigan a few weeks back. While 5-star recruitments haven’t been kind over the last six months, we’re heading down that road again.   

Two Team Race?

I made the trip to Dallas over the weekend to get my first live viewing of top 20 forward Harrison Ingram this year at the War B4 The Storm. 

Offensively, Ingram displayed legitimate point guard skills as demonstrated in my film above. He was absolutely superb in terms of spatial awareness and vision in ballscreen action. Harrison consistently collapsed the defense off the bounce and made plays for teammates. To be candid, the highlights above don’t do his facilitation ability justice. Ingram had several more eye-popping passes that didn’t make the clip because teammates couldn’t finish the play off. 

In terms of scoring, that was a much different story. Harrison scored 9 points in total through two games (no typo). While part of this is due to his optimal role being a shot creator for others, there were consistent issues finishing at the rim because he simply lacks the verticality to do so. 

In talking to his coaches, Ingram hasn’t done much over the last two months and did sit out Southern Assault’s final game on Sunday. So perhaps conditioning or very minor injury played a role here. In reviewing film though in tandem with live viewings of last Summer, I’m comfortable saying his limited athleticism plays at least a minimal role. 

On the recruiting trail, Michigan is in the final 6 along with Stanford, Purdue, Howard, North Carolina and Harvard. My newest intel over the weekend suggests this is more of a top two plus one. 

A source close to the recruitment tells me that Michigan is one of two teams at the top along with Purdue. The parents (Mom) really like the Stanford option, but the on-court situation in Palo Alto isn’t appealing enough to Harrison at this time. North Carolina is stronger than accepted wisdom, but trailing the Wolverines and Boilermakers.

Juwan Howard and staff have done a phenomenal job of making Ingram a top priority to the extent of perhaps being in pole position. The holdup? The same source tells me Harrison may have questions about his role in the offense come 2022 when Jett Howard comes aboard if he’s not a one and done.  

Never could I have imagined that Jett Howard, a top 50 prospect that is likely best suited playing off-ball, would potentially be a roadblock for a 2021 5-star that is an elite shot creator. Such is life in recruiting. 

Bringing this all together, a reliable source indicated last week that Michigan was likely sitting at the very top of the list. A different source close to the situation this weekend conveyed the Wolverines in a top 2 along with Purdue.  A third source believes Ingram will ultimately pick the program that sells him on having the ball in his hands.  

Reading the tea leaves here, Michigan is consistently mentioned among the top two schools in connection with Harrison. Matt Painter is absolutely selling Ingram as a true PG and that is attractive from his perspective. The Wolverine staff has done a phenomenal job after playing catch-up. But as I always say, recruiting has little to do with objective on-court factors and everything to do with the ability to sell a kid his dream. Michigan has a real chance to close the deal with an instant impact 5star with relatively low NBA upside, let’s hope Juwan Howard can get it done. 

[After THE JUMP: not looking good elsewhere on the 5-star front and a 2022 target impresses]