[via Princeton Athletics]

Princeton Transfer Jaelin Llewellyn Has Committed to Michigan Comment Count

Seth April 29th, 2022 at 2:21 PM

How about Ivy League credits, are those okay? It appears so, and also appears like Michigan has finally found a guard to join Kobe Bufkin and air for minutes at the two, not to mention a guy who can create his own shot.

Josh Henschke confirmed it. He's coming.

Llewellyn is a scorer, passing 1,000 points in three seasons at Princeton, including 136 three-pointers. Plugging his 2021 season into my chart generator paints a picture of a perfect Not Just a Shooter™.

image

That's an impressive box: high usage, miniscule turnover rate, and (37% of points assisted) not a lot of help. Princeton didn't really have a point guard last year, running most of their offense through a 6'8"/217 center. Their defensive numbers (see: 6'8"/217 center) were abysmal, so it's hard to tell anything from the stats. The highlights are a lot of scoring, as you might expect:

The Synergy numbers are more encouraging. Llewellyn took 40 percent of his jumpers off the dribble and 60 percent were contested, so those threes came honestly. He's also good pick and roll ballhandler and very effective in transition, though not enough of an athlete to be a true isolation threat.

Michigan—hoo boy—needed a guy, especially once it looked like Texas Tech's Terrence Shannon was turned around by a combination of Michigan's tweedy transfer credit demands, Texas Tech's refusal to let him finish there first, and Illinois's more robust NIL program. Eli Brooks graduated, neither Frankie Collins nor incoming Dug McDaniel are really off-ball guards, and Michigan had all their eggs in 2nd year players Kobe Bufkin and Isaiah Barnes, who didn't even see the field, taking huge leaps forward next year. That could still be the case and Michigan still needed help here, since small forward options were Caleb Houstan again or freshman Jett Howard. Depending on Bufkin's development, and how well Llewellyn transitions to playing defense with athletes more on his level, we could see the two starting together, or Llewellyn as a crucial scoring option off the bench. At the very least they needed a shooter, since their only guy to make the national top-300 in 3P% just gradated.

Originally from Ontario, he was the rare Ivy League 4-star, coming in 99th in the composite rankings in 2018. He played all three season that Princeton did (the Ivy League canceled their 2020-'21 season) so Llewellyn will come in with senior eligibility, the only guy on Michigan's roster who's more than a sophomore right now. Michigan's still waiting on draft decisions from Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate, and it's probably not likely both return, but if they do the Wolverines can still open up a scholarship by taking Jace Howard's.

We'll probably get Matt from Endless Motor to do a full scouting Hello later.

Comments

cbs650

April 29th, 2022 at 4:16 PM ^

They might as well stop recruiting HS guards because in past 3 seasons, they have basically said the guard we recruited will not be better than guys we are looking at in portal for a one year rental. The way I look at portal guys coming from smaller schools is they look good and productive because they got to PLAY at their school and guys on Michigan roster don't look/unproductive because they DIDN'T get to PLAY. And if HS players (especially guards) feel like they will come here, not get minutes as a freshman and then recruited over in the portal, it will be harder to land them. And this is not a criticism of Howard its just the new normal as coaches needing to recruit their roster, player already in college and also recruit HS players. 

Jordan2323

April 29th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^

If Bufkin and Frankie get squeezed out this year then I could see where that could be a concern but right now we need help at point guard anyway and could use help at the 2 also. This kid can help with both and we could still use another 2 that doesn’t kill any of Bufkin’s mojo either. Dug isn’t gonna be ready so let’s say Frankie, Jaelin, Kobe and another gets signed from the portal that’s a lot of minutes to go around.

TrueBlue2003

April 29th, 2022 at 6:06 PM ^

Was DeJulius replaced though?  Seems like he left on his own accord, which is understandable given that he wasn't recruited by Howard and then we had to replace him with Smith.  Not sure it's clear that Smith was preferred to DeJulius or what led to what.

And then, yeah we took Jones because apparently the staff wasn't high enough on Zeb.  But I don't think that's necessarily a deterrent for future recruits.  Elite guys know they have to be better than a mid-major transfer or they'll get recruited over in the portal (or by another elite freshman).  They should be fine with that.  It's the reality at any big program.

rice4114

April 29th, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^

Princeton kind of owes us yeah? 

Re: Amaker 

-This joke hits harder in the multiverse where Amaker bombs at Harvard. 

Source: "Trust me bro"

93Grad

April 30th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^

Great pickup and one Juwan needed to have regardless of whether this might cause another guard to transfer.  If guys don’t want to compete then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.