With Hunter Dickinson back for his junior season, the need for a portal big in 2022-23 becomes much less pressing even though we still await the stay/go decision from Moussa Diabate. 

All that said, its difficult to imagine any situation where either of current Wolverine bigs are around for the 2023-2024 season. Assuming that to be true, 2022 signee Tarris Reed would be the only true scholarship center on the roster. Signing a big in 2023 is a priority, so let's take a look at the board coming off the second live evaluation period.

Papa Kante

Height/Weight: Listed at 6'10 and 225 pounds. Probably closer to a legit 6'8.5 - 6'9 and 215 - 220lbs.

High School/AAU: South Kent School (CT)/Nike EYBL New York Renaissance (NY)

Weekend Performance: Seems like other evaluators agree with my assessment concerning Kante's impressive switchability given his size + length. Received praise for his interior presence and agility for his weekend outing at the KYDA Invitational in Scranton, PA. 

Mainstream Ranking: 4-star/125 - 135 Overall

EM Ranking/Evaluation: Projects to have the impact of a 70 - 100 level prospect based on what I've viewed live so far. Superb defender with good agility and length that is switchable on the perimeter. Should be ready to contribute defensively from the day he steps foot on a college campus based on his defensive instincts in tandem with the size + movement. 

Offense is essentially limited to offensive putbacks and finishing dumpoffs created by guards at this stage of development. Displays some ability to face-up off the bounce with his South Kent HS team in addition to flashes of perimeter shotmaking, but that isn't the case on the EYBL circuit. 

Recruitment: Nothing has changed here. Papa will take an official visit to Michigan on June 14th, along with 2023 wing offer Gavin Griffiths. Michigan is in very good position here, if not the outright leader. If the visit goes as well as I anticipate, a commitment may not be out of the question.

Zayden High

Height/Weight: Listed at 6'7-6'9/185-225. He's a legit 6'8-6'9 and 210 pounds at minimum.

High School/AAU: San Antonio Smithson Valley HS (TX)/Nike EYBL JL3 Elite (TX)

Weekend Performance: Nothing to note here, as JL3 played in a local tournament and the competition wasn't all that great. 

Mainstream Ranking: Now #37 overall to ESPN/#142 Composite (247)

EM Ranking/Evaluation: Projected impact resembles that of a top-50 prospect. Potent perimeter shotmaker off the catch or the bounce. Good playmaker/secondary shot-creator for a big with good ball-skills. Not a great athlete, so struggles to finish at the rim in traffic based on lack of lift/twitchiness. Does a good job of protecting the rim at this level, but probably more of a secondary rim protector at the college level based on his size/length/athleticism. Projects to be a good, multi-year college player that can play the PF or C spot based on matchup. 

Recruitment: The competition is heavy, as Zayden is in full blow-up mode. Since calling him my 2022 version of Kyle Filipowski a month ago, High has been offered by Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Creighton, TCU, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Colorado. North Carolina is now poking-around as well. Will transfer to Arizona Compass Prep for senior season. This is a big-boy recruitment with a kid from Texas, so the odds probably aren't favorable, and probably less favorable now that Arizona Compass is in the picture. But it may not matter much with the way things are trending with Kante. 

[Hit THE JUMP for a thorough evaluation of Xavier Booker]

Xavier Booker

Height/Weight: Listed at 6'10/205. That appears accurate.

High School/AAU: Indianapolis Cathedral HS (IN)/Independent George Hill All Indy

Weekend Performance: Dominant offensive showing, with 20+ points while going 5/8 from distance on catch + shoot triples at the Southern Jam Fest in Hampton, VA. This came against superb competition in Nike EYBL New Jersey Scholars featuring multiple 5-stars in #1 overall prospect DJ Wagner, Duke commit Mackenzie Mgbako and 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw. The scoring and flashes of ball-skills were superb, everything else..........not so much. See below for full evaluation. 

Mainstream Ranking: 4-star/35-100 range, with wide variation among services. 

EM Ranking/Evaluation: As you can see in the clip above, Booker was extremely impressive offensively, connecting on five threes, while flashing a solid handle in the open-court and some passing chops against a zone defense. The highs are incredibly high and he may have a future in the NBA depending on how his development progresses. 

But the highs are just that, and don't really capture Xavier's impact on a possessional basis. My initial thoughts after evaluating Booker in Fort Wayne a few weeks back were further solidified. The upside is very high, but there's a considerable gap between the current on-court impact and the full potential. 

There really isn't a diplomatic way to convey it, so I'm going to be candid here. Xavier's motor leaves a bit to be desired and that absolutely manifests itself in scenarios that require effort + energy. 

Defensively, he was hunted consistently, as it was fairly obvious Booker wasn't really willing to move his feet at the required level. The first possession in the clip below really captures the lack of effort. Booker gives close to zero effort in trying to contain the ball and his teammate gets posterized because of it. The next possession he makes a half-hearted effort to steal the ball on a post-entry pass and doesn't even attempt to get back in the play/block the shot.

Duke commit Mackenzie Mgbako caught him with his hands down repeatedly and everyone knows he's one of the premier shooters in America. That can happen to anyone, so I was willing to chalk that up to talent. But when a mid-major PF prospect in Dasear Haskins was blowing by him with regularity the effort has to be questioned. You can go through the remaining film in detail to get the full scope of his issues with on-ball defense.

The most egregious of the lapses came in transition though. I noted Xavier's unwillingness to get back on defense for my evaluation in Fort Wayne and the same issue popped-up again in Hampton.

Not really a ton of analysis needed here, it's obvious to anybody with competent vision that Booker is putting forth minimal effort to get back on defense and the second possession of the clip above is downright laughable. Starting at the :10 mark, he literally doesn't cross half-court on defense. Instead he simply waits for a miss and gets rewarded with a dunk for cherry-picking. I'm sure that made someone's highlight clip, but it certainly didn't make mine. 

Finally, the off-ball rotations were non-existent for multiple possessions as well. I tend to be a bit more relaxed with my critique of HS prospects in this area, as it's fairly consistent across the board. But some of these possessions were unacceptable.

The first possession sees a simple DHO to #1 overall prospect DJ Wagner. Rather than rotating over to prevent Wagner from walking to the rim, Xavier just watches the show despite being the only rim protector in the area. The next possession he does a good job communicating by calling out the switch at the :13 mark...........and then remains stationary as Wagner comes off the flare screen to hit an easy corner three.

In sum, Booker was directly responsible for 20pts ceded (conservative) and partially responsible for giving up at least 30. It's hard to imagine your 6'10 big being a net-neutral at best in a game where he hits five triples, but that was the case on Sunday. 

The effort level has a long way to go before he's ready to be a positive contributor in a B10 game. The NBA upside is obvious, but in the portal era where immediate playing time for a highly-touted kid is functionally mandatory to prevent a transfer, I just don't know that Booker can help Michigan win games as a freshman given his current play. 

Recruitment:  Booker recently took an OV to Michigan State in addition to multiple visits to Indiana last season. Visits to Michigan and Notre Dame are in the works, though dates have yet to be confirmed, per a piece from Rivals. On3 was of the belief that Michigan State was close to securing a commitment, but new offers from Kansas and Louisville, along with potential interest from Duke, may change things here. Papa Kante has the inside track to being the Wolverine big of 2023, but if things don't work out there, this will be one to watch.