Basketball Transfer Target Joey Baker on campus
I had not seen this posted yet today but apparently Joey Baker, a transfer from Duke, was visiting Michigan today.
I think Baker would be a solid pick up to fill one of the remaining scholarship spots. He’s a very capable 3PT shooter and was also a co-captain for Duke last season.
Baker has one season of eligibility remaining.
per Rivals:
pass
I think they are mainly after him for shoot, but pass is good too, brother.
I’m drunk and this made me laugh out loud and my dog had to look at me like wtf human.
What? Dude was team captain for a total prick and earned alot of playing time. Take him all day long.
Dude averaged 4 pts per
Other hoops transfer portal news that people may want to know about:
Mouhamed Gueye, a Big from Washington state, has removed his name from the portal and is returning to WSU.
Courtney Ramey, a Guard from Texas, is reportedly going to decide between West Virginia and Arizona.
Keion Brooks, a Forward/Wing from Kentucky is transferring to Washington.
Isiaih Mosley, a Guard from Missouri State is transferring to Missouri.
Mosley is going to take a Sharpie and cross out "State" from his jersey.
Definitely a take in my book. Looks like somebody who won't demand high minutes, but can compete for them with existing recruits. May the best man win!
Yeah, why not? He would add veteran depth at a position with high upside but young players expected to start.
Seems perfect.
Would Michigan go after another guard if they land him or another big man? There isn’t a lot of big man depth on the roster but we have a void at shooting guard as well. Pete Nance would be a good pickup as well but these two would probably be redundant
I think it’s Pete Nance or bust.
It really seems the staff is content with the backcourt as is. Perhaps they have a lot of faith in Bufkin’s improvement and Jett being able to positively contribute as a freshman.
Bryan Antoine from Villanova has three years in, not sure if he’s a grad transfer though. Pretty much the only ones we can go after.
Antoine would be an extreme reach and a last resort case. He’s not been a very good player in his three years.
Neither has Baker.
We waited the entire month of May on two decisions that were made as soon as they entered, but for some reason announced June 1.
We knew they were gone long ago.
And the result of that is we are pursuing joey baker, a guy no one has had any interest in since he entered the portal in may?
I know your Schlick is to be hyperbolically negative, but maybe try to calm down a bit.
We waited the entire month of May on two decisions that were made as soon as they entered, but for some reason announced June 1.
We knew they were gone long ago.
damn. You were involved in both players’ decision making processes? Can you tell me when they truly knew they were going to stay in the draft?
you also seem to know that Michigan’s staff have been completely inactive while waiting for said decisions. You must be very connected! Congrats!
Baker is a legit solid player. He’s shot 38% from three across 4 seasons at Duke. Shot just over 40% this past season for Duke and had many games in double figures.
yeah, he’s unlikely to be a starter or get the majority of minutes at his position. But this roster needs shooting and Baker has that in spades.
Recent article basically laid out both guys never intended to return.
Then why doesn't Duke want him.
He was their captain.
Then why doesn't Duke want him.
Because Baker has graduated and wants to continue his college basketball experience and education somewhere else.
I know that Bates is practically begging us to take him.
And instead we are after a guy that a Duke team that couldn't shoot, doesn't want.
The fact that he shot 38% from 3 and couldn’t get more than 10 mpg tells you how bad he is at everything else.
Yes we need shooters but adding a shooter who can’t stay on the floor isn’t really adding another shooter.
Maybe pickings are slim and Baker is the best gettable option but I don’t think he’s likely to help much.
The reason Baker was not getting a whole lot of minutes (even though he was the 7th most played on a mpg basis) is because the Duke roster was filled with multiple NBA players at his position.
Trevor Keels is a 1st round NBA draft pick and was ahead of Baker.
AJ Griffin is a potential NBA lottery draft pick and was ahead of Baker.
And although Moore is a bit more of a wing while Baker is a bit more of a guard, they do have positional overlap and Moore is, again, a surefire NBA draft pick.
So you see, it's more that Baker was on a team with lots of other good players rather than being really bad at everything else that led to his minutes being decreased.
This is just wrong. You’re very misinformed about Baker’s career at Duke. Yes they’ve had nba talent on the roster but he was a top recruit who was supposed to complement those guys. And they weren’t that deep every year. They burned his redshirt because they ran out of bodies after Zion got hurt.
This guy was given every chance to be a starter at Duke but couldn’t cut it.
Come on now let’s not overhype the guy! He averaged 4 ppg and the only time he scored in double-digits over the last 2 months of the season was a blowout against FSU. Furthermore you’re raving on his 40% 3P percentage but he took roughly 70 threes the whole season. We clowned Houstan but he shot 36% on more than double the attempts. Baker would be more of a desperation get at this point as oppose to someone who is going to make a big impact. Would rather just give those minutes to Tschetter in that case.
70 3PA would have been 3rd most on last year's Michigan team...
I guess it’s sign Nance or Baker and bank the other scholarship? There’s not a ton of quality left out there.
i see no reason to bank scholarships this day and age. get any warm bodied grad transfer at the 11th hour if you have to.
There's zero reason to bank a scholarship when you can sign a grad transfer.
There is literally a front page post on the baseball team that lists like 6 different transfers of varying eligibility that were on that team. How is this still a thing people say?
Antoine is committed to Radford so he's off the board for Michigan. Source.
The pickings are awfully slim, which is a consequence of being in limbo for so long due to the NBA draft timeline. While Baker hasn't been a key player at Duke, he has one skill Michigan is definitely looking for and slots nicely as a shooting wing option Michigan otherwise lacks.
Beyond that, Nance is the strongest player left in the portal IMO, and he's definitely a take in my book. With Houstan and Diabate both in the draft, that leaves a hole in the 4 slot, as both would have likely seen a decent amount of time there. Tarris Reed (big man) and Terrence Williams (energy guy) figure to be in the mix, but having Nance as a stretch 4 would really be an option we're currently missing. Additionally, it opens up potential to run a smallball lineup where Nance is the 5, particularly when we need to rest Dickinson. He's been great in the Big 10, so no need to project moving him up from a mid major. Tschetter's ideal final form probably looks something like Nance. Baker and Nance would be a great two-some to pick up, here's hoping.
And while it's not going to happen and a lot of the fandom would probably dislike it, I wouldn't mind giving Emoni a shot, particularly if we can't get either of the above. Worst case scenario is he is an early season distraction and he sits out the rest of the season, which just burns a roster spot that might not have super great minutes anyways. His upside is really nice though, and Juwan is the type of coach who might be able to limit him to not play so selfishly and tap into some of the tools that he does have. He's been rumored to be Lousiville bound for a while but hasn't officially announced. As the rule in recruiting goes, the longer something is "bound" to happen without happening, the more opportunity something can muck that up.
This is all very reasonable. Clearly you’re on the wrong board . . .
Before looking into the details I made these assumptions:
- He was once a 5-star recruit. (Not quite ...)
- He'll be taking a pay cut. (Probably ...)
He probably didn't like (or get) his Duke "NIL" offer.
He’s seen as low ceiling high floor type of guy though for our team would be a pretty good fit with the three point shooting. A bird in the hand is better than being left at the alter though so hopefully he commits.
I like 10ft ceilings.
Not much room for a hoop
Duke credits don't transfer. Only Oxford at 40%
On a team that had a number of below average defenders, Baker still stuck out as a massive liability on that end of the floor. I just dont know what you do with a player like that.
You put him in small ball lineups for 10 minutes a game to give you 3 pt shooting. What's weong with that??
I think you’re overstating things by calling him a “massive liability”. But yes, he won’t be a defensive stopper. Best you can expect is similar to second-half-of-last-season Caleb Houstan; nothing special but not getting abused on most possessions.
I would expect that if Juwan and our coaches like him, then THEY have some idea what you do with him. And considering they have him on campus, they likely see some things they like. I'll assume that involves leadership qualities, and shooting, and a maturity he would bring, given that--as I am told--he was a captain on Duke's team.
We've all gotten pretty spoiled, and forgotten how Beilein put together some of his most enjoyable teams from collections of spare parts--patched and poked, sometimes, for three-quarters of the season before he had them cooking on all cylinders.
But. . . unless some of our very young 'uns catch fire this fall, it's looking like it could be a rebuilding year. Hopefully the mods can spare us some of the worst hysteria and just vanish some of the silliest posters if that's the case. Watching all the nervous breakdowns and maligning of the baseball team yesterday. . . before they came back and should have taken that game. . . was giving me some mgoblog fanbase PTSD.
Looks like an intangibles guy. A heady physical player who studies film. A glue player. A great teammate type. Solid fundamentals, etc.
So you’re saying he’s a “bring his lunch box and grind it out” kinda guy?
I think the grittiest gritsters bring a lunch pail don’t they?
He's too gritty for a lunch pail. Brown bag with a $2 steak, a quart of whole milk (no candy ass 2%).
Yeah. It's the difference between your wife throwing some corn pone and chicken fried steak into a dirty receptacle before you go down into the mine and this:
We got enough fancyassin' at Michigan already.
I can't help but feel like Coach Howard and staff had not prepared enough for what seemed obvious to basically everyone for weeks now: that Caleb and Moussa were out the door. I get it's a delicate dance but I mean, if Joey Baker and ? are our only options....I dunno man. Other teams seem to find players just fine.
I also think part of it seems to be that Caleb and Moussa both literally waited until the last second, which also made it that much more difficult.
I'm fine with bringing on Joey Baker but it obviously feels like taking what's available. Which is, not much.
Other programs can take whichever player they choose out of the portal because they have zero academic transfer issues. If we could take whoever, Shannon would be here instead of Illinois. He couldn’t come because Texas Tech wouldn’t allow him the classes to be a grad transfer, Illinois didn’t care. We pretty much have to recruit grad transfers.
I feel like it's been said like 800 times now that Shannon was NOT an issue with admissions and was 100% Texas Tech being a jerk.
But I do hear you on other teams having it easier. Still think it seems, Coach Howard and staff knew all of that and seem to be scrambling a bit. I mean, the fact that insiders aren't even talking about anyone outside of Grandison and Baker is pretty concerning in my book.
That’s why I said TX Tech wouldn’t allow him the classes to be a grad transfer.
Pete Nance has been tossed around too. If you look at the portal and then look at what requirements Michigan has there isn’t a lot out there.
Got it.
In regards to Nance, I feel like I've read a few places now that he's said he won't be transferring within the Big Ten.