basketball recruiting is actually good

where we left off [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

I'll come clean. I've had a difficult time getting started on this season's basketball preview, even though the football program is doing everything they can to turn my focus to the hardwood.

Some of that stems from the lack of closure to Juwan Howard's debut season, which the ongoing pandemic ended as Michigan warmed up for their opening Big Ten Tournament game, an event that somehow occurred this calendar year. Xavier Simpson and Jon Teske never got their hero sendoffs, Franz Wagner's ascent was interrupted, and we'd never find out if the team would gel in the postseason around a healthy Isaiah Livers—nor how Howard would coach with the full rotation finally at his disposal.

A force of an entirely different nature is also working against my brain: unconstrained excitement for the 2021-22 season, when Michigan may very well be bringing the #1 recruiting class in the country to campus. It's hard not to sense a transition year after Howard's top recruiting targets for this season slipped away and he's signed two five-star prospects in a loaded six-player class for next year.

yeah that might be a problem

There's also that pesky ongoing pandemic. Today, the NCAA announced it's moving the entire D-I men's basketball tournament to Indianapolis, which was previously slated to host the Final Four. The schedule is all but nonexistent less than two weeks before the season's supposed November 25th start date. Michigan doesn't have a 2020-21 schedule page on their official site. They've booked two games: the ACC/B1G Challenge matchup against NC State next month and a Nov. 29th tilt with Oakland, both taking place at the Crisler Center.

Seton Hall shut down practices last week, becoming the fourth Big East team to deal with a COVID outbreak this offseason. Tom Izzo and Jim Boeheim both tested positive for the virus in the last week; Izzo is physically isolating himself from Michigan State's program while Syracuse has had to shut down entirely after another member of the program tested positive. The voice of reason at the moment is the head coach of the Iona Gaels.

Yes, that Rick Pitino. We're in a bad place, collectively. It's hard to have a season without a schedule; it's hard to have a schedule without some general guidelines for how to safely play in a pandemic.

Will they forge on? Almost certainly, whether they remain on schedule or not. March Madness is a cash cow the NCAA's member schools will let go unplayed for a second straight year only if there's no other option. I'm not here to endorse this course of action, only to write about it.

[Hit THE JUMP for SO, LET'S TALK MICHIGAN BASKETBALL]

Hot damn, the number one class in the country just got more number one-ish.

IMG Academy's Moussa Diabate, a 6'10" forward/center with a 7'1" wingspan and quickly refining skill, chose the Wolverines from an offer sheet that includes Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Memphis, and Texas Tech. He's the #20 overall player on the 247 Composite.

Our very own Matt D. saw Diabate in Phoenix last month—the highlights are embedded above—and came away convinced he's underrated even as a five-star after adding aspects to his game this summer and fall that should make him a top-ten prospect.

While his natural physical gifts are unquestionably great, the improved perimeter skill from Moussa had everyone buzzing. Diabate looked really good shooting the ball from the perimeter, knocking down multiple triples with good elevation and nice form. The biggest development was undoubtedly his ability to create shots off the bounce from the wing. The play starting at roughly the :12 second mark is absolutely insane for a 6’10 HS prospect. Moussa blows-by 2022 AJ Storr (Offers from Virginia Tech, Ole Miss and a multiple mid-majors), attacks the paint and delivers a precision shovel pass to a teammate in a tight window while being surrounded by 4 defenders. His passing/playmaking was approaching guard level off the bounce and in stationary positions all weekend long. 

Diabate joins five-star Caleb Houstan as headliners of the top class in the country, which is up to six commits, four of whom rank in the top 65 overall. Not bad, Juwan Howard.

There's no content after the jump. We'll have much more on Diabate from Matt later this week.

can Wagner take a Stauskasian leap? [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

What other sports or events would we even be discussing right now? Let's talk some hoops.

The Range of Outcomes

It's hard to predict a floor for any team because of COVID, since evidently there's a chance a program can Wisconsin itself out of a large portion of the season. If we assume reasonable health, the worst-case scenario for this team involves some combination of disappointing point guard and center play, lacking a true go-to scorer, and a defensive dropoff without Xavier Simpson and Jon Teske. Add in some bad luck and I could see this program missing the NCAA Tournament in a shortened season. That all happening doesn't seem likely, but we're talking about the absolute floor here.

I've been pleasantly surprised to see where Michigan has landed in the early computer projections. KenPom news-dumped his preseason ratings last night(!) with the Wolverines at #17, fourth in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan State. Bart Torvik's algorithm is even higher on Michigan after Chaundee Brown's transfer waiver, ranking them 11th nationally, two spots behind Wisconsin for best in the conference.

Torvik's prediction feels close to the upper bounds of this team's potential—it's tough to have top-ten confidence in a team with big questions at the two most important positions on the court. There's a chance that's underestimating how much Juwan Howard can get out of a suddenly deep squad, however. A lot hinges on Brandon Johns and/or Hunter Dickinson becoming a high-level center option; if the pieces fall into place around that, this is a team that could make a deep 2018-like tournament run because of their combination of talent, experience, coaching, and lineup flexibility.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the mailbag.]

a five-star livers

hooooooooooooooooooo buddy let's cook

The odds have to be in our favor at some point, right?

a multi-year-in-college five-star would be very nice, yes

The world is watching

One Can Only Dream

thank you for this, basketball. it was needed.

Big get

We go together like slamma jamma lamma cramma zippity pickenpop

Motion to import the heckler who yelled "overrated" to Ann Arbor.