Michigan Basketball Offers 2021 Four-Star Combo Guard Jalen Warley

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2021 cycle to guard Jalen Warley.

Michigan’s Juwan Howard just offered five-star junior Jalen Warley, he told @Stockrisers. National priority.

— Jake (@jakeweingarten) April 25, 2020

Bradley comes out of Norristown, Pennsylvania and is currently rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds by the recruiting site and is one of the most highly sought after prospects in the country. Along with Michigan, Warley has offers from Creighton, Louisville, Marquette, and Oregon among others. He currently has no crystal ball predictions on 247Sports.

Michigan Basketball Offers 2022 Five-Star Point Guard Jaden Bradley

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2022 cycle to guard Jaden Bradley.

After a great meeting with @JuwanHoward and the rest of the staff, I’m thankful to announce I’ve received an offer from the University of Michigan #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/nirJpnNvvN

— Harrison Ingram (@Harrisoniingram) May 9, 2020

Bradley comes out of Concord, North Carolina and is currently rated as a five-star prospect by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds by the recruiting site and is one of the most highly sought after prospects in the country. Along with Michigan, Bradley has offers from Alabama, Auburn, and North Carolina among others. He currently has no crystal ball predictions on 247Sports.

Michigan Basketball Offers 2022 Four-Star Center Dylan Anderson

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2022 cycle to big man Dylan Anderson.

2022 ESPN #22, #2 C

7’0 Dylan Anderson (@bucketsallday45) has received an Offer from Head Coach Juwan Howard and the University of Michigan #GoBlue#ReignSUPREME pic.twitter.com/yJPTNiAFcS

— Arizona Supreme (@NikeAzSupreme) May 13, 2020

Anderson comes out of Chandler, Arizona and is currently rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-10 and 220 pounds by the recruiting site and is one of the most highly sought after prospects in the country. Along with Michigan, Anderson has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, California, and Gonzaga among others. He currently has no crystal ball predictions on 247Sports.

Michigan Basketball Offers 2021 Five-Star Small Forward Harrison Ingram

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2021 cycle to forward Harrison Ingram.

After a great meeting with @JuwanHoward and the rest of the staff, I’m thankful to announce I’ve received an offer from the University of Michigan #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/nirJpnNvvN

— Harrison Ingram (@Harrisoniingram) May 9, 2020

Ingram comes out of Dallas, Texas and is currently rated as a five-star prospect by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds by the recruiting site and is one of the most highly sought after prospects in the country. Along with Michigan, Ingram has offers from Arkansas, Louisville, Memphis, Stanford, and Texas Tech among others. He currently has two crystal ball predictions for Stanford on 247Sports.

Michigan Basketball Offers 2021 Five-Star Center Charles Bediako

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2021 cycle to center Charles Bediako.

Blessed to receive an offer from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor! pic.twitter.com/dsUGhpaPyp

— Charles A. Bediako (@CBediako) May 1, 2020

Bediako comes out of St. Catharines, Ontario and is currently rated as a five-star prospect by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-11 and 215 pounds and is regarded as one of the top recruits in the nation for the 2021 cycle. Along with Michigan, Bediako has offers from Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, and Ohio State among others. Alabama has 67 percent of the current crystal ball entries on 247Sports.

Michigan Basketball Offers 2021 Shooting Guard Isaiah Barnes

The COVID-19 pandemic might have brought the sports world to a halt, but things are still active on the recruiting trail. Juwan Howard is still making moves and decided to put out a new offer in the 2021 cycle to guard Isaiah Barnes.

Blessed to receive an offer from The University of Michigan! 🔵🟡 #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/b5iFs4pFuO

— IB (@Isaiahbarnes_) April 26, 2020

Barnes comes out of Oak Park, Illinois and is currently unranked by 247Sports. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and could be a player set to trend up on the recruiting trail in the coming months. After all, his offer profile is quite impressive. Along with Michigan, Barnes has offers from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, and TCU among others. There are currently no crystal ball entries on 247Sports regarding his recruitment.

Michigan Looks To "Size Up" In The NBA

Photo Credit: Thomas Beindit

Michigan basketball hasn't been in good shape for a long time.  Entering the 2011-2012 season, the Wolverines hadn't won a Big Ten championship since the Reagan administration and hadn't made a Final Four appearance in nearly 20 years.  Over the last two seasons, Michigan has erased these deficits and truly returned the Wolverines to national relevance.
However, one of the gaps that still exists is in the NBA.  Michigan has produced a bunch of quality NBA talent during its history, but right now, that talent pool has largely dried up.  Though the NBA ranges somewhere between 360-450 players at a time (varies due to roster size), Michigan only has 3 players on NBA rosters.  Along with this, they only have 1 player who has been a major contributor; Jamal Crawford.

Sure, Darius Morris got the chance to start a few playoff games and Juwan Howard was on the Miami Heat when they won the NBA title last year, but neither of these guys are exactly all-star caliber right now.  I won't minimize the significance of making an NBA roster because it's extremely difficult, but in terms of evaluating Michigan's performance in the NBA, being a contributor or on the bench is a pretty big difference.  If the Wolverines really want to increase the strength of their program and its relevance at the national level, putting quality players in the NBA is one of the biggest steps.

The good news is that Michigan is set to take a big step this year in achieving this goal.  They only have two players in serious consideration for this year's draft (Trey Burke & Tim Hardaway, Jr.), but both of these guys are in good position to get drafted and make an NBA roster.  Burke has been projected as an NBA lottery pick and Hardaway appears aimed to go somewhere in the 2nd round.  That is not only a big jump for Michigan simply in the number of NBA players for the program, but also in the number of quality players.  Burke has a very high probability to start in his rookie season and although Hardaway will probably fall into more of a Morris role, depending on the team, he might be able to log some solid minutes.

What's also significant is that this year's draft should inject some youth into Michigan's NBA players.  Howard is certainly nearing the end of his NBA career and even Crawford was drafted in 2000.  That gives Michigan just one player on an NBA roster that has been drafted in over a decade.  This really doesn't matter that much year to year, but it definitely increases the odds of Michigan having solid players in the future considering the typical length of NBA careers.

Plus, to go along with what should be a great NBA Draft for the Michigan Wolverines this year, they have a bunch of solid NBA prospects on their roster next season.  Not only will Michigan have two players that would have easily been drafted this year (Mitch McGary & GR3), but they are adding Zak Irvin who has the potential to be a one and done type of player, adding Derrick Walton who could certainly be drafted in a few years, and have a few guys like Nik Stauskas who will probably get on an NBA roster at some point.  If things continue at this rate, Michigan is going to have a big presence in the NBA not just in the next year, but 5-10 years down the road.

Michigan has definitely been making positive steps in rebuilding its program.  They've been making the NCAA Tournament, winning conference titles, and winning tourney games.  Michigan has also drastically improved its recruiting and is now bringing in top talent.  The only thing left to take Michigan's program to the next level is increasing its role in the NBA.  The Wolverines are in a good position to start fixing that this summer.

The Fab Five Wins A Championship?

In fitting end to the NBA Finals, both Lebron James and Juwan Howard won their first NBA titles.  Lebron had struggled under enormous pressure to win the title, just as Howard and the Fab Five had suffered under intense scrutiny at Michigan.  This accomplishment will be something that plays an enormous factor in shaping both of their legacies.  It's an incredible event for basketball, but why am I bringing this up?

The main reason I'm discussing this is because of its place in the Fab Five's legacy.  When the Fab Five originally formed on Michigan's campus in the fall of 1991, they had high hopes.  They were one of the first groups of freshmen that composed the entire starting lineup for a team.  Not many teams in college, even now, start five freshmen at once.  The Fab Five redefined the role of freshmen forever when they did this very thing.  But it wasn't that they started them that made the difference, but the fact that they did well when they started five freshmen, going to two straight national championship games.