Michigan basketball drops in ESPN's updated way-too-early top 25 after roster shakeup
Michigan Wolverines basketball has a huge piece of the puzzle — junior center Hunter Dickinson, U-M’s leading scorer and rebounder each of the last two seasons — back for another season, but actually fell three spots in ESPN.com’s updated ‘way-too-early’ top 25 rankings.
The Maize and Blue slotted 11th nationally in the first edition of the rankings that was released immediately following Kansas’ national title game win over North Carolina, but sit at 14th May 3. Michigan is the top-ranked Big Ten team and one of just two to make the cut, with Indiana checking in 15th.
Michigan’s roster situation is still in flux. While Dickinson, a 7-foot-1, 260-pounder, is back, the Wolverines are waiting on NBA Draft decisions from sophomores Caleb Houstan, a 6-8, 205-pound wing, and Moussa Diabate, a 6-10, 210-pound forward who earned an invite to the NBA Draft Combine. However, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, who put the rankings together, projected both players to return for the 2022-23 season.
“Juwan Howard should have one of the best frontcourts in the country next season, with the return of Hunter Dickinson,” Borzello wrote. “Dickinson tested the NBA draft waters last summer, but he didn’t get that far this season, opting to return to Ann Arbor for his junior campaign.
“Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate are testing the draft, but neither is ranked inside the top 60 of ESPN’s draft rankings, so we’ll project them to return, for now.”
RELATED
• ‘Big man on campus’ Hunter Dickinson’s decision proves there’s a lot to gain by being a college star
• Moussa Diabate gets NBA combine invite: What it means to Michigan
His projected starting lineup consists of: Fifth-year senior Jaelin Llewellyn, freshman Jett Howard, Houstan, Diabate and Dickinson.
Llewellyn, a 6-2, 185-pound former Princeton guard, committed to Michigan as a graduate transfer last Friday. One day later, sophomore point guard Frankie Collins announced he will seek other opportunities and entered the NCAA transfer portal. The Maize and Blue had depth issues in the backcourt before the shakeup, and still have a lack of experienced playmakers at the positions heading into the summer. The staff and fan base are hoping Llewellyn is the answer.
While DeVante’ Jones, a Coastal Carolina transfer who filled Michigan’s point guard spot last season, averaged more points and rebounds and posted a similar amount of assists on a less talented team than Mike Smith, a former Columbia guard who transferred in and started at the position in 2021, Borzello said U-M should hope Llewellyn pans out more like Smith than Jones.
“The backcourt has questions, although one of them was answered in the form of Princeton transfer Jaelin Llewellyn,” Borzello wrote. “The Wolverines have gone with grad transfer point guards the past two years in Mike Smith and DeVante’ Jones, to varying levels of success, and they’ll hope Llewellyn is more along the Smith trajectory. They’ll also need to figure out the two-guard situation.”
That two-guard situation includes sophomore Kobe Bufkin (6-4, 175), who played a minor role last season but appears to be the favorite to start this coming year. Howard (6-7) could be a factor, but he might be better suited to play on the wing.
Who passed Michigan — and why?
So if Dickinson is back, and Borzello is predicting Houstan and Diabate also return, what gives? Why did Michigan fall three spots?
The answer, at least how we read it, is that other teams received even more clarity about their rosters, forcing them to leap Michigan.
Villanova lost head coach Jay Wright, but two of its top players — Brandon Slater and Caleb Daniels — are set to return for their extra years of eligibility, and Justin Moore, who tore his ACL during the NCAA Tournament, could return at some point. The Wildcats moved up from No. 13 to No. 10.
Auburn loses a lot, including the potential No. 1 overall pick in forward Jabari Smith, but what the Tigers brought in was good enough to climb from 16 to 11.
“For a team that lost top-three draft pick Jabari Smith and defensive player of the year Walker Kessler, Auburn has had a great start to the spring,” Borzello wrote. “The Tigers landed Morehead State’s Johni Broome, one of the best players in the portal, and top-30 prospect [former Michigan target] Yohan Traore, who was once committed to LSU. Those two will form the core of a revamped frontcourt, and [head coach] Bruce Pearl is still in pursuit of five-star forward recruit Julian Phillips.
Texas, which jumped from No. 22 to No. 12, passing Michigan, is in a similar boat to Villanova, though the Longhorns’ coach, Chris Beard, is still with the program.
“We had Texas ranked low in our first top 25 — and that was before starters Marcus Carr and Timmy Allen, the team’s two leading scorers, chose to take advantage of their extra year of eligibility and go back to Austin,” Borzello wrote. “Chris Beard will now have two anchors to rely on, while adding five-star recruits Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris. Mitchell is a truly elite leaper and transition player, while Morris is an aggressive playmaker off the dribble.”
Finally, TCU slots one spot ahead of Michigan. The previously-unranked Horned Frogs made a huge leap to No. 13, but got a couple NBA decisions that went in their favor as well.
“When we did our initial rankings, it looked as if Mike Miles and Chuck O’Bannon Jr. were both gone, Miles early to the NBA and O’Bannon given his senior status,” Borzello explained. “But then Miles changed course and announced he was returning to the Horned Frogs, while O’Bannon said he was taking advantage of his extra year of eligibility. Suddenly, [head coach] Jamie Dixon was bringing back his top six scorers from a team that won 21 games and took top-seeded Arizona to overtime before falling in the second round of the 2021 NCAA tournament.”
ESPN ‘way-too-early’ top 25 college basketball rankings
- North Carolina
- Houston
- Kentucky
- UCLA
- Creighton
- Arkansas
- Duke
- Kansas
- Baylor
- Villanova
- Auburn
- Texas
- TCU
- Michigan
- Indiana
- Gonzaga
- Arizona
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Dayton
- Virginia
- Miami
- Saint Louis
- Connecticut
- Xavier
