Michigan forward Olivier Nkamhoua discusses 'crazy,' rumor-filled transfer recruitment

Michigan Wolverines basketball was the presumed favorite to land former Tennessee forward Olivier Nkamhoua from mid-April to late May, before his transfer portal recruitment really heated up.

Nkamhoua declared for the 2023 NBA Draft but withdrew his name before the May 31 deadline, deciding to return to college. Michigan, West Virginia, Baylor and Kansas State all welcomed the 6-foot-9 forward to their campuses for visits.

“My recruitment was a little bit of a crazy process,” Nkamhoua explained. “My visits — two of them I took before the deadline, and then two I took after. And the whole time, I was still kind of figuring out the whole NBA thing. I really did wait until the last minute to make that decision. And then when it was time to focus on college, I did.”

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On June 5 at 3:05 p.m., On3 insider Joe Tipton reported that Nkamhoua was down to West Virginia and Baylor. That was a devastating blow for Michigan, which badly needed some star power after losing four starters from last year’s team to either the NBA or the transfer portal. Wolverines fans didn’t know where to turn.

Twenty seven hours and 11 minutes later, Tipton provided a positive update, that the Wolverines were “back in consideration” for Nkamhoua. Fellow insider Andrew Slater called it “more than consideration.” Less than a day later, Nkamhoua committed to Michigan.

There are plenty of twists and turns in recruiting, especially with the transfer portal, nowadays. A lot of those twists and turns are revealed to the public via rumors on social media, including from the anonymous (and very plugged in) Trilly Donovan.

The rise of NIL is a big reason why things can change so quickly, but TheWolverine.com sources have said that wasn’t a defining factor in Nkamhoua’s decision.

Nkamhoua doesn’t have an active Twitter account, but he saw a lot of the buzz surrounding his recruitment. Some of it confused him, considering he is adamant that he only spoke to his close inner circle and coaches at schools courting him.

“I didn’t really talk to anybody about it except people in my circle and schools directly,” Nkamhoua said. “I don’t even have Twitter, so I would open it up on my Safari sometimes and notice that there was a lot of stuff going around.”

The Michigan forward still doesn’t know where the leaks came from.

“There were some different conversations had during my recruitment process, but I only had them directly with schools,” Nkamhoua reiterated. “So anything that was going on, on Twitter … I wasn’t really paying too much attention to it. People would usually send them to me.

“But in the end, there were a couple days where I talked to coaches and I kinda told them I need more time to mull things over, and then I made my decision.”

Olivier Nkamhoua: Michigan has ‘great culture’

Just after the season ended, Michigan redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter told us that the Wolverines need to “reestablish” their culture after missing the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2015. Culture is a prominent buzzword repeated throughout all of sports, but Michigan head coach Juwan Howard — given his background with the Miami Heat — emphasizes it even more than most.

Being a new face, Nkamhoua believes Michigan does have a strong culture, and that could actually be what leads it back to prominence after a disappointing season that ended with a second round NIT loss.

“I can definitely respect them saying that the culture needs to be reestablished,” the Michigan forward began. “A lot of those guys are young, last year was their first year here and that’s all they know. But at the same time, Michigan does have great culture — and culture doesn’t just go away because of a bad year. Culture is something you build through time, and then it’s about how you bounce back, it’s about how you continue to keep doing things consistently, every year, every month, every week.

“It’s not something that can be built in a day, and it’s not something that’s just going to go away in a day or a year. One bad year doesn’t define a team and their culture. I feel like we have the chance to bring it back to what it’s known for, and understand that everybody has bad years.”