The punches keep coming for Michigan basketball, as Juwan Howard and the Wolverines were left off the top list for yet another top prospect, this time from 2021 five-star point guard Kennedy Chandler.
Top 5️⃣ @genies pic.twitter.com/a61MFQEMry
— Kennedy Chandler (@KChandler_1) April 30, 2020
Chandler, a 6-foot-1, 160-pounder from Memphis, Tennessee, included Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee, Memphis and Kentucky in his final list of schools. Michigan offered him back in Aug. 2019, and he actually found his way to Ann Arbor in February for a visit before the pandemic really hit.
247Sports’ director of basketball scouting Jerry Meyer compares Chandler to Eric Bledsoe:
Plays with surprising strength and exceptional explosive athleticism at 6-1. Regularly gets to the rim. Draws fouls at a high rate. Tremendous passer on the move. Adequate three-point shooter but plenty room for improvement. Creative finisher off the dribble. Rebounds position and is a disruptive defender.
As for the Wolverines, it’s time to once again move on and focus on other recruits. Michigan has been going after top talent so far in the 2021 class, and so far has nothing to show for it. Just yesterday, five-star forward Paolo Banchero left Michigan off his top list, while other targets have committed elsewhere, like five-star guard Khristian Lander (Indiana), four-star guard Pierre Brooks (MSU).
Luckily for Howard, his options at guard are not thin. He is still going after in-state four star Jaden Akins. Other offers were recently sent out to four-star Jalen Warley, in-state four-star Kobe Bufkin, and Isaiah Barnes, who is currently unranked but holds offers from Kansas, Maryland, Illinois, TCU, Georgia, Wisconsin and more.
Just like with Banchero yesterday, it’s unfortunate the Wolverines are no longer in the running for one of the top players in the country, but it gives Howard and company an opportunity to focus on the other aforementioned kids in the class they can get commitments from.