Basketball Recruiting Update: All eyes on two prospects, one of which may be trending up for U-M

We are going to start using Wednesdays as a weekly look around the college basketball recruiting landscape as it applies to the Michigan Wolverines. Allow us to jump right into it with a fair amount of storylines to cover.

The latest with Harrison Ingram and Efton Reid

Five-stars Harrison Ingram (forward) and Reid (center) are seemingly the top two prospects on Michigan’s board that head coach Juwan Howard and staff have a realistic shot at landing, so it should come as no surprise that fans have been asking the most for updates in their recruitments.

There was some chatter over the weekend that Michigan is trending in a positive direction with Ingram, which The Wolverine’s Chris Balas confirmed in a board post on Wednesday ($). Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers also seems to believe that a decision could be coming any time now.

Harrison Ingram could have his decision announcement at literally any point. He could have picked a school right now and we wouldn’t know. You take a look at his finalists and you see Michigan, Howard, North Carolina, Stanford, Purdue, and Harvard. His finalists vary from the HBCU route to the Ivy League route to the Big Ten, all the way to the Pac-12.

As of right now if I had to choose one or two programs, maybe even three that I think Ingram could land with I’d go with Purdue, Stanford, and Michigan. All three programs have done an outstanding job with him and as far as fit and surrounding pieces go it’s these three options that make the most sense.

Ingram, who recently moved into the top ten of 2021 prospects via the 247Sports Composite, has kept his options open and his cards hidden throughout his recruitment. It does not seem like he is dead-set on the one-and-done path and has placed a premium on academics wherever he goes.

We know that Michigan can stack up with just about anyone in that area, so we will have to wait and see what comes of this. Given the recent trend of prospects to HBCU institutions, that route has not been entirely ruled out, either.

The theory throughout has been that this is a battle that has Purdue and Stanford out in front, but Howard and his staff have positioned themselves nicely if a decision is to drop soon.

As far as Efton Reid goes, there is not much new to report on that front. One would expect a full-court press on him given center is this class’ biggest remaining need. He and Charles Bediako — who the Wolverines are also in on — will be teaming up to play at IMG Academy this year and neither player seems to be in a rush to make any type of decision. If Michigan cannot fill the center spot with one of those guys, they might be in a position to where they turn towards a grad transfer next offseason.

Five-star shooting guard Trevor Keels is another name that is brought up frequently and Michigan remains in the mix there, as well. He plays alongside 2022 point guard Dug McDaniel — who is one of Michigan’s top targets in the class — at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia. Might there wind up being some connections there? Time will tell.

Changes to the offer board

We keep a running offer board to track the prospects that Michigan has been in on throughout the 2021 cycle and we do have a handful of updates to share there, as well. The list has not grown, but there are a few names that can be removed from it.

• Earlier this week, five-star power forward and No. 9 overall player Michael Foster released his final eight potential landing spots, where the Wolverines were removed from consideration. He will choose from the NBA G League, going pro in either Germany, China or Australia, Grambling State, Western Illinois, Florida State and Georgia.
• Four-star small forward Brandon Weston committed to Seton Hall on Tuesday after having the Wolverines listed as one of his final schools.
• The 247Sports Composite was updated this week after new rankings were released, which moved some prospects up and down Michigan’s offer board. As far as the commits go, point guard Frankie Collins (No. 56 overall), shooting guard Kobe Bufkin (No. 66) and forward Will Tschetter (No. 150) saw their stock improve, giving the Wolverines four commits that all rank inside the top-150 in the nation. Guard/forward Isaiah Barnes stayed at No. 114 overall.

Q&A Portion

Given that this will be a weekly piece moving forward as the news cycle allows, we would love to include some of your questions in it. As always, they can be dropped in the comments below, sent in via Twitter or emailed to me at anthony.broome@sbnation.com.