Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Caleb Houstan is the crown jewel of Michigan men’s basketball’s 2021 recruiting class and a projected lottery pick before he even steps on campus. This week, he spoke to The Michigan Insider on a variety of topics, including what led him to choose Juwan Howard and the Wolverines.
Style of play and the family atmosphere were seemingly the two biggest factors in his recruitment.
I think just the style of play, for one, the style of play and the fit. Way back when I was going through the recruiting process and all that, I think Michigan was definitely a place where I could see myself fitting into the system in terms of style of play, the players that they have and the coaches, how they kind of run things and run their offense. As well as Coach Howard and the whole staff, being confident in them and that they’ll prepare me for the next level and coach me every day to get better in all aspects of the game. I think one of the big things was tha
The stockade. Possibly coming to a college basketball court near you: flop technicals.
Under the current rules, a player is warned after flopping for the first time in a game. According to a release from the NCAA, if the rule is approved by the NCAA playing rules oversight panel on June 3, players could get hit with a technical foul for falling to the court despite not being contacted after field goal attempts, dribblers who bob their heads to simulate being contacted and players who act like they were the recipient of contact despite not being touched. After two years of using warnings, we didn t feel like we were getting the results that we wanted, Tad Boyle, committee chair and head coach at Colorado, said in a statement. We are trying to get flopping out of our game. We re asking the officials to call them when they happen.
5 , #9-12 overall PF
There is consensus on Houstan as a 5-star prospect, within the 9 – 12 range overall. All four services list Caleb at 6’8, with ESPN reflecting an outdated weight of 175 pounds. While there aren’t any recent measurements to verify, he does look to be a legit 6’7 – 6’8 and likely in the 190-200 pound range.
Note – I haven’t taken up the task of individual player rankings in 2021 with the health crisis precluding live evaluations to a large degree. I need live evaluation opportunities against legit competition on a relatively level playing field in order to adequately rank hundreds of prospects. I am comfortable issuing a general star ranking/tiered structure as indicated above. In more simplistic terminology, I’d probably have Houstan in the 9 - 12 range overall pending more detailed live viewings.
In Search of the Dunk Game
Ace
May 12th, 2021 at 10:13 AM
I saved this mailbag question because it required some digging, though little did I realize just how much. The query is simple enough:
When is the last time that all 5 of Michigan s starters dunked in a single game? #mgomailbag
Michigan had a couple athletic point guards in the John Beilein era and tallied many glorious, dunk-filled blowouts. This should be easy. I ll still go year-by-year just in case something comes up; my shortcut is to use Bart Torvik s play-by-play data to check the number of dunks by the starting point guard(s), then investigate further if necessary.
Ace
May 10th, 2021 at 12:28 PM
Who s the Clutch Bucket-Getter?
Who s the crunch time bucket-getter? Seems that was one of the few things lacking this year. Or does everything still run through HD in the post? #mgomailbag
This one feels a lot easier now that Michigan picked up DeVante Jones. Not only did Jones have to function as Coastal Carolina s clutch playmaker for years, he did so while playing in two different roles first as the primary ballhandler, then playing more of an off-ball role last season.
Jones should be headed back to more of a true point guard role; his knack for scoring difficult buckets is still going to carry over. He s an excellent finisher around the rim, and while the opposition will be tougher at Michigan, he ll also have much more space to operate. He was a remarkably effective scorer inside the arc, especially when accounting for his ability to draw fouls and hit free throws at high rates, despite often driving into multiple defenders: