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The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including the latest on Braiden McGregor, Franz Wagner and much, much more …
Starting with basketball and recruiting today …
Losing William & Mary grad transfer Justin Pierce to North Carolina was disappointing, especially after the outstanding visit Pierce had at Michigan the previous week. Our source could not have been stronger when we released the post-visit update, and if you’ll recall, we said the one thing that could have swayed Pierce was the North Carolina mystique.
Well … it worked. Pierce had a photo shoot in the Michael Jordan jersey, etc., and was blown away by the mystique. He was extremely torn following the UNC visit — yes, 50/50 — and knew that night he was going to be a Tar Heel.
He was the priority along with German Franz Wagner, and the Wolverines still have some work to do there. Wagner is genuinely torn, however. Our German source told us a few days ago that Wagner’s pro team, Alba Berlin, has made it really tough for those thinking about leaving, and not due to pressure, etc. They’re sweetening the pot much more than they did for Franz’ brother Mortiz, who played three years at Michigan before going to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round … financially and with guarantees.
As we’ve mentioned, the younger Wagner is more introverted than his brother, so that also plays against him leaving home. But there are some questions about the direction of the Alba Berlin program going forward (nothing sinister) that play into Michigan’s favor.
We won’t predict Wagner, a 2019 recruit, will be here in the fall, but we certainly aren’t saying he won’t.
So the Michigan coaches will continue to recruit, and that includes potential 2019 late bloomers and grad transfers. We mentioned Javien Cumberland yesterday – he’s an Oakland University grad transfer, shooting guard who shot nearly 40 percent from three-point range last year and recently visited Oakland. Texas Corpus Christi’s Kareem South has also been contacted. He was solid against high major opponents last year, including 18 points (four of five triples) with six rebounds, five assists and four steals and scored 18 with four triples the previous year against Georgia.
U-M coaches will continue to recruit Ignas Brazdeikis to stay, of course, though a decent NBA Combine would all but seal the deal. Michigan can (and, strong opinion, will) try to sell him on the fact that he can be the featured shooting guard in the offense and, given past history of Beilein recruits, all but assure himself a mid-first round pick at worst next year if all goes according to plan.
