Michigan Basketball: Franz Wagner Officially Signs With The Wolverines
Michigan basketball has received a huge boost for the 2019 season with the signing of Franz Wagner.
Wagner, former Wolverine Moritz Wagner's younger brother, will join the team this fall. He signed a Tender of Financial Aid to join the Wolverines for the 2019-20 academic year and joins Cole Bajema in the freshman class during Howard's first season.
"We are extremely excited to announce Franz has committed to join the University of the Michigan in the fall," Howard said in a release. "Franz gives us another talented guard with size who possesses a wonderful basketball IQ and a growing skillset that could be impactful for us right away."
Wagner visited on the same day head coach John Beilein announced he would be leaving U-M for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I am extremely excited about this opportunity," said Wagner. "I cannot wait to get on campus and meet everybody."
Wagner is scheduled to play for Germany in the upcoming 2019 U18 European Championship in Volos, Greece, July 27-Aug. 4 before arriving at Michigan.
Wagner played this year on a dual contract with Alba Berlin in the BBL and SSV lok Bernau Alba in ProB. In 35 games with six starts with Alba Berlin, Wagner helped the team to a runner-up finish in the BBL, primarily coming off the bench. He averaged 12.4 minutes per game, scoring 4.6 points and grabbing 1.3 rebounds per game. He shot 52.9 percent from the field and 39.6 percent on three-pointers.
Wagner finished Game 2 of the BBL finals with a perfect 6-for-6 performance from the field and a team-best 14 points. He was awarded the BBL Best Young Player Award, which goes to the league's most valuable player who is under age 22 and has German nationality.
He started five of his 22 games while playing with Alba Berlin in the Eurocup. He averaged 2.5 points and 1.2 rebounds while shooting 46.7 percent from the field, started six of nine games and averaged 16.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and two steals, shooting 50 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from long range.
Wagner split time with the Alba Berlin and Alba's Junior Team in 2017-18, helping the junior team finish third in the Munich Tournament. He was the second leading scorer with 16.5 points while adding 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.2 steals in the four tournament games. He also added two games with Alba Berlin, who finished as the runner-up in BBL play, playing 6.7 minutes off the bench with 2.2 points per game.
In his 2016-17 season, Wagner played with the Alba Junior Team at the Ciutat De L'Hospitalet Tournament and came off the bench to average 11.8 minutes, 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
Watch for more on this development in the hours to come ...
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