Juwan Howard Talks Transfers Chaundee Brown, Nojel Eastern
Two transfers have announced their intentions to play at Michigan next year, and while neither has been made official yet by the Athletic Department, head coach Juwan Howard spoke about both Wednesday night.
Wake Forest’s Chaundee Brown, a 12.1 ppg scorer last season, will apply for a waiver to try to play immediately in 2020. If not, he’ll sit a year to play one.
“Chaundee, I had a chance to get to know him, know his family during the time we’ve been communicating on the phohe. A lot of our interaction has been Zoom calls,” Howard said. “But he’s a great kid, understands what he wants in life. He’s also a great student in the classroom, which we appreciate. His character … he’s a great kid, comes from a good family, his mom and dad raised him right.
“He’s a tough-nosed competitor, played in the ACC, has been a three-year starter since his freshman year. He played for a great coach in Danny Manning. I know Danny a little bit. We were teammates before in Dallas. Chaundee has the habits of what it takes to be a winner. If all goes well, whenever the NCAA decides to allow him to play whether it’s this year or next year, we’re going to be happy to have him be a part of our team because he provides something that’s special. A) he’s a competitor, B) he’s a guy who really wants to win, do whatever it takes to win.”
He’s also a “total team guy,” Howard added.
“That’s something that speaks a lot to his character, something I really admired about Chaundee just hearing from Danny,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it; the staff is looking forward to working with him. His teammates sure going to welcome him and vice versa.”
There have been questions as to whether or not Purdue transfer Nojel Eastern, a defensive specialist, will apply for a waiver, stay in the draft or sit out a year. He and his family have not commented on the future besides the twitter announcement.
Howard has seen enough of him to know what he did for Purdue, however.
“Having to game plan for a guy like Nojel, I was always scratching my head wondering,” he said. “He’s a matchup problem for any opponent with his strength, his athleticism, his skillset, his IQ on the floor. He’s another guy that played the game the right way … blue collar type approach when he goes out and competes.
“He has a lot to prove as a player like they all do, but he wants to get better. He’s really big on hey coach, from his own mouth … ‘I want to improve. There are lots of areas of my game I feel I can work on, I’m willing to put in the work.’
“I love guys who are honest with themselves. He’s a guy that’s a competitor and a worker. With that type of DNA, I think that’s special in a player.”
It’s a necessity in Chicago, where Eastern is from, Howard said from experience.
As of now, Howard isn’t certain when he’ll see his transfers or any of his other players.
“It’s tough to really understand and navigate how we can plan for what we’ve been told of the possibility of having a season,” he said. “First we have to see if there is going to be a season.”
They’ll continue to follow the doctors’ and experts’ guidelines, he added.
"For right now, I don’t have any information to give you and say what’s the plan for the future until we find out more and more information,” he said.
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