Khristian Lander in portal
UM was in on him and he could go a long way toward easing the transition to the next class
https://theathletic.com/news/khristian-lander-becomes-latest-indiana-player-to-enter-transfer-portal/iPjy9Jh8DtSg
I’d rather have Noah Locke from Florida. He was once one of our finalist recruits as well and he’s a career 40.5% three point shooter and has some size to him at 6’3 203lbs. He’s from Maryland so I’d enjoy taking another from Turdgeon’s area also.
There are literally going to be over 1,000 players in the portal. I'm not exaggerating.
UM has an absolute top-tier, large class coming in, and a small group of really good to potentially great players who will be sticking around. I am sure Juwan & co will be *extremely* selective and sure that anyone they add is like Smith or Brown and brings maturity and talent that fits with the family culture.
How many guys are going to stay? NCAA is going to adjust this years scholarship numbers (based on the Covid rule)
Rutgers also has Myles Johnson and Jacob Young in the portal. That makes Indiana, Rutgers and Penn State already decimated by transfers. Miller Kopp from Northwestern. MSU was counting on Boakye reclassifying as well. With graduations and players leaving for the draft, the Bigten will look totally different next year.
Thought of the wrong guy
Lander lives next to my brother. Wanted to come to UM before the class got “full” with them assuming JC was coming. He grew up a UM fan. Not sure U of M is going to be the choice this time around. He did absolutely nothing at IU. It was sad to see him and Leal both contribute very minimal stats to IU this year. Leal was a top 50 guy I believe and Indiana Mr. Basketball.
Good luck to him, but no thanks. We have bigger fish to fry.
This transfer portal has become quite the deal. It seems as though the NCAA has swung from one extreme to the other. One could construct a very solid team from the portal options. With the success Juwan has demonstrated here, I would think that Michigan is a "destination point" for anyone in the portal.
Lander, contrary to all the negs he is getting here, demonstrated good potential against Michigan. The fact is, he would make a hell of a duo of PGs-along with Collins. While I believe Bufkin would, in fact, be one of those solid CGs (that seem to be distressing this board) I would prefer to have a step up in the ball-handling department available. I do not have any doubt that Khristian can break a press and break down a half-court defense off the dribble-and this is critical. Juwan and his staff have a nice dilemma here-and I am most pleased to be able to fully trust their decisions in this regard.