It’s been a busy offseason for Michigan basketball, with some established players — such as Brandon Johns Jr. and Frankie Collins — moving on via transfer, two players — Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate — leaving via the NBA draft, and two players — Jaelin Llewellyn and Joey Baker — coming via transfer.
And it appears that the class is growing.
Enter Lebanese forward Youssef Khayat, who left Beirut to play in France in the European Limoges CSP program. In recent weeks, he was heavily courted by college basketball programs, and Michigan basketball, Xavier,
Wake Forest and Butler managed to be the finalists for the 6-foot-8 wing.
And on Sunday, he chose Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines. He announced the decision on YouTube.
“I’m an attacker. I can attack in every single way,” Khayat said of his game. “I can play transition offense, I can do everything on the court, basically. I can play defense, too. I pride myself on someone who plays defense. I like to play defense. I think that translates very well to the college level.”
There is scant information when it comes to scouting, but EuroHoops.net has a good breakdown of what he’s capable of and where he needs to improve. What’s more, here’s how the site expect him to fit in at the college level:
Khayat projects as an excellent two-way player at D-I level because of his defensive prowess and ability to score the ball within the flow of the game. With his size and athleticism, it’s hard to stop him in the open court and when finishing on the move and off the catch. He probably won’t be someone who scores 20-points night in and night out but he’s going to impact winning at a high major level. Khayat graduated high school this past summer in France but decided to stay one more year so he can receive his local status.
Khayat noted on the Field of 68 broadcast that NIL did play an impact in his decision, noting he wanted to play at a big-time school.
With Khayat in the fold, while the Wolverines still have a lot of question marks as to what they will roll out, it does give the maize and blue more options to potentially field yet another Big Ten contender.
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