Predicting who stays/goes for Michigan basketball in 2021-22

Which Michigan basketball players could opt to remain in Ann Arbor or go pro given that everyone got a free year? Here are our predictions.

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While Michigan basketball seemed destined to go to the Final Four in 2020-21 after winning the Big Ten regular-season championship and dispatching some solid teams in the NCAA Tournament, such as LSU and Florida State, 11-seed UCLA upended the Wolverines in a defensive struggle on Tuesday night.

The future is bright in Ann Arbor under head coach Juwan Howard, especially as the maize and blue have the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in 2021, with two five-stars (Moussa Diabaté and Caleb Houstan), three four-stars (Frankie Collins, Isaiah Barnes and Kobe Bufkin), and three-star Will Tschetter. In normal years, especially with six incoming signees, you’d expect natural attrition as well as perhaps some transfers. But, the NCAA has provided an exception to the past year due to COVID-19, meaning anyone can return, even if they’ve played for a full four years.

With that in mind, here’s how we anticipate the players on the current roster to lean in terms of the decision to come back, go pro, or look for options elsewhere. Note that these are mere predictions, with no inside knowledge as to what any of the mentioned players will actually do.

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