Big Ten Basketball: Breaking down each program’s 2018 recruiting class

Michigan Wolverines

Class rankings: 2nd in Big Ten, 8th nationally

Commitments: Brandon Johns (65), Ignas Brazdeikis (36), David DeJulius (98), Colin Castleton (117), Adrien Nunez (291)

When people talk about the top programs in college basketball, very few mention the Michigan Wolverines. However, it is hard to dispute how well the program has performed in recent years. Head coach John Beilein is arguably the best in the business when it comes to preparing his teams for March. This past season, the team caught fire late and rode that to the national championship game before losing to Villanova.

Heading into 2018-19, expectations will be high. The losses of Muhammad-Ali Abdur Rahkman and Duncan Robinson to graduation along with Moritz Wagner to the NBA Draft will certainly hurt the team but there is plenty of returning talent. In addition, Coach Beilein is bringing in this elite recruiting class.

A five-member class is impressive in its own right. The fact that four of those five players rank in the top-150 nationally is even more so. Due to the losses of two dynamic forwards, there should be room in the rotation for Brandon Johns and Ignas Brazdeikis, the top two recruits in the class, both of which stand at 6’8″.

Center Colin Castleton will also come in with the opportunity to fill a valuable role as the backup to Jon Teske, who will be entering his junior season. The other two recruits, David DeJulius and Adrien Nunez, are both backcourt options that will be fighting for minutes in their first seasons. It will be hard to find significant playing time with Jordan Poole and Zavier Simpson coming back.