NCAA Basketball: Michigan and Duke set exhibition games, BC recruiting news

This edition of the Daily NCAA Basketball Musings will examine Michigan and Duke exhibition games as well as recruiting news surrounding Boston College, Miami, and Wichita State among other items.

Michigan to visit Wayne State in an exhibition game

The Michigan Wolverines, the defending Big Ten regular-season champions, will travel to Wayne State for an exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5. The game marks the commencement of Wayne State, which is located in downtown Detroit, is opening its 70,000-square-foot arena that reportedly cost $25 million and seats 3,000 fans.

"“I truly appreciate the willingness of Coach [Juwan] Howard and [athletic director] Warde [Manuel] to provide this opportunity to open our arena with the state’s premier Division 1 program,” Wayne State athletic director Rob Fournier said in a statement. “To me it underscores their genuine support for the City of Detroit and our community.”"

Michigan lost five key players from last year’s team that went 23-8 and reached the Elite Eight. The Wolverines do return Big Ten rookie of the year Hunter Dickinson and Eli Brooks. Howard also brought in the top recruiting class in the nation as well as former Coastal Carolina guard DeVante Jones.  Meanwhile, the Warriors (12-7) won DII’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) regular season outright.

Boston College makes a pair of 3-star recruits from the class of 2022 forward

The Boston College Eagles have recently made the top lists of Ryan Dunn and Justyn Fernandez, both are 3-star prospects from the class of 2022 and both are “reaping the awards” of a great summer performance.

Ryan Dunn, a 6-6 forward from Freeport (NY), announced his top-8 on Wednesday via Twitter, and included Georgetown, South Carolina, Maryland, Pitt, Oklahoma State, Virginia, and Minnesota along with the Eagles. Dunn is the younger brother of Justin Dunn, who pitched for BC before being selected in the first round of the MLB draft and is currently pitching for the Seattle Mariners.

Dunn is currently ranked as the No. 209 player in the country for the class of 2022, according to 247Sports Composite rankings. He holds 22 offers with all coming  July 5 and later. The Perkiomen School product will visit Minnesota, which was one of the first schools to offer, officially on Sept. 2.

Meanwhile, Fernandez saw his recruitment pick up following a strong spring grass-roots session with  DC Premier and a good run at the Pangos All-American Camp.

“Our second tournament at the Southern Jamfest I had a really good showing, and everything has changed since then,” Fernandez told 247Sports. “I play fast-paced, I’m a high-flyer, I run in transition, and on defense I try to get stops.”

The 6-5 wing has received all 28 of his offers after June 1 this year. He recently announced his top-10 list which included  Boston College, Florida, George Mason, Virginia Tech, Providence, Princeton, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Rhode Island, and Clemson.

Fernandez has put up decent numbers over the last two seasons at Richmond (Va.) Monacan where he averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.4 steals in 22 appearances.

Japanese guard Keisei Tominaga impresses Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg

Incoming Nebraska transfer Keisei Tominaga finally arrived on the Lincoln campus and he immediately impressed Cornhusker coach Fred Hoiberg with his shooting prowess. The 6-2 guard, from  Moriyama Nagoya Aichi, Japan, canned his first five 3-pointers after rolling into town following a 20-hour flight on Wednesday afternoon.

“Not bad,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg quipped in a tweet sharing the video.

Tominaga, who played for Japan’s 3×3 national team in the Olympics this summer, played his first two collegiate seasons a Ranger College where he connected on 198 3-pointers in the last two years, hitting at a 48 percent clip in that span. Last year, he earned second-team NJCAA All-America honors, averaging 16.3 points per game on 51% shooting, ranking ninth in 3-pointer per game (3.4/gm) and 19th in 3-point percentage (48.7). Tominga scored in double-figures on 21 occasions in 2020-21, which included a few 30-point performances.

Duke won’t play the reigning D-II national championship team

Duke will not play the reigning DII national champion this season, which is the second consecutive season since 2009 that this will not occur. Instead, the Blue Devils will play Villanova in a closed scrimmage on Oct. 23 in the Washington D.C. area and will host Winston-Salem State, a D-II program, in a public exhibition contest.

"“This is the first year we’re not playing the Division II national champion,” Mike Krzyzewski told reporters in a press conference Wednesday. “We felt like a scrimmage because we really needed to move along. This team hasn’t played. So we are going to have a scrimmage the third weekend of October, a closed scrimmage. And that will help us.”"

Duke has brought in six newcomers and is coming off a 13-11 campaign, which is the program’s fewest wins under the Hall of Fame coach since 1982-83. The Blue Devils have brought in their ninth straight consensus top-10 recruiting class, which includes transfers, Theo  John and Bates Jones along with incoming 5-star freshmen AJ Griffin, Paola Banchero, and Trevor Keels.

Other news

• Miami adds fifth newcomer to 2021-22 roster as the Hurricanes signed 4-star point guard Bensley Joseph on Wednesday. The 6-1 Arlington (Mass.) native chose Miami over Boston College, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, and others. He joins fellow incoming freshmen Nisine Poplar and Jackai Robinson along with transfers Jordan Miller (George Mason) and Charlie Miller (DePaul) in the Canes recruiting class.
• Wichita State signed 6-9 forward Isaac Abidde, from Albany Georgia, to fill out its 2021-22 roster on Wednesday. Abidde, who planned on spending a year at a prep school, visited the Shockers campus on Monday.

"“Isaac is super-athletic, shoots the three well, blocks shots, and can guard the one-through-four positions,” Wichita State head coach Isaac Brown said. “He’s also a great kid, who I think can help our program. To get a guy of his caliber, this late in the recruiting process is a major win for us.”"

• 2022 4-star athlete Tre Donaldson committed to Auburn to play both football and basketball on Thursday. The Florida native chose the Tigers over Florida State,
• 2022 5-star combo guard Cason Wallace (Richardson, TX) announced his three finalists and set visit dates. Wallace will visit Kentucky (Aug. 26), Texas (Sept. 4), and Tennessee (Sept. 17).

• Consensus 3+ star forward Chisom Okpara (Laporte, Ind.) recently disclosed his final six schools. Okpara is down to Penn State, Washington, Minnesota, Harvard, Pitt, and Northwestern, and is targeting a decision sometime next month.