7. Olivier Nkamhoua – Tennessee Volunteers
2022-23 season stats: 10.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg
Recruiting battle: Michigan vs … professional route?
There are not a ton of true power forwards that are quality power conference players, which makes Nkamhoua such an interesting prospect. He’s a four-year player that started the last two years at Tennessee, averaging career-high numbers. Nkamhoua hasn’t been the greatest offensive player but had moments of stardom, including going for 27 points against both Texas and Duke.
When he entered the portal, Nkamhoua had a good amount of interest from fans and multiple teams. However, his recruitment has slowed down to a crawl, with just one program being consistently linked. It’s Michigan, who has already added a power forward this offseason in Tray Jackson, a bench player from Seton Hall coming back home.
But the Wolverines will take Nkahmoua, needing a replacement in the frontcourt for Hunter Dickinson. They’ve also added Caleb Love and with Dug McDaniel back, could create a formidable lineup. There have been teams such as Auburn and Arizona linked to the former Vol at one time but the only other option that comes up is that Nkahmoua simply goes pro.
He’s already a four-year senior and is an international player. With no realistic NBA Draft stock, it makes sense if he simply goes pro, especially if NIL isn’t valuable for him. It’s a rare recruiting battle where a team doesn’t have another program as competition but the Wolverines need to get the commitment, or risk having an embarrassing transfer saga.