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Wolverine TV podcast: Borton and Crawford discuss Michigan's NBA Draft decisions

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•04/26/22•

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(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

TheWolverine.com’s John Borton is joined by guest Tom Crawford to discuss the decisions of Michigan basketball’s Hunter Dickinson, Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan and the outlook for next season.

The show began with the conversation revolving around Dickinson’s return to Michigan and why now was not the time to explore the NBA waters again.

“It’s huge and I think we all figured it was going to happen,” Crawford said. “Thankfully, it did happen. I was watching the NBA this weekend, and I immediately put my basketball passion into the NBA [after the college season]. In watching parts of all the games. I’m thinking, ‘Hunter’s not ready to fit into this nonsense.’ It’s a 94-foot game. He’s going to be a role player in the NBA when he does get there. But the sheer athleticism is not there for him to fit into that grind. It’s great that he is back and I’m sure the NIL was nice and sweet and enticing. He likes being around here, so it is all good.”

The other decisions

Diabate and Houstan declared for the draft, but will maintain their eligibility and can still return. They have until June 1 to do so.

Houstan, who was a five-star signee and No. 10 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, started every game at Michigan this season. He averaged 10.1 points, four rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Houstan shot 38.4% from the field with a 35.5% mark from three-point range. He came into the season as a potential NBA lottery pick but did not appear on draft boards at year’s end.

Moussa Diabate also declared for the draft on Monday and will follow the same plan. Center Hunter Dickinson announced Sunday that he would return to Michigan for his junior season. Dickinson was a force for Michigan in 2021-22, averaging 18.6 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Wolverines this season.

Diabate was Michigan’s other five-star addition in 2021 and started 26 of 32 games for the Wolverines. He averaged nine points and six rebounds per game while shooting 52.4% from the floor. Like Houstan, Diabate was also considered a potential lottery prospect. He is not present on prospect boards as of this posting.

Watch the full Michigan discussion below

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