Michigan basketball reaches out to Mountain West transfer
Michigan basketball’s season has been over for a little less than a week and its activity in the transfer portal has picked up as a result. The latest player to receive interest from head coach Juwan Howard and the Wolverines is Colorado State transfer guard John Tonje. On3’s Joe Tipton first reported U-M’s interest in the CSU transfer.
Tonje (6-5, 210) ranks as the No. 41 player available and a four-star transfer prospect, according to On3’s rankings. He started all 33 games for the 15-18 Rams in 2022-23, averaging 14.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 31 minutes per game. Tonje shot 47.3% from the field and 38.9% from three-point range on a career-high 157 attempts. He had 46 starts in 122 career games played in Fort Collins.
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Michigan has seen Tonje play in person when the Wolverines and Rams met in the Round of 64 in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. U-M took the game by a score of 75-63 with Tonje scoring 2 points on 1-of-9 shooting in 21 minutes played. During the season, Tonje played 30 games, starting 12 of them and averaged 9.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists in 25.3 minutes per game.
Tonje is an Omaha, Nebraska native and was an unranked prospect coming out of high school.
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Tonje is the third transfer portal player Michigan has had reported contact with this offseason, joining Wofford forward B.J. Mack and Pittsburgh center John Hugley IV. The Wolverines mack Mack’s top-10 earlier this week, but not visit has been set as of this posting. Other schools with Mack interest include LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Iowa, Butler, Xavier, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
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Michigan’s scholarship allotment is one player under the 13-man limit for the 2023-24 season and there could be some more movement this off-season. Sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin and freshman wing Jett Howard are considered 2023 NBA Draft prospects with Howard already announcing his declaration for the draft. Junior center Hunter Dickinson could have a decision to make, too. One player has transferred out in sophomore wing Isaiah Barnes, who left the program after the loss to Vanderbilt in the NIT.
Michigan has been active in the transfer portal under Howard, adding at least one player in each of the last three offseasons. Those players include Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown, DeVante’ Jones, Jaelin Llewellyn and Joey Baker. Llewellyn and Baker could potentially return for sixth seasons – and their second with Michigan – but that remains to be seen.
