Michigan portal target Zyon Pullin is off the table
Michigan basketball received bad news earlier Monday when it was reported Tennessee transfer Olivier Nkamhoua had eliminated U-M from contention after a weekend visit. He’ll choose between West Virginia and Baylor instead. This evening, UC Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin also narrowed his list to two, and the Wolverines weren’t one.
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Pullin will decide between Florida and LSU in the near future.
Head coach Juwan Howard and his coaches have been working hard to fill the roster, and they’ve gotten pledges from a pair in Seton Hall transfer Tray Jackson and Alabama wing Nimari Burnett. North Carolina’s Caleb Love was a commitment for a while — that one, though, came down to academics, forcing his de-commitment. He ended up at Arizona.
Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves remains one of the big names out there should he not return to the Wildcats. Reeves, though, has yet to announce his plans, and there are others in contention, including Memphis. It would be hard to call Michigan a favorite here if he does decide to transfer.
Barring some late additions — and the Michigan coaches will continue to work on it — a lot of current Wolverines are going to have to step up given the Wolverines lost a lot of talent. Freshman Jett Howard and sophomore Kobe Bufkin are projected to be first round NBA Draft picks after declaring for the draft, while All-Big Ten center Hunter Dickinson left for Kansas after three years after reportedly receiving a large NIL guarantee.
In addition, sophomore wing Isaiah Barnes opted to hit the transfer portal, as well, leaving the Wolverines another spot to fill, while wing Joey Baker opted to start his pro career rather than apply for a sixth year.
All of them will have a chance to contribute immediately given the state of the roster, and those already on the team who didn’t play much last year — sophomore Youssef Khayat, for example — will also be asked to step up.
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“I would say this for all of them … I think everybody has to help,” associate head coach Phil Martelli said last month. “We’ll call it the way it is — if two guys are going to go in the draft and you have an All-Big Ten player that is not here, everybody has to help. To think that any one of them is going to do it … that’s not factual. That’s not going to happen.
“So, it has to be help across the board. Everybody has to do their part, and their part starts now. There has to be improvement.”
The Michigan coaches, meanwhile, have been doing their part to gain traction with recruits in the portal and the 2024 and ’25 classes. They’ve made progress, but NIL uncertainty has made it a tougher chore.
Martelli and the others on staff have no choice but to continue what they’ve been doing — building relationships and expecting that the brand and the accomplishments over the last several years will continue to draw talent to Michigan.
As of now, they still have some work to do.
