Michigan basketball: Eli Brooks earns NBA G League Elite Camp invite, Caleb Houstan not listed
After five years with Michigan Wolverines basketball, guard Eli Brooks — the winningest player in program history — is taking his shot at the NBA.
Brooks is going through the pre-NBA Draft process, and has received an invite to the NBA G League Elite Camp, which will take place May 16 and 17 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
The event gives draft prospects an opportunity to display their skills in front of NBA and NBA G League scouts, coaches and front-office executives over the course of the camp by playing in five-on-five games and participating in strength and agility drills. Based on performance, select players from the NBA G League Elite Camp will be invited to participate in the NBA Draft Combine 2022, which will be held May 18-22 at the same venue.
Last season, Michigan saw center Hunter Dickinson and guard DeVante’ Jones be invited to the camp, before both decided to return to the college game and play with the Wolverines. Brooks, of course, doesn’t have that option this season, and will instead begin his professional career.
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The former three-star recruit according to the On3 Consensus was the only Michigan product among the 44 prospects invited to the camp this month. Sophomore-to-be guard/forward Caleb Houstan did not see his name appear, though the full list of NBA Combine invitees has not yet been released, and he could be in that group. His classmate, Michigan forward Moussa Diabate, has reportedly received a combine invitation.
Both Houstan and Diabate have retained their NCAA eligibility while testing the NBA Draft waters, and have until June 1 to make a final decision on staying in the draft or returning to Michigan.
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Brooks was a starter during his final three seasons at Michigan, and had his best campaign this past year. He scored over 1,000 career points and started more than 100 games while with the Maize and Blue. In his four NCAA Tournaments, Brooks and Michigan were never eliminated before the Sweet 16. He made a run to the national title game as a freshman, Sweet 16 as a sophomore and fifth-year senior and Elite Eight as a true senior (the event was canceled in 2020, his junior campaign).
Brooks shouldered more of a load than he ever had to in his Michigan career in 2022. Not only was he the Wolverines’ captain and top leader, Brooks also served as the Wolverines’ second-leading scorer (12.8 points per game) after slotting fourth on the team in points per game in 2021 and fifth in 2020.
Brooks did a little bit of everything all year, generating 0.933 PPP as a pick-and-roll ball handler (73rd percentile in the country) and shooting an adjusted 60.4 percent on catch-and-shoot jump shots (21st in the Big Ten, which made up over 35 percent of his looks.
And in the biggest of moments, Brooks reminded us all of how long he’s been at Michigan and how much experience he has, especially in the postseason. It was Brooks pouring 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field in Michigan’s thrilling round of 32 win over Tennessee, with 15 of those points coming in the game’s final 13 minutes.
