Portal Four: Now With Hockey

He followed that up with a longer post titled Expect the long game for Juke Harris' decision, can Michigan afford to wait?, which I look at as a positive sign since Michigan can. They're obviously better with him but in the event Michigan doesn't pick up a starting 3 in the portal those minutes will go to some combination of Ricky Liburd, Oscar Goodman, and Quinn Costello. They'll get something decent out of one of those guys if not more.A rim protector, on the other hand: feels like that's mandatory, and difficult to get. I am baffled by Magoon Gwath committing to DePaul of all places, and feel like it's a bit ominous that Michigan doesn't seem to have a board at all past Harris. Dusty May has of course earned all the latitude in the world but this season is a bit different than the prior two when Michigan was getting mentioned for various players frequently. It's radio silence right now.Potential Reasons For Holding PatternWell, one: Michigan has a couple of bigs with NBA decisions that are looming.Another part of this may be uncertainty about who is eligible. There is a possibility the NCAA will adopt a new eligibility regime:An NCAA committee next week is expected to explore a new age-based standard for athlete eligibility NCAA athletes would have five full years of eligibility from the time of their 19th birthday or their high school graduation, whichever is earliest. No waiver requests, redshirts or exceptions will be permitted, except for a small group of outliers (those on maternity leave, military service or religious missions).These changes invariably grandfather in athletes so no one loses eligibility, but a whole swath of college basketball could suddenly get an extra year.[After THE JUMP: you can pay them, but YOU cannot]On top of that, this is the first year the clearinghouse is in full effect and no one really has any idea what's going to happen:“Last year you could get away with murder,” the high-major assistant said. “Truthfully, getting the money isn’t nearly as hard as, for lack of a better term, as laundering the money, cleaning the money.” With 2,000-plus names in the men’s basketball portal, the CSC is about to get flooded with deals again. Because schools cannot guarantee the deals that go through NIL Go will get approved, the first GM said these deals are “basically term sheets and promissory notes.”“It’s super, super, super tricky,” the first high-major assistant said. “Because what the CSC is doing is just denying it and then they request more information, more paperwork. More, more, more, more. They’re basically doing what these top legal firms do. They’re not saying no; they’re just drowning you in paperwork.”Apparently programs that have football are funneling about 4 million of the House money—the no-questions-asked pot of ~22 million that schools can offer as revenue sharing—to basketball, and now they have to ram 4-8 million more through this clearinghouse. Big East schools have money and no football (or UConn football, which is the same as having no football) so they can more or less shove whatever they have at players without worrying about it.Because schools do not know if their deals will pass muster, the numbers you hear being thrown about—5 million for Bidunga, etc—are even flimsier than they usually are. (Also there's a cottage industry of verified Twitter liars pushing ridiculous numbers that nobody takes seriously except Chris Balas.) Any deal a player signs now is largely notional: you get a chunk of our House money for sure and then we hope to give you more money if The Powers That Be let us.If that sounds like a recipe for the dread return of Under The Table: yup. It is faintly ridiculous that the House settlement has said that players can be paid significant amounts to play basketball by a school but cannot be paid significant amounts to play basketball by boosters. It's going to be fascinating if the clearinghouse rejects Flory Bidunga's NIL deal long after it's impossible for Bidunga to find one they will actually accept.I'd say that the clearinghouse is doomed and will shortly be scrapped but it's part of a court-imposed settlement so that probably means legislation or more lawsuits have to happen first, so if this thing has any teeth it's going to be largely counterproductive. I can't believe we're still doing this:“It’s not a matter of raising the money,” one high-major head coach said, “it’s getting the money into the pockets of the kids.”Anyway. Weird times continue.New Names, FuzzilyA couple of new names did pop up. Washington C Franck Kepnang hit the portal in search of his seventh season of college basketball; Michigan mentioned on his initial list. Kepnang hit an all-time high in minutes percentage this year at 46, largely because he cannot stay healthy. He's missed extended stretches of the last four years; at this point you cannot rely on him to be on the court consistently.When Kepnang is on the court he is an intimidating physical presence who largely fits into our Just An Offensive Lineman designation except for the fact that he's 6'11 instead of 6'8 and has a block rate to go with it. He was worth 10 points per 100 possessions to Washington a year ago. If he can stay healthy he looks like he'd be a good fit next to Johnson (hopefully) and Estrella but that is a big if.Michigan drew a mention with UConn C Eric Reibe but in the next sentence Jamie Shaw announced he's put in a pick for USC.Also: Hockeyguess who's back [Bill Rapai]Congratulations to the weather, which may have successfully headed off Michigan Hockey Summer by ripping the roof off of Yost Ice Arena. Michigan is expected to get back both Michael Hage and Nick Moldenhauer, with Hage's return officially announced. Michigan is also expected to get back Henry Mews.Never say never but at first blush the only guy on the roster other than the above who seems like a threat to leave early is North Dakota transfer Jayden Perron, a third-round pick of Carolina who had a breakout season at Michigan. Perron is a junior who could be a free agent if he returns to Michigan, and in these situations the NHL team generally tries pretty hard to sign the player. No news as of yet. Given the way things go when there's no news—and sometimes when there is seemingly good news—I'm not banking on his return.A couple of Michigan players did hit the portal, but they were depth defensemen Hunter Hady and Matthew Mania. Hady played in two games and Mania 15; Mania already committed to RIT for next year. That's a pretty big fall for a former 5th round pick.In addition to the good news about the current roster, Jeff Marek dropped this bombshell on twitter a few days ago:On the heels of Michael Hage deciding to go back to Michigan it sounds like Kitchener Ranger Cameron Reid (NSH) and Jack Nesbitt (PHI) of the Windsor Spitfires to join him.— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) April 13, 2026Both are first round picks. Nesbitt is a forward, Reid a defenseman. Michigan also just flipped PSU commitment Kieren Dervin. Dervin is a third round pick coming off 42 points in 53 games for Kingston. This one is a bit odd since PSU is losing huge chunks of its team and it's almost impossible to find a line configuration at Michigan where Dervin would get off the fourth line.Assuming Dervin is a commit for this year and that likely first round pick JP Hurlbert is coming in, Michigan has ~1 spot for a forward who can expect to see the ice most nights and four guys who are listed as commits by Chris Heisenberg. Those are:Nicholas Sima: undrafted 21 year old coming off 44 points in 66 OHL games.Justin Larose: undrafted 20 year old (21 on April 26th) coming off 88 points in 64 QMJHL games.Noah Kosick: draft-eligible 17 year old coming off 54 points in 69 WHL games. Ranked 55 by CSB, likely 3rd or 4th rounder.Cooper Dennis: draft eligible 18 year old coming off 74 points in 68 OHL games, ranked 202 by CSB.(Note that OHL points translate at a 30 higher clip than W/Q points.)I assume the older guys are coming in and Kosick and Dennis will spend another year in the CHL or bail for another program. Kosick is a legacy (Mark Kosick is his father), so should be safe. Dennis could look for greener pastures.Defense is in a similar boat. With Reid Michigan looks set in their top six and will be looking to add a couple depth guys. Heisenberg lists:Zachary Nyman: draft-eligible 18 year old, 12 points in 34 OHL games. Apparently suffered a major concussion midseason. Stock has dropped dramatically; at the time of his Michigan commitment was projected as a top 5 OHL draft pick and possible first rounder. Now looks likely to go undrafted. Pretty obviously a deferral candidate.Anthony Bongo: draft-eligible 18 year old, 30 points in 62 USHL games, seems unlikely to get drafted, deferral/decommit possibility.Brandt Harper: undrafted 19 year old (20 in July), 22 points in 57 OHL games. Seems to fit the profile of a guy you can bring in as a seventh defenseman.At this instant this looks like a potential lineup. Take all line designations with a grain of salt:FORWARDSHorcoff (1st) – Hage (1st) – Perron (3rd)Moldenhauer (3rd) – McKinney (2nd) – Spence (2nd)Valentini (2nd?) – Nesbitt (1st) – Hurlbert (1st?)Schifsky – Dervin (3rd) – LaroseEXTRAS: Muscutt, SimaDEFENSEMENReid (1st) – Mews (3rd)DRM – RobertsonBarnett (5th) – Schock (4th)EXTRAS: Harper, Gust, OrricoIvankovic looks set to return at goalie.If Perron goes I'd guess that Dennis comes in or they find a fourth line-ish transfer or late add.It goes without saying that this looks like one of the best teams in the country, with ten forwards drafted in the top three rounds. In a notable contrast to previous Michigan teams this set of players only has two guys in their D+1 years. The defense would have only one freshman, that a 19-year-old first round pick with 150+ OHL games under his belt.They seem like a good bet to get to yet another Frozen Four. The commentariat will now moan about results once Michigan gets there, which is understandable. It is what it is, as they say. Log in or register to post comments acs236 April 17th, 2026 at 2:59 PM ^ I find your lack of faith disturbing. Joined: 01/27/2009 MGoPoints: 1153 EastHuronAttic801 April 17th, 2026 at 3:49 PM ^ Just when I thought I was out..... They pull me back IN! Joined: 04/17/2026 MGoPoints: 1 Dunder April 17th, 2026 at 3:51 PM ^ Is their any chance this magical portal machine could mix dna between a super quick point guard and an oversized, tough in the corners defensemen and spit us out a starting linebacker? Joined: 09/04/2010 MGoPoints: 14299 2026 basketball portal 2026 hockey portal michael hage jayden perron juke harris flory bidunga