Portal Three: Not So Fast, My Friend

Until and unless the NBA gets interested, I'd be shocked if he went anywhere.Aday Mara isn't gone-gone; he'll keep his options open:Aday Mara suggests here that he'll declare for the draft while maintaining his college eligibility. Says he'll get ready (as many other prospects do) in LA, then make a decision based on team interest+range. https://t.co/uXu03qV0q6— FLOOR and CEILING (Wilko) (@wilkomcv) April 10, 2026Still would be a major upset if he didn't get the kind of guarantee that keeps him in the draft. Mara told Tony Garcia that he was looking for a top 20 guarantee to go. This seems likely; I haven't seen Mara outside the top 20 since the tourney started.Morez Johnson, on the other hand, seems much more likely to return. There was already an undercurrent of optimism from the insiders and this would seem to confirm that optimism:Source (Rez reposted this) pic.twitter.com/MOeCUVuczN— Ismat Mangla (@ismat) April 11, 2026Obviously not out of the woods yet but seems to be trending in a good direction.[After THE JUMP: Brandon McCoy gets his NBA Roddy on]Five star PG recruit Brandon McCoy participated in the Nike Hoop Summit:Seems like a mature dude. McCoy considerably impressed onlookers, who almost universally named him as a guy who had helped himself over the course of the week.Defending champs got a DAWG coming in 5 Michigan commit Brandon McCoy brought the energy at Nike Hoop Summit. pic.twitter.com/Mqp7O7MR48— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) April 10, 2026Also:My notes from a two-minute stretch of plays that happened consecutively: pic.twitter.com/TgsilwzhXN— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) April 9, 2026McCoy was 3/5 from the floor during the game and hit 4/4 free throws, with the final two sending the game to overtime. You can see why he was the 1 recruit in his class for a while: the combination of 6'5 and crazy long arms make him a freaky guy amongst freaks. Do I hear Roddy, but 70 at the rim ?CBS on JP Estrella:His development will be fascinating to watch. If he makes a leap next year that would be 6/6 bigs doing that under May.Swing And A MissLouisville has pirated Kansas transfer Flory Bidunga (and Jackson Shelstad), so Michigan will have to look a bit further down the board as they try to find some rim protection in a (presumably) post-Mara era.My assumption is that Michigan wants to have three starting bigs and that Estrella will rarely be out there as a 5. In the scenario where Johnson returns, he will play the 5 when Portal Big is on the bench, and Portal Big will be an obligate center who is a rim protector. Michigan might be scrambling a tad here because there's not an obvious fit who's been publicly associated with Michigan beyond the initial interest stage.Aiden Sherrell, the most obvious target due to his hometown and stated desire to play for Michigan growing up, visited Indiana and is apparently setting a visit to MSU. Michigan has not been linked to any other centers in any seriousness.Feels like the next update will be largely about M expanding its C board.The Other Major TargetWake Forest SF Juke Harris came, saw, and uhhhh left without committing. In the aftermath he met up with UNC coaches and was surreptitiously photographed at a TGI Friday's or something?Hopefully for UNC's sake that's a well-loved local hole in the wall.Harris then met with Tennessee's coaches. While Harris continuing to explore other schools isn't great, at least the Tennessee people think it's between Michigan and Tennessee while the UNC people think it's between Michigan and UNC. There are some silly nunbers being thrown around, but I assume that portal dollar figures and supposed offers are more or less always garbage.It looks like Harris is going to go through the draft process before committing to a school, which is a bit nerve-wracking. At least Michigan has the option of waiting here since the fallback options are basketball players instead of air.Bits And BobsND SF Jalen Haralson cut his list to Tennessee, OSU, and UNC.VT SF/PG(?) Neoklis Avdalas commits to UNC.Colorado PG Isaiah Johnson, who had drawn Michigan mention very early, commits to Texas. Log in or register to post comments 2026 basketball portal juke harris aiden sherrell flory bidunga jp estrella morez johnson aday mara nba draft