The issue isn't if Michigan has a bona fide shot at winning the NCAA championship.
It's why.
The Wolverines were unranked in the preseason coaches poll. They were 25th in the Associated Press ranking.
Six Big Ten squads (Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State and Rutgers) were rated higher than Michigan.
However, the one-loss Wolverines are two games up on Illinois atop the conference standings, and have risen to third in both polls behind Gonzaga and Baylor, each undefeated.
Michigan coach Juwan Howard is receiving accolades for superior recruiting. Freshman center Hunter Dickinson is proof bigger, stronger and tougher still matters in this era of finesse basketball. Dickinson's impact can't be overstated.
Also, Michigan's 2021 recruiting class is considered the best in the nation.
But that's the future. Other than the obvious -- Dickinson and holdovers Franz Wagner and Isaiah Livers -- why are the Wolverines so good right now?
The answer lies in Howard and his staff's ability to assess their roster and use the transfer portal effectively.
Mike Smith, a graduate transfer from Columbia, has been an ideal point guard for Michigan. He is undersized. Despite a terrific high school career, he wasn't even acknowledged as a college recruit coming out of suburban Illinois. That's right. No stars.
He was a big scorer on a Columbia team that went 6-24 and lost its final 13 games.
It's an excellent example of talent assessment to understand how Smith could acclimate to a different role at a much higher level of competition.
Chaundee Brown, whose stellar play off the bench Sunday keyed Michigan's victory over Ohio State Sunday, was a different story. He was a high four-star recruit. He was rated 38th nationally, according to Rivals.com, considerably more highly-regarded than Michigan's top recruit that year, Jordan Poole (106th). Livers and Eli Brooks were three-stars.
Brown was a big 'get' for Danny Manning, the Wake Forest head coach. He and fellow 4-star Olivier Sarr, a 7-footer now at Kentucky, were supposed to be centerpieces for a resurgence of Demon Deacon basketball. Obviously, it didn't turn out that way. Manning was fired, opening the door for Brown to transfer and be eligible immediately for his senior season.
There are plenty of places Brown could start and post big numbers. But he has been an ideal fit coming off the bench for the Wolverines.
In this era, you either adjust to the transfer portal or your fortunes on the court likely die.
It's still extremely important to land highly-skilled freshman, for sure, but the transfer portal is what often puts teams over the top on a season-to-season basis.
Juwan Howard and Michigan used it brilliantly, with nuance and exceptional feel for how Smith and Brown would fit the program.
It is a huge reason why these Wolverines aren't merely good, but potentially great.
