Austin Davis' Return Creates A Complicated Scholarship Situation For 2021

With Juwan Howard announcing that Austin Davis will return for a fifth year, Michigan is committed to 14 scholarship players next season.

The news Wednesday that Austin Davis will return for a fifth year was obviously great for the Onsted, Mich. native, and very deserving - Davis is averaging career highs in minutes played (10.7 per game) and points (4.9 per game) this season, and his perseverance and individual development epitomizes what a program would like to see from all of its players. 

However, Davis' return complicates a scholarship situation for the 2020-21 season that is presently one over the 13-man limit, with five-star Josh Christopher expected to commit to the Wolverines still. 

Position	Freshman	Sophomore	Junior 	Senior 
1's	Zeb Jackson		David DeJulius
2s & 3's	Jace Howard, Terrance Williams	Cole Bajema, Franz Wager	Adrien Nunez	Eli Brooks, Isaiah Livers
4's & 5's	Hunter Dickinson, Isaiah Todd		Brandon Johns, Colin Castleton	Austin Davis
Totals	5	2	4	3 (14 total)

Attrition happens, and most likely this whole thing will sort itself out. Over the past eight seasons, Michigan has seen 21 players leave school for either the NBA or to transfer.

Adrien Nunez and Colin Castleton are two obvious candidates who could transfer as they play little and should see fewer opportunities going forward. That didn't always seem to be the case with Castleton, but this Davis' news almost assuredly posits that Michigan has bigger plans for Davis' future than it does for Castleton's. 

Incoming freshman Isaiah Todd could also skip college altogether, as has been rumored, to play overseas before entering the 2021 NBA Draft, though he has made a number of intimations on social media over recent weeks that he will be playing at least one season in the maize and blue. 

Junior Isaiah Livers could decide to turn pro and there could even be a surprise departure, like Cole Bajema, who has played in just eight games this season as a true freshman. Jace Howard, Juwan's son, meanwhile doesn't necessarily need to be on scholarship, though there have been no indications yet he will be a walk-on. 

Considering all the possible roster defections, it was smart of Howard to bring back a player he knows he can count on for 10-15 minutes off the bench, and knows can bring instant offense - among the Wolverines' eight-man rotation, Davis ranks first in points per 40 minutes at 18.4. 

“I just know that Austin Davis will be a part of next season," said Howard, who wouldn't get into details about U-M's roster configuration in 2020-21. "That’s all I can tell you right here. That’s all I’m comfortable saying at this moment.”

Davis probably won't evolve to a more significant contributor than 10-15 minutes unless he drastically improves his defensive footwork, overall quickness and stamina, but he's a more proven commodity than a number of the players - Nunez, Castleton, Todd and Bajema - that could forego the 2020-21 campaign in Ann Arbor. 

Sure, there's a bit of a gamble bringing him back (especially with wanting Christopher too), with 13 other scholarship commitments, but that's today's game, where the best programs in college hoops are overstuffing their rosters because they know spots will become available, and they simply cannot afford to go into any year without a a full complement of scholarship players competing for minutes.