D. J. Wilson
Introduction
DeVante Jaylen "D. J." Wilson (born February 19, 1996) is an American basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines who has completed his junior season for the 2016–17 team. He has entered his name for the 2017 NBA draft without declaring an agent.
Early life
At Capital Christian School in Sacramento, Wilson endured a fifth lumbar vertebra stress fracture, which sidelined him during the summer of 2012 and part of his junior season, which caused him to lose the attention of some recruiters. He spent three months in a back brace from his hips to his chest. By the middle of his junior season, he completed a 1-year 5-inch growth spurt that took him to a height of 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m). By June 2013, he had recovered enough to tally 22 points and 8 rebounds against Ivan Rabb at a California Golden Bears camp event at Haas Pavilion. Soon thereafter, Michigan and other schools began recruiting him. The defending 2013 national runner-up Wolverines hosted him (and Devin Booker) during the first weekend of October 2013 and he accepted Michigan over offers from USC, Gonzaga, Northwestern, and Harvard. Wilson signed his National Letter of Intent with Michigan on November 13, 2013, with the expectation that Jordan Morgan would graduate from the 2013–14 Wolverines team and both Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary would enter the 2014 NBA draft. At the time of his signing, he was believed to be the first Sacramento area player to ever sign with a Big Ten Conference school.
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. J. Wilson SF/PF |
Sacramento, CA | Capital Christian (CA) | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 6, 2013 | |
Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |
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| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 68, 14 (PF) Rivals: 86 ESPN: 41 (PF), 14 (CA) | ||||||
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College career
2014–15 season
Prior to the 2014–15 season, Wilson had surgery on his little finger, and he was sidelined during some of the offseason and the August 15 — 24 four-game exhibition tour of Italy. During the fifth game of the season for the 2014–15 team against Villanova in the 2014 Legends Classic, Wilson was injured when he was blocked and knocked down on a slam dunk attempt against Dylan Ennis. He was sidelined due to a sprained knee and eventually missed the remainder of the season. Ennis later transferred to play at Oregon.
2015–16 season
On December 19, 2015, Michigan defeated Youngstown State 105–46 with Wilson contributing 12 points on 5–6 shooting. The 59-point win was the second largest in school history. Although Wilson appeared in 26 games for the 2015–16 Wolverines, he only played as many as 10 minutes 5 times. Yet, he finished second on the team in blocked shots with 10, including two in a January 12, 2016 upset of (#3/#3) Maryland. It was Michigan's first win over a top-three nationally ranked opponent at Crisler Center since the 1997–98 team defeated No. 3 Duke, 81–73, on December 13, 1997.
2016–17 season
In the January 1 Big Ten conference opener against Iowa, Wilson posted a career-high 28 points and 14 rebounds in a 83–86 overtime loss. On February 19, Wilson posted a team-high 16 points, including a game-tying three point field goal, in an overtime 78–83 loss to Minnesota. On March 10, Michigan defeated (#12/#13) Purdue 74–70 in overtime during the quarterfinals of the 2017 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. Michigan was led by Wilson with 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and a game-high 26 points, which was the second highest single-game scoring performance of the tournament (trailing teammate Derrick Walton's 29-point performance the following day). Wilson averaged 15.3 points per game for Michigan's four games during the Big Ten Tournament, helping the 2016–17 Wolverines emerge as the champion. Wilson averaged 16 points, 3 blocks and 4.3 rebounds in three 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament games, helping Michigan reach the sweet sixteen round, where the team was eliminated by Ennis' 2016–17 Oregon Ducks. In the NCAA tournament wins against Oklahoma State and Louisville, Wilson went a combined 6-6 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds of play.
Following the 2017 NCAA Tournament, he began to appear in various mock draft projections for the 2017 NBA draft. On April 4, 2017, Sports Illustrated projected him as first round selection, and ESPN analyst Eamonn Brennan stated that his awaited decision to enter the draft "seems like a foregone conclusion". The local press that covers Michigan, made little mention of the possibility of Wilson departing, however, according to SB Nation's Anthony Broome. At the time, some early pollsters included the 2017–18 Wolverines among the expected preseason top 25 teams, while several pollsters omitted the team from their rankings projections. On April 10, both Wilson and teammate Moe Wagner declared for the draft, but did not hire agents, which gives them until May 24 to withdraw their names and retain their athletic eligibility to return to Michigan. Declaring early enables him to seek advice from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee by the April 14 application deadline, participate in workouts with NBA teams beginning April 25 and makes him eligible for an invitation to the May 9 — 14 NBA Draft Combine. 57 of the 78 players who declared for the 2016 NBA draft without hiring an agent withdrew their names. On April 30, 2017, Jeff Goodman of ESPN reported that he was invited to the NBA Draft Combine. During the week prior to the NBA Combine, Wilson injured his quadriceps during a workout with the San Antonio Spurs, relegating him to participation in physical measurements and interviews. Analysts were skeptical about Wilson's readiness for the 2017 draft.