Assuming anything in college basketball is a risky proposition. If all common assumptions came true,

well, March Madness wouldn't exactly be madness. Hunter Dickinson wouldn't be returning to Michigan

this season. Duncan Robinson wouldn't be an NBA player. Jordan Poole wouldn't hit that shot

against Houston the list goes on and on. And even if a certain assumption does ultimately prove to be correct,

that doesn't necessarily mean things were set in stone from the outset.

Case in point, Jet Howard's commitment to Michigan.

Sure, the process ended the way that most people expected, but as we'll learn today,

Jet wasn't always locked in on Michigan.

In fact, for a little while, he was pretty confident that he would attend Tennessee and not Michigan, which made for a

fun little storyline around the second round of the NCAA tournament. Ultimately, what swayed

Jet was a conversation that based on how Jet tells it was more son to father versus player

to potential coach. And it started with establishing that Joanne's support to Jet would always

be there no matter where he went to school. Then of course, Joanne provided his feedback on why

Michigan in his eyes was the best fit for Jet. But there was no forcing, no hard sales

pitch. It's a type of parent-to-child conversation that's frequent, but certainly challenging.

The constants in those types of chats, the support from the parent, and the freedom for the child to make their decision.

A child won't always make the decision that the parent ultimately wants, but empowering them

and informing them as best as they can, that's the best way to do it.

From there, it's on the child to make the call.

So yes, the assumption ended up being correct.

Jet made the decision to come to Michigan, but the

journey to get to that point was pretty darn interesting. Michigan most certainly had to earn

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