In early May, it was announced that Michigan point guard Frankie Collins had transferred to Arizona State.
The decision to do so came after only one year rocking the blue and gold in Ann Arbor and came as a shock to many Michigan fans. Collins was one of Juwan Howard’s recruits but it seems likely that his decision to leave was centered around playing time concerns after grad transfer DeVante’ Jones took the starting role this past season and Michigan added another grad transfer this offseason, Jaelin Llewellyn, seemingly with the intention to start him in 2022-23.
Coming out of high school, Collins was a highly-regarded point guard with a 4-star rating that garnered him fifteen Division 1 offers. Arizona State was one of the schools that targeted him straight out of high school along with other major programs like Auburn and Kansas.
At Michigan, Collins played well in limited minutes averaging only 11 per game. Importantly, he got playing time in nearly every game of the season, 31, which indicates that Howard saw enough in his freshman PG to get him in the lineup every week.
- 2.8 points per game
- 1.4 assists per game
- 1.7 rebounds per game
- 42.7% field goal percentage
Basketball fans are most likely to recognize Collins from his performance in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament when Michigan played Colorado State. Starting for an injured DeVante’ Jones, Collins had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists that helped seal what was a close game in the first half and sent the Wolverines to the Round of 32.
Now that Collins is at Arizona State, what can fans expect?
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The Arizona State men’s basketball team was, at times, atrociously bad on offense averaging just 65.4 points per game. Now, Bobby Hurley did a respectable job turning the season around halfway through, but it was not enough to secure a winning record largely because of the offensive woes that never completely went away.
By adding a young, talented point guard like Collins who at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds certainly has the size to be successful at this level, Hurley is hoping to jumpstart the 2022-23 offense.
Collins joins a backcourt with another young, 4-star PG in Austin Nunez fresh out of high school who, like Collins last season, will be looking to break into the starting lineup.
Luckily for both, Hurley’s three-guard system works to their benefit regarding playing time and you should expect to see rotations that incorporate returning players DJ Horne and Luther Muhammad alongside the new talent in Collins and Nunez.
Collins has the chance at Arizona State to play a lot of meaningful minutes which certainly seems like a major factor in his decision to play in Tempe. Hopefully, it also leads to an offensive resurgence at Arizona State which will be necessary to compete in the Pac-12.