2013-2014

Many of you probably also follow UMHoops.com.  They recently posted UM PG commit Derrick Walton's senior year highlights.  He's the favorite for Michigan POY.

http://www.umhoops.com/2013/03/07/derrick-walton-senior-highlights/

If you haven't watched this video yet - watch it.  It is hard to find a better highlight video for a true point guard. *

First, I hope Trey Burke comes back next year.  Second, if I were his father, I would tell him to get his butt to the NBA.  He is ready.  Assuming Trey is gone....

I think UM reloads with Derrick Walton - I'm really excited about Derrick Walton next year.  His game is amazing and in many ways closely resembles that of Trey Burke.  His vision is outstanding.  He not only finds the open man, but can find them in a lot of traffic and delivers the ball at the best location for the shooter.  His jump shot looks more than smooth - very Burke smooth.  Great handle on the ball.  Oneof the things I was most impressed with was his ability to play under control - something that Burke has really improved this year.  He has a very nice little bunny floater that Trey has utilized all year - it might be Trey's best shot this year.  His body control while driving to the basket is phenominal.

I love true point guards - those that really can control the game, have high assists, and make their teammates better.  We've had plenty of good point guards lately, none better than Trey Burke.  We might be getting spoiled, in fact, but I don't mind.  Looking at Derrick Walton, I feel that we will have another point guard who will be able to equally measure the quality we've been expecting from that position.  Assuming only Burke leaves, next year should be a great year for UM basketball:

1. Walton / Spike
2. THJ (B1G POY candidate) / Levert / Zac Irvin
3. Stauskas / Levert / Zac Irvin
4. GRIII / McGary
5. Morgan / McGary

Am I really talking about next year?  Better than watching that painful MSU / Wiscy game.  But I'm not bypassing this year.  This Sunday is the biggest regular season game we've had in decades.  

Go Blue.

*disclaimer: highlight tape viewed / lowlight tape not viewed.

A recurring theme I've heard put forward over the past month or two is that this is THE year for Michigan basketball. Go for broke, because after this year, Burke leaves, THJ leaves, and even Little Dog may leave. Beilein has pulled out the redshirts this year because it is a year to win it all.

I don't disagree that it is a year to win it all for Michigan basketball, and it's worth putting everything into it. However, I'm wondering if it's true that this is THE year. In that spirit, I thought we could take an early look at 2013 Michigan basketball and what the odds are that next year could be "The Year" too.

First off, lets set a prospective depth chart for 2013. This depth chart will assume that we lose the following players for 2013:

That makes our returning curren depth chart as follows:

To these players, Michigan is adding the following freshmen for 2013 (others may be added, but these are sure things):

Ed: No Hatch. He reclassified. Blame Bourbon

This Gives us a 2013 depth chart that looks something like the following:

First of all, lets just come out and say it. That's a damn good depth chart. A little light, but damn good. At any rate, to figure out where we're at for 2013, we should look at lost production and minutes first. Per ESPN:

I am going to discount the top five guys in that list because all put together they average less than 18 minutes per game. That's garbage time that you fill with those guys to reduce the chance of injury to your starters and primary backups and so that they get a chance to play.

PG - 33.7 MPG, 17.8 PPG, 7.2 APG

SG - 33.7 MPG, 16.2 PPG, 2.6 APG

F - 32.2 MPG, 12.1 PPG, 1.3 APG

I know that doesn't cover everything these guys are doing for the team, or even close to it. But if similar production can be put up, it can be assumed that production in other areas, defense, rebounding and general intangibles will be close.

The question is, between the improvement of Freshmen to Sophomore players and the addition of high rated freshemen, do we have it? There is no good math for just how players will perform when their minutes skyrocket (Spike?) or how freshmen will perform (Irvin?), because it varies so much. Therefore, I ask you. Do we have it?

http://www.uscho.com/2011/03/16/as-big-ten-prepares-to-announce-plan-cch...

tl:dr version: BTHC was a subject of discussion during B10 meetings in Indy. May release a statement as soon as Monday about their intentions of going through with it for 2013-2014. WCHA and CCHA also preparing plans for their contractions.