Different vibes. Two things jumped out as different from Beilein's teams. #1 was a concerted effort to get up the court on every possession. This was only effective when Simpson was pulling the strings in open court situations, able to get to the basket because he got an exploitable-cross match. Michigan did not crash the boards much, so guys were back and largely in good position as Michigan tried to push it. There weren't many opportunities to get over the top with an outlet pass and get an uncontested transition bucket. A few different transition opportunities looked good until Castleton or Johns swooped in to block the shot.

#2 was extended defensive pressure, which popped up later in the session. Michigan absolutely never did this under Beilein. At times in this practice Michigan denied point guards the ball well outside the three point line and forced the offense into secondary ball-handlers. They did not get back-cut while doing this but, yeah, they're going to get back-cut some as a cost of this approach. They'll also be more disruptive to opposing offenses.

There was also a brief stretch of 2-3 zone on D, which I doubt we see in games much but should probably be practiced so it can be practiced against.

gunner [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Context is important. Intrasquad scrimmages often have wildly mismatched teams that force guys into uncomfortable roles, so box-score spelunking is often not that useful. David DeJulius was piloting a team of backups against Zavier Simpson, so he ended up turning the ball over some and taking some heroball shots. I don't think that tendency will be nearly as pronounced when he's on the court with Simpson, and indeed it wasn't in the third period when they swapped around the teams so he was the 2 on Simpson's team.

Buuuuut: yeah, DDJ is going to be a guy who thrills and frustrates alternately. Given what we saw from the rest of the "maybe he can create shots" crew they're going to have to rely on him as at least a bench microwave type and possibly as the starting 2 while Franz is out. (And maybe after, depending on what happens around him.) DDJ is not shy, and he provides shooting. On a team with no proven creators other than X you're going to live with a certain number of stepback threes.

[After the JUMP: four guys for two spots, probably]

Speaking of context, Isaiah Livers. The most encouraging thing on the night was Isaiah Livers shedding his previous willingness to defer. Dude took a dribble handoff, took one dribble, and stepped back for a three between two defenders. This was an airball, but it's okay! He was Michigan's most efficient player last year and M needs him to amp up the usage. I remember several times moaning "shoooooooot" at him when he passed up an open look from three. He did not do so. If he got a look, it was going up.

It feels like he's ready to do that when given a sliver of opportunity. He did not demonstrate an increased proficiency at getting to the rim—he didn't try, really. He doesn't necessarily have to if he's going to get his usage up to 20%+. He just has to lose the conscience. So far, so good.

Left? Sure, let's try it. Simpson seemed like the same guy with one difference: more willingness to finish on the left side of the basket, whether that was with his right in some acrobatic, strange way, or with his left. He had a nice scoop layup with his left in transition and missed (but attempted!) a lefty hook. This was a light interlude last year…

Illinois assistant Jamall Walker comes out to inform his players that Zavier Simpson "cant go left" while Jon Teske is on the foul line. Simpson and Jordan Poole clearly hear this and laugh. Poole waves toward the Illinois bench, says, "I don't know who this coach is."

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) January 11, 2019

…but this ineffable, unknowable man wasn't wrong.

Simpson probably can't do much about his shooting deficiencies; he probably can get craftier at the rim and get his percentage up there.

Your starting four? Colin Castleton played the vast majority of his time at the four. That may be an artifact of Michigan's situation, with Johns limited coming off an ankle sprain and Wagner unavailable, but probably not. Castleton has the potential to be a Reuvers/Jaren Jackson type who is able to stay in front of most 4s while providing lethal help defense. He blocked a couple of shots in the practice session that were alpaca out of nowhere moments.

On offense he was a little more passive than I'd hoped, passing up two pretty clean pick and pop opportunities before draining an open three late. That might not be fate:

During their scrimmage last week @umichbball featured Juwan Howard’s emphasis on post presence. Jon Teske and Colin Castleton scored 11 baskets - 9 of them were in the paint. Big men that command respect in the post create space for three point shooters.

— Tim McCormick (@TimMcCormick40) October 28, 2019

He did take a couple of Dirk fadeaways, making the first to oohs and aahs.

Two bigs might be a way to generate some non-Simpson-initiated shots. While Michigan did ~none of this in the open practice, Matt D has repeatedly talked about Horns sets as ways for Michigan to generate offense; Teske is a good, if infrequently used, passer so various high-low actions might be a way to generate shots—or at least give Simpson some options other than than a pick and roll you can go under because it's behind the three point line. Think Minnesota last year with Oturu and Jordan Murphy, except add about nine inches of height between the two. Castleton's length and ability to get up should make him a good target for those short-range big to big passes. Pretty easy to slot Castleton into the dunker role here:

Or see Teske making this pass:

Now, you're probably saying "Minnesota was bad at offense," and this is true. But 52nd, which is where the Gopher O landed on Kenpom, is good enough to hit our relatively modest expectations—make the tourney, hopefully stay off the bubble—in year one if the defense sticks in the top ten, which it should. Also Michigan won't be playing Isaiah Washington 12 MPG.

The catch is that unless Michigan thinks it can get minutes out of Austin Davis or Columbia transfer Jaron Faulds—survey says no after observing both yesterday—Castleton is going to have to have to log a significant number of minutes at the 5. Teske finished the year with 70% of Michigan minutes. This was matched or exceeded by just 21 guys 6'10" or taller, with a couple of Big Ten comparables: Ethan Happ got 79% of Wisconsin minutes; Bruno Fernando got 75% of Maryland's. Teske is taller and heavier than both. I'd say Happ, who was the whole offense for Wisconsin, is a hard cap on how much Teske can be on the court, and that leaves 8-10 minutes for someone else, likely Castleton.

That means Castleton's probably limited to 20 minutes at the 4, so Michigan still needs Johns to come through no matter what happens with Castleton. Johns hit a 3 and had a couple of impressive blocks, one on Castleton when it looked for all the world like he'd gotten beat fronting him. Didn't initiate a ton of stuff himself.

big difference in Bajema's ability to not blow away in a strong wind [Campredon]

Bajema is a candidate. Conflicting preseason Bajema takes have ranged from certain redshirt to rotation guy. While I don't expect him to be much more than a perimeter gunner if he does play, this scrimmage session made me lean towards the latter. He's not big, but neither is he Caris-skinny (anymore) and hit a couple of confident threes. He did attack a couple closeouts. He got cut off on most of them and had to kick it back out to re-initiate.

I'm saying there's a chance. Two deep bench guys provided a reason or two for hope. Adrien Nunez was able to square up off the move and hit a three out of not much, seeming for an instant like he could be Purdue's Designated Meep-Meep Gunner.

Purdue finished #4 in AdjO last season running some of the most purposeful offensive actions in the country.

How Matt Painter used "Zoom" action to accentuate the shooting abilities of Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline:

(sound on ) pic.twitter.com/8p24LjHMfC

— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) October 9, 2019

All we're looking for is for Nunez to be a 10 MPG Just A Shooter hitting 40+% and if that's part of his arsenal that's a nice step towards that. He did suffer some DDJ blow-bys.

The second was Eli Brooks, who created a rare uncontested look at the rim for Austin Davis during the third period, when his team was "Eli Brooks and… guys." Shots were difficult to generate and a lot of Michigan's players were more passive than you'd hope for; Brooks was notable in his willingness to probe the defense, even hitting on a couple of tough contested drives. He had five or six assists or shoulda-coulda assists that got tanked by fouls or Davis missing bunnies. Talk from inside the program is that Brooks has always been better in practice than he is in games—otherwise he would not get playing time—so maybe that'll go away when the lights come on.

I'm saying there's a chance Brooks goes from a guy who makes you nervous every time the ball is in his hands to a solid rotation piece. If he can just carry over his play in the last ten or so games last year that'll be enough.

Revised minutes projection. Sure, what the hell:

PG: Simpson 35, Brooks/DDJ 5
SG: Wagner 25, Brooks/DDJ 10, Bajema/Nunez 5
SF: Livers 35, Bajema/Nunez 5
PF: Castleton 20, Johns 20
C: Teske 30, Castleton 10

The Wagner injury will give the four guys in a scrap at the 2 and 3 some extra room to figure out who sticks in and who falls out of the rotation.