Another good game for Caleb Houstan in the FIBA U-19 vs USA
He finished with 23 points (led all scorers), 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 turnovers. He played nearly the entire game. Came out for a couple of minutes in the second quarter and that was it.
He was the best player on the floor for Canada with Zach Edey a close second. You could certainly argue Edey was Canada's best as he finished with 16 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks. The game just looks easy for Houstan. Never out of control and just looks so smooth in everything he does. Effortless. He didn't force things and let the offense come to him until the last few minutes when they were down big and running out of time. Game finished Canada 86 USA 92 but it wasn't as close as the score seems.
Some observations:
Zach Edey is gonna be a problem. There were stretches of the game he simply dominated at both ends. He sat the bench quite a bit so I think conditioning is an issue for him.
Charles Bediako has a lot of physical talent but he plays completely out of control and without skill. He has a lot of work to do.
Best player on the floor was a kid named Mike Miles. 6'1" guard for TCU. FAST and not afraid of finishing through contact. He was really impressive.
Chet Holmgren is so damn good. 12 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks. He changes the game on the defensive end.
A player for team USA named Kennedy Chandler had one of the worst landings on a dunk attempt I've ever seen. He poked the ball away from Ryan Nembhard for a breakaway dunk. He completely misjudged his jump and clanged the ball off the front of the rim. He then grabbed the rim and his feet kept going but he couldn't keep his grip. He ended up with his feet over his head and landed on his head. Don't know how to embed but here it is.
https://twitter.com/dogtheballer/status/1413901376510435332?s=20
Caleb Houstan is being asked to do way more for Canada than he will be at Michigan initially and has shown parts of his game that weren’t featured at montverde. I’m sure That’s a large part of his shooting “issues”, which I think is pretty much noise. Will be interesting how Purdue splits minutes at the 5 with Williams and Edey given they can’t be played together without exposing themselves to issues with defensive switches/spacing. For those who would like to overreact to single games and had been chalking up Ivey to be first team all American…0/3, 2 points in 9 minutes in their game against best team they played so far.
Edey is that 7’10” dude right?
No he’s 6’22”
I read he grew a couple inches, must be an 8 footer now. It will be weird that he may be a whole head taller than Hunter.
Holmgren will be so fun to watch in a couple years. Kid just oozes basketball IQ.
I just hope he punches Timme for us this year while he has a chance.
For all the hand wringers who are worrying about his 3 point shooting, at least calm yourself a minute by watching the highlights above. Notice the beautiful form as he hits the 3.
If Edey is gonna be a problem, then Dickinson and Diabate are gonna be solutions
+1 “insightful” in old school MGoBlog nomenclature
Weren't we thought of as having a good chance at landing chandler at one point?
Juwan and staff will employ strategies that will put Houston in positions to maximize his skillset. I don't think shooting is going to be Michigan's largest issue.
I wonder if Houstan's problem shooting is that he's not used to shooting in larger arenas yet. His shot looks pure and I've seen him drain 3's against good competition in high school.
#11 on Canada was irrationally overconfident and killed them today.
Houstan = young Klay Thompson. Raback it.
Can't wait to see this team in action again...
if 2-3 of the new guys can make a sold contribution, this team has the potential to go far... Right now, it seems like Jones will be a guy that will step up pretty much to replace Mike Smith.
After that, its hoping that a couple of things happen in the best scenario:
- Johns steps up an plays like he did following Livers' injury
- Houstan steps in to become a starter
However, with the depth of this team and this roster, there's lots of guys besides Jones, Johns and Houstan that can step up.
Jackson, Williams and Howard could have a sophomore epiphany. Diabate, Collins, Bufkins and Barnes and even Tshetter could also surprise... the nice thing is that not all of them need to all step up, but just need them to be contributors in some capacity. Seeing a minimum of 3 of the above have an impact wouldn't surprise me in the least
Now that we are in year 3, and getting to a point where there's almost complete roster turnover, the hope is that the system, approach and culture of this staff will be like second nature to this team.