BJ Mack - Confirmed Michigan BBall Portal Candidate
According to multiple sources, it seems we have our first player that Michigan and Coach Howard have reached out to in the transfer portal.
Player's name is BJ Mack, played for Wofford this past year:
- Stretch 4 (yes please!)
- 6'8, 245
- Averaged 16.6 ppg and 5.6 rpg this past season
- Shot 49% from the field & 33.5% from 3.
Overall, seems like he could be a pretty decent fit, in particular for our dire need at the 4 spot. Here's his recruiting profile: https://247sports.com/player/b-j-mack-87323/
What say you?
here for the Return of the Mack
Well, I tried to tell you so...
Oh my God
You lied to me
Yes, I tried
but I do, but I do, do, do
You know that he'd be back.
Grad transfer, I take it?
Great question. I assume so? But that Covid year stuff always throws me off.
Yes.
Mack did put up decent numbers against (limited) high-major competition, which is encouraging. He's definitely not a center (as he's listed at Wofford) but he shot 34% from 3 and was 47% against A+B teams. He's a talented guy who absolutely would be a rotation player. The defense would be my concern; Wofford 338th on defense and Mack doesn't strike me as a stopper.
Make sure Reed is on the court with him … he can play D
Yep, played well against LSU and Vandy. Was a blistering 43% from three last year and dropped to 34% when he upped the volume this year but very good FT shooter so I buy him as a high 30s three point shooter.
He does not appear to be a good defender to your point. Obviously is not anchoring a good defense and his block and steal rates are very low which at that level does not portend well for the Big Ten.
In any case, a slam dunk offensive upgrade over Tschetter and can't be worse defensively. I'm not sure "better than Will Tschetter" is saying much, but I think we can say that!
Yep.
And in defense of Tschetter he was a RS freshmen this year and maybe just needs some more seasoning and development; history is full of guys who figure it out later in their careers as they mature. Mack, for example, wasn't particularly good until he became an upperclassman.
Tschetter lacks the quickness to play D.
This kid is even slower. For me this kid is a hard pass!! Lacks the necessary athleticism we need.
If he hits some dagger 3’s, he can be Mack the Knife.
The house of pain is in effect, y'all
The house of pain is in effect
The house of pain is in effect, y'all
Anyone who stands up is Bertolt Brecht
Beyond setting up initial interest, I hope Howard waits until March Madness is over and other players step into portal before giving a scholarship to a grad transfer from a mid-major.
His conference is 23rd in RPI. I don’t think that’s even mid-major. The Ivy League was 15th and we’ve seen those guys take time to adjust.
One down 4 to go! Oh wait we dont have him yet.
Sure. Bring him. The 5.6 rebounds a game seems a bit light to me given his size, position, and the competition level. That's an area Michigan needs a lot of help in.
They're a slow paced team so raw numbers don't mean that much.
He had a 17.8 REB rate (ie he rebounded 18% of opponent misses) which is pretty good for a four. That said, he mostly played center last year so it's pretty meh for a center.
If he's a four on Michigan, which he certainly would be if Hunter comes back, he'll be an adequate rebounder and a huge upgrade over Tschetters abysmal 8.3% (the worst of all the rotation players!).
He has other suitors.
I love getting BJs
Means somebody's not returning. Currently at 13 scholarships...
I would expect several to be leaving
The interesting thing with that scholarship count is if we're assuming Llewelyn is coming back, they are already 1 over the scholarship limit before they even look at the portal.
Just like in football, with NIL does scholarship count really matter any more? The limiting factor is roster size. If five seconds of research is accurate, that's 15, though it looks like only 13 are active. Current 15 has 3 walk ons.
Unless you're going to tell certain players that they need to cover tuition, room and board, etc out of their NIL money, scholarship count still matters.
I know of at least two guys on the team that the coach might convince to not cover on scholarship. j/k not sure if that's even allowed at this point.
But if you give them NIL money specifically for that purpose, then it doesn't matter. ie say we'll give you 50k additional per year to play without a scholarship on top of whatever else you might make.
All the same to them.
Nope it don't. Football will have quite a few NIL scholarships.
not sure we can count on him. i mean, when was his acl surgery, late dec early jan? is he going to be fully recovered by the start of next year? given that risk and his performance, i would move on and grab another portal PG. and it needs to be a true point guard, not a tweener.
The counter to that is he wasn't a guy the depended on plus athleticism anyway. Can't lose much when you don't start with much.
He's a highly skilled player though, and that shouldn't change.
But yeah, this wouldn't be a huge splash. More of a depth piece like Baker was.
Looks decent. Big body, at least!
Not gonna lie, that 3-point shot looks REAL smooth....
Looks okay, but boy is he absolutely glued to the floor. Even in the context of a highlight video there isn't a single above-the-rim play.
Yep, he's a classic all-conference mid-major player. Very little athleticism. His rebounding rates are meh and his block and steal rates are pretty terrible. Very much a below the rim guy. But looks highly skilled. Crafty.
Seems very similar to Brandon Johns Jr.
I'd say the complete opposite. John Jr. has P5 athleticism, he just didn't develop the skill or confidence and quite frankly kind of got unlucky that a five star second rounder got recruited over him after what was a really promising year in 2021.
So yeah, they're both very good mid-major bigs but they get there in opposite ways and Johns is more of a defender / rim protector with his athleticism, whereas this guy is like the 40 year old at the Y that scores at will on you despite not jumping and you don't know how he does it.
Nice pickup possibility. This whole roster needs an overall. I am hoping that comes through a lot more positive attrition than guys going pro.
I think they've been going for the "blue collar/lunch pail" vibe, but "country strong" could work.
This is a big kid.
he looks like what Twill should be...decent contributor with decent offensive game that has average athleticism...
He's nothing like what Twill should be. He's an excellent offensive player with below average athleticism. He's like a mid-major Hunter.
Wut?
A 6'8 dude who plays the 4 should be what we are getting out of Twill...how the heck can you compare that dude to a 7fter center that is all big ten and started for 3 years averaging double doubles every year?
He plays center for Wofford. And he was first team all-conference. And he did it despite meh defense because he's highly skilled and a great offensive player.
Like I said, very much a mid-major version of Hunter.
Which means he'd be well below average athleticism in the big ten. So nothing like what you suggest.
Could he be an upgrade at the four? Perhaps. He's much more like Tschetter in style of play. A rich-mans Tschetter it looks like. Since he's very much a below the rim, big bodied player. He's going to struggle mightily with any perimeter/wing defense which is a problem for 4s in the big ten. Twill is actually competent in that area.
I love me some BJ!
