Colin Castleton Has A Game for the Gators
Colin Castleton had a game for the Florida Gators against LSU yesterday. He had 21 points and 6 rebounds in 19 minutes. Glad to see him progress. Wish he had stayed at Michigan and gotten the benefit of Juwan Howard's big-man instruction. However, he is from Florida, so I imagine that he is glad to be closer to home.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4397204/colin-castleton
January 3rd, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
Go Blue! Beat the Wildcats today!
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:06 AM ^
Obligatory: Those who stay......
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
Austin Stayvis.
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
And those who stay run the risk of getting plantar fasciitis. ?
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
Not sure that risk changes much depending on general sport program location.
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^
My thoughts about Castleton are that he was recruited by Bielien to play a typical Bielien big man role - to be a 5 out center that shoots threes like Mo Wagner. When Howard came in, he probably asked Colin to post up and be more of the 'traditional' center that Juwan himself played. I believe the personality, and player type/role differences, between the two are what led to his departure. So I'm not sure he would've had much impact here even if he had stayed. I mean, we saw Davis get more PT than him last year, and I don't think that was going to change this year.
I wish him well!
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:59 AM ^
Good point.
And good for him.
I always like to see U of Michigan people doing well, and most—but not all—who have contributed to Michigan.
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
Beilein. E before I.
January 3rd, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
E before I (equals "e") before E before I (equals "i")
January 3rd, 2021 at 2:30 PM ^
I use the bingo song to remember
EI EI Ohh
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:22 AM ^
I would agree with this. There had to be some reason Davis was getting a lot more playing time over Castleton despite the latter clearly having more skills. Usually, when CC did get in, he'd be very productive. There had to be some underlying issue between him and Howard that limited his court time. If so, he was correct in leaving. I hope he does very well at Florida.
January 3rd, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^
Maybe, but I watched the Florida game yesterday and he was definitely playing more of a traditional center role for Florida
January 3rd, 2021 at 7:22 PM ^
As did I, and I've also seen parts of other games. He's not playing the 5 in five out offense at least in what I saw. His skill set is tailor made for Howard's offense. Wish he'd have stayed, but we'll be fine nonetheless.
January 3rd, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
I also wish Castleton well, but I disagree with this take. Castleton took five 3-pointers total at Michigan and hasn’t taken any at Florida. He was not recruited as a shooter and has rarely shot from outside in his career. The two particularly nice games he had in 2018-2019 were primarily on pick-n-roll and midrange moves, where he showed good mobility and excellent footwork.
But in 2019-2020, when he showed a lot of promise as the backup 5 coming in, I remember him getting blown off the block and outhustled for rebounds on a regular basis, seemingly overmatched against other teams’ 5s (he did better against 4s). He also did not handle entry passes into the post very well and had more TOs than I expected. And his body language last year had that fish-out-of-water feel to it that I remember seeing a bit with Kam Chatman and saw a bit with Wagner earlier this year.
Hope he has a fine career, but that transfer worked out for everyone.
January 3rd, 2021 at 3:00 PM ^
I'm glad to see Castleton have success but he mostly looked like Bambi on ice here. I think he's just gone because he didn't see himself playing much and his coach changing I'm sure had a role in that.
I think Howard will use a stretch five when he gets one. Castleton hasn't shown range at either stop so he's not a good test case. Teske mostly got the same ball screen sets he did under Beilein and was a mirror image on threes - 2.1 attempts in 27.9 mpg in both his junior and senior years. Juwan just tried to make him able to post up smaller guys, too.
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:27 AM ^
He was smart to get out, although I like his potential, he probably would have been lucky to get 8 minutes a game, as he’d be behind Hunter, Austin, and competing with Brandon for time. It would have taken injury or Covid protocols to get more time. Brandon is getting 10-12 minutes a game.
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
I checked our other transfers:
David DeJulius, starting pg Cincinnati Bearcats 2-6:
29.8mpg, 9ppg, 4.1rpg, 4.3apg, 37.8fg%, 17.6 3fg%
Cole Bajema, Washington Huskies 1-7:
10.7mpg, 1.1ppg, 1.4rpg, 0apg, 27.3fg%, 0 3fg%
If David had stayed we probably don’t get Mike Smith. Mike’s numbers:
29.6mpg, 9.1ppg, 3.1rpg, 5.1 apg, 49fg%, 40 3fg%
so in the end it worked out for everyone, and we were able to get some great recruits with those freed scholarships.
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
January 3rd, 2021 at 1:39 PM ^
It is going to be interesting what Juwan does down the stretch of big games. Chaundee provides a ton on D and can on O. If we take out Smith we don’t have his great ability to handle the ball and run the offense, as we saw in the 2nd half vs Nebraska and Maryland. And I don’t think you want to take out Brooks and his D and experience.
January 3rd, 2021 at 3:18 PM ^
We saw quite a bit of all 3 guards on the court against Maryland. I wouldn't be surprised to see this at the end of some games; lots of college teams running out 3 guard lineups. If Franz & Livers are both cooking we likely wouldnt finish with the 3 guard lineup, but have we had a game yet this season where that has happened?
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
It looks like DDJ and Smith are a push. It would have been nice to have DDJ around as PG next year.
January 3rd, 2021 at 6:08 PM ^
I wouldn’t call Smith and DeJulius a push, not with a 49/40 shooting split and a 38/18 shooting split. That’s clearly advantage Smith.
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
Smith has actually helped the economy. The gyms where he plays have to hire an extra janitor to clean up his loose hairs from the floor.
January 3rd, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
Good for him!
Um, and raise your hand if you forgot about Colin Castleton.
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
Great to see Castleton putting it together and playing at true freshman Dickinson-type level!
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:02 AM ^
He had 23 points the game before this one. He's been playing well recently
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
Last couple of games i heard... ever since that terrible situation with Keyontae Johnson, as he has had to play more minutes.
I wish he had stuck it out here, however, i am happy to see him doing so well.
I watched a little of the Florida game, and he's turned into way more of a post threat, so good for him, didn't see him out on the perimeter in the 10 min I watched
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
He flashed decent post skills when given the opportunity at UM. He was a more instinctive and skilled post player than Jon Teske (and I was a big Jon Teske fan in pick and roll action). I recall seeing him use a nice up and under move a few times. And his footwork was typically very good. It's great to see him putting up some nice stat lines, although I hate that his increased playing time is probably directly related to Johnson's health status.
January 3rd, 2021 at 11:37 AM ^
agreed; not saying he was bad here - but he never went off (but for one game i think) - and that wasn't close to how good he looked yesterday.
the announcers made it sound like that even the Florida staff was surprised with how effective he has been... Granted the injury opened the door, but CC has made the most of his opportunity.
it would be cool if Michigan and Florida matched up in the tournament at some point
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
No worries, Labatts. Your comments were definitely not disparaging to Colin's tenure at UM. We're on the same page. He showed some intriguing skills in limited action in a UM uniform. He was recruited to play in JB's offense that rarely relied on a straight up post game, so I was pleasantly surprised to see some decent post moves emerge when he was given the opportunity. I truly hope his game blossoms at Florida. Like Dickinson, he showed a nice touch at the free throw line (although he's only hitting at 67% this year). So he could still be a stretch 5 candidate. But he hasn't attempted a 3 this year, so Florida is apparently using him in a more traditional 5 role. I haven't seen in him action yet, though, so I'm surmising this based on his stat lines!
January 3rd, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
Any update on k. Johnson?
January 3rd, 2021 at 2:04 PM ^
only thing i had heard was that he had been released from the hospital; no word on what exactly happened though, in terms of underlying conditions.
Hopefully, they continue to dig to figure out what it was and whether its something that was just a one time thing versus something that is more serious in nature...
the video is pretty scary - i am hoping they take their time and make sure they rule out everything before they let him play again.
January 3rd, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
ty. i had heard released from hospital but nothing beyond that. i share your concerns.
January 3rd, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
God, another one Harbaugh scared away.
January 3rd, 2021 at 1:42 PM ^
I like Colin, I just think the B1G was a bit too physical for him at his position. He is and should do much better in the SEC.
January 3rd, 2021 at 2:38 PM ^
One thing I didn't see coming with Coach Howard was this offensive efficiency. I was expecting high flying athletes and over powering opponents like a mini Kentucky. Now that still could happen but if you look who left and who he added it is crazy how much more efficient our roster is this year. People aren't hucking up contested shots. Just really able to weather the storms of crazy shooting (Nebraska and Maryland) and not even blink. Castleton could've been good but Davis is a very efficient offensive player and Hunter of course is off the charts.