First of all, this is not to proclaim that D-Mo WILL go pro, only to state what the effects MIGHT BE IF HE DOES. This is an analytical approach to what next year might look like without D-Mo IF he chooses the NBA.
EFFECTS OF LOSING MARGINAL PGS
We all know the effects of losing average PGs. We lost three two years ago (Merritt, Lee, and Grady) and our offense went down in flames. Most noticably, our 3PT% went down. Our team chemistry seemed to go down the toilet too. So, three areas of effect: 3PT%, chemistry, and overall offense.
3PT%
Merritt was over 40% for his career, but shot only 51 3PTs.
Lee was at 36% his senior season, and shot 52 attempts that year.
The team total in 08-09 was 920 3PAs, and in 09-10: 760 3PAs.
Team clearly got fewer 3PAs the following year. The team also went down in shooting percentage. Correlation, but I believe this stems from causation. We lost ~100 attempts, which were falling at a 37% clip. That's about 100 points. Those points could have been made up by higher averages from other players, but we went from 67 to 64 PPG. That, over 33 games, makes 100 points of difference. So, in all those close games, the team lost points by missing the above average 3 point shooting of the PGs.
Luckily, this doesn't really matter in terms of D-Mos RAW shooting numbers. He doesn't shoot the three very well. But, he does set up the 3 for others very well.
I'll be back next time to look at the other aspects. (This took more time than I thought to write up...)
i really thought he was going to come back.
i will miss him alot and it couldve been win-win situation for both UMich and D-M if he comes back, but i think Trey Burke will do a great job replacing D-M.