Embrace the Future: Interview with Mark Donnal

Submitted by Raoul on

Mark Donnal often seems to be the forgotten man of the 2013 basketball recruiting class. And I can understand why people might be more excited about his more highly rated fellow signees—especially Derrick Walton Jr. given the likely departure of Trey Burke. Anyway, I thought there might be some interest in this Donnal interview with a local Toledo station. Evidently, one of the TV sportscasters down there has nicknamed him the "Big Fundamental"—which seems fitting for a Beilein recruit.

Also, congrats to him on recently surpassing the 1,000-point milestone for his high school career. He's averaging 20.1 points and 10 rebounds per game this season.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 18th, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^

He looks like he'll be a great fit in Michigan's offense and the sharpshooting big man that Beilein likes to have.  I'm really looking forward to him being a Wolverine. 

Blue boy johnson

January 18th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^

Depth is here. I never think a kid as good as Donnal is going to RS, but his case is the exception. Had Donnal came in last year on any of the preceding Beilein years, He would have played and contributed for sure, but with Morgan, Horford, McGary, Bielfeldt, and possibly/probably GRIII returning, I don't see how the kid plays. Part of the RS's for Morgan, Horford, and Bielfeldt were injury related, but they all occurred and make PT next season for Mark Donnal an iffy proposition.

BigJohn

January 18th, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^

Donnal is going to be tough to redshirt. I've seen him play a couple of times and there is not another player like him in Ann Arbor right now. He can be effective out to 22-23 feet, can play with his back to the basket. He also runs well and has good lift. Unless one of the other bigs improves their range I can see him getting some serious minutes at the 4, with GRIII sliding to the 3 if he sticks around. I can see him getting McGary type minutes, with more offensive production and less on the defensive end.

Blue boy johnson

January 18th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^

Bielfeldt might have the range you are talking about regarding the current Bigs on the team. Beilein has mentioned more than once about the need to get Bielfeldt more minutes, and one of the reasons Coach B mentioned was Max's ability to stretch the D more than his other Bigs. Max is the only Big to attempt a 3 this season (0-2). I remember the one against Bradley; Max took a real nice looking shot from the corner and looked comfortable taking it. It rimmed out. I should mention McLimans is (2-9) on 3's for the season, but he isn't going to be back next season.

With:

Morgan 5th year Senior

Horford 4th year Junior

Bielfeldt 3rd year Soph

McGary 21 year old Soph

Minutes for Donnal are going to be hard to come by. I think Donnal is good enough to contribute, but like Caris LeVert and his RS dilemma, the coaches are going have to weigh the alternatives and do what is best.