Grad Transfer Cumberland picks Cincy
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I'm not going as far as to say it's likely the NIT next season but I'm starting to prepare myself for a transition year & taking a few steps back. If we can at least make the tournament, I'll be content.
If anything I feel for our upperclassmen. They've put in all of this work and this could be the most challenging season of their careers. Not the way it should be but it's our new reality.
I'm hopeful we land one of Franz and Wilson and likely take a transfer that has to sit a year and we bank the 3rd scholarship. I honestly think that's likely the best case scenario at this point.
What would a starting lineup even look like right now? 3PG's, Livers & Teske?
I think Livers is going to be forced to start at the 3. Hopefully, Johns develops nice at 4 and DDJ can get by at the 2. We're going to have some weird lineups out there. Teske and Castleton will see the court at the same time.
Then Johns and Castleton play decent but don't even make All big ten 3rd team and go pro ala DJ Wilson. BPONE is truly B.
At least they will have nice GLeague careers!
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Seems likely that they’ll only have 10 scholarship guys with only a couple of options left neither being very likely. 10 scholarship guys with 3 of them being exclusively Centers and 2 Points. Next year could be a struggle just to make the post season
which then puts immense pressure on the 2020 class being great... which could be impacted if people (those not following UM closely) interpret the "down" year as a sign of howard's coaching prowess.
its been said here/other places, next year's team was gonna take a step back from this year, regardless of coach, but to lose a top 50 recruit and strike out on all remaining options makes it that much tougher
just a bit of bad circumstances
Remember back in Jan, Feb, Mar. when we thought Poole and Iggy would be back, Wilson was signed and Wagner was still a possibility, and JB was gonna be here till he retired. I was so excited for next year and a Top5 team hunting for B1G and NC titles. Those were good times
Now all those guys are gone and we’re just hoping to make the tournament. It’s so sad ?
I thought he did this like last week? Maybe it was someone else I was thinking of
His cousin (or brother?) who has a similar first name was in the draft but decided to withdraw and return to Cinci last week. As they say "It was all over but the shouting" at that point..possibly even if JB was still coach.
I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll see some major leaps from our sophomores. They have a fresh slate with Coach Howard. Just knock down a few buckets in the first few games and confidence will hopefully soar.
Castleton for one seemed to really gain ground towards the end of the season. If Camp Sanderson can add some muscle on his frame could have a huge upside.
There is no reason Johns and Dejulius can’t take a step forward. Wilson and/or Wagner would be so good to get right now.
I thought Johns looked good late... can't say the same for DDJ, and am concerned here. I think he is overrated and while Brooks is underrated.
I want to see Brooks breakout so bad. But if he is our underrated hope yeesh. Even his best game is like D Walt during his injured stretch. To be honest it all revolves around shooting. If Brooks, Simpson, Teske, Livers, and the young bucks shoot well we have a chance.
Might want to name our assistants soon officially
I think everyone needs to accept that next year is a Year 0, and that's the deal. Michigan isn't the type of program that just reloads and carries on like nothing has changed, and even during Beilein's heyday they weren't some juggernaut that could always weather a lot of departures. Next year was going to be a bit of a comedown compared to the past couple seasons even with Beilein, and with all the transitions I'd be pretty happy if they even made the tourney.
Wow, Jaevin puts a bit too much stock into being where his cousin is.
I'm not as pessimistic about next season as most of you guys seem to be. You don't need a lot of good players to have a good team.
We have one of the best point guards in the country. We have one of the best centers in the country. In Livers we will have an all-Big10 small forward. Johns will be adequate at PF. At shooting guard we just need a placeholder and either Brooks or DJ will be fine.
You need to have more than 3 good players to have a good team. If your SG, and 1 wing are just”adequate place holders” this is an NIT team
As presently constituted, Michigan still is a better overall team than a half-dozen tourney teams that made it off the bubble last year. I think the team will feel a lot like those early Beilein teams, where they sort of struggle to get of the bubble and wind up in that 9-11 seed purgatory where you maybe play in Dayton or get a second-round matchup with a top seed.
RESETTING EXPECTATIONS – PERSPECTIVE
The top three scorers, the head coach and the defensive coordinator are gone from last season’s team that finished 30-7 after winning its first 17 games. Only two starters return.
The head coach has no previous experience as a head coach or a college coach. His main assistant has 24 years of head-coaching experience in college at one school, but in his past 15 seasons, he got his teams to the NCAA tournament only three times and only once got as far as the round of 32. During those 15 seasons, his teams played in only four NIT tournaments and got past the first round of the NIT only twice. In the past five seasons, his teams had a combined 82-81 record. LINK
If no other players are added to Michigan’s roster, then the starting lineup would be seniors Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, junior Isaiah Livers and two players to be named later from among junior Eli Brooks, sophomores David DeJulius, Colin Castleton, Brandon Johns and Adrian Nunez and freshman Cole Bajema.
Getting to at least a .500 record should be a reasonable goal, but not necessarily easy. Substantial improvement from Brooks and the four rising sophomores will be needed.
Simpson, Teske and Livers combined to average 26.2 points a game last season. Among Brooks, Castleton, DeJulius, Johns and Nunez, they averaged a combined 5.2 points a game last season, and Brooks (at 12.9 minutes a game) was the only one of those other possible starters who averaged more than 4.2 minutes a game.
Injuries to Teske and/or Simpson could be devastating. Think of the 2014-15 season when Caris LeVert suffered a season-ending injury in early January and Derrick Walton was lost for the season later that month. Michigan finished 16-16 (8-10, tied for 7th in the Big Ten after starting 6-3 in the conference) and decided to not play in the NIT. LINK
John Beilein’s first team at Michigan was 10-22 (5-13, tied for 9th in the Big Ten). Manny Harris was team MVP and Epke Udoh led the Big Ten in blocked shots. LINK