It begins: George Washington III plans to enter the transfer portal
https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/status/1769468776842465785
NEWS: Michigan freshman guard George Washington III plans to enter the transfer portal, he tells
Not a big surprise. His coach is gone and he couldn't crack a rotation that, at times, had 1 guard available per game. Wish him luck.
Exactly, we won't know for a while if this is a good thing or bad thing.
He wasn't developed at all and looked lost on the court. He's the type of player Beilein turned into a very adequate cog in the wheel.
Additionally, we need to be proactive in hiring a coach so we can start recruiting Darius Acuff and Trey McKenney, 2 studs from Metro Detroit. Acuff transferred to IMG after his soph year.
I'm sure it's not optimal to lose a guy who has some talent but I do think it's telling that Dug was thrust into the starting lineup as a true freshman and played pretty well while the staff seemingly didn't even consider giving heavy minutes to Washington. So it's not like they're an Izzo-style outlook on playing young guys, and leads me to believe that he is farther away from the P5 level than you'd like. My guess is he transfers down to a mid-major and does well enough. He's definitely got the potential to be a good shooter and offense generator, but given his size there's a ceiling for him.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:04 PM ^
You can't make that evaluation based on this year about the kid. If you were there everyday then yes but from a fans perspective, no way in hell do you know anything about the kid.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:34 PM ^
I know that he couldn't crack the rotation on one of the worst teams in the country. Even a decent freshman would have played a lot of minutes for this team.
George we hardly knew ye.
He's the second best George Washington that I'm familiar with, which is still pretty good.
So you either hate America or peanuts. Which is it?
Loyalist...or just allergic?
Good luck young man
Rumor has it he’s going to visit DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival to burn some of his frustration…
Hope he has a solid boat to cross the Delaware
Thanks for your contribution, Mr. Washington.
Maybe he can do another ATT commercial... "I'll just have water...". ."Cash or credit?". "...for water ?"
Outside of Reed and Tschetter, they can all get lost.
This is correct.
Well sounds like Tschetter is probably leaving too.
Not sure that's a wise viewpoint, given the massive rebuilding coming with an all new coaching staff. We need bodies.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:23 PM ^
We need ballers, not bodies.
We could take 10 guys who are looking to up transfer from lower level schools that many of us have never heard of, and as long as we get guys that make a cohesive roster (2-3 bigs, 4wings and 3 actual pg), actually coach them up on the fundamentals of team basketball, ask them to bust their asses on defense and rebounding and develop a hard working culture of accountability, the results will be a hell of a lot better than what we saw here this past season.
May his fortune be better on the other side of the Delaware. Perhaps NJIT.
We will never recover from this loss Tampering for sure duke Kansas uconn throwing millions at him.
Hell we may only win 8 games next yr
Oh wait.
Ps That guy Shannon is pretty good. Can you Imagine admissions allowing him here
Imagine Shannon with Pac12 POY Caleb Love and Big12 first teamer Hunter Dickinson.
Point being, Michigan's transfer policy and NIL are as bad as Howard's coaching. Replacing Howard only solves part of the problem.
I said Juwan’s tenure is a lot of “what ifs” this is the biggest one. You don’t even need a coach with that trio, just roll the ball out and go.
Even apart from Juwan, this program still needs help.
Watching this tourney pairing I realized he would still be coaching here if it werent for admissions. With Love and Shannon. He got hosed with this.
March 17th, 2024 at 11:33 PM ^
Juwan screwed himself. First, by pursuing guys that were iffy at best to get admitted and second, by having no backup options whatsoever when they didn't get in.
March 18th, 2024 at 12:05 AM ^
They were NOT denied by admissions. One was supposed to a grad transfer that didn’t finish his last class in time
One realized how few credits were going to transfer.
not admissions fault. Not really a coach issue either
March 18th, 2024 at 12:50 AM ^
This is wishful thinking. Howard had two draftees last year and Dickinson and couldn't do shit with them.
Last year he had Dickenson as well as 2 first round draft picks (Jett and Kobe). We sucked and the same issues - effort, defense, rebounding, chemistry - were the issue. Heck, Dickenson regressed under Juwan and is only now showing his former prowess.
March 17th, 2024 at 11:35 PM ^
You don’t even need a coach with that trio, just roll the ball out and go.
Just like when we had two NBA 1st-rounders and Hunter Dickinson in 2022-23?
Imagine if Juwan actual understood UM's transfer policy like Harbaugh did. Stewart, Wallace, Hausman, Nugent, Hinton, Henderson, Barner, Tuttle and Tucker were all transfers who contributed to the football team.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:35 PM ^
Football is not basketball. In football a grad transfer may still have two years of eligibility, and they are bigger and stronger than the younger players. There's also far more players who may need that one year at a program like Michigan to raise their draft stock.
In basketball, the transfers who are going to make a difference are usually second round picks or low first rounders. They are not sticking around until they graduated which like or not, that is how it works at Michigan.
In basketball, Michigan either needs to go all in on NIL or find a coach that can turn players destined for Europe into low first round or second round NBA players. Then use the portal to help fill out the roster with depth.
March 18th, 2024 at 12:48 AM ^
Howard took two good transfer players who could play defense and turned them into something worse than they were before. Shannon, for all his talent, received much, much better coaching at Illinois than what he would've gotten here. To say that he'd be the same type of player here as he was this year is wishful thinking.
I still think this is a weird take. We had two first-round NBA picks last year, plus Dickinson, and still couldn't get out of the second round of the NIT. I just don't believe for a second that Love and Shannon would have done as well here — not close to as well — as they did elsewhere.
I mean, I would have loved to find out. But Juwan and his assistants seemed unable to create energy in the players, unable to coach defense, and unable to find working/winning combinations, regardless of the quality of players they had. We did not come in last in the Big Ten because of our admissions policies.
Transfers to Albion. He becomes a Briton.
In his final game with the maize and blue, he played 1 minute, the last minute, with the walk-ons. The writing was on the wall. Good luck, George.
He shot 0.185 on the season. That’s below the Mendoza Line.
Not ideal when you are "just a shooter"
Where is he going to go? He couldn't get on the court on a 8 win team
He needs to save children.
But not the British children.
Of course, he killed his sensei in a duel, and never explained that either, so who knows.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:03 PM ^
Very NSFW, but if you don't understand rc90's references to this video above (and want a good laugh), take a peek.
Whatever. We basically need to add an entirely new roster.
He was great when he crossed the Delaware.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:03 PM ^
What did George Washington say to his men before they crossed the Delaware?
Get in the boat
Good luck GW wherever things take you.
What was the moment for you? When Juwan hit the coach from Wiscy I knew he was done on so many levels.
That never really bothered me.
What bothered me was his HORRIBLE roster construction and lack of player development. That was evident 2-3 years ago.
I hate to put it this way, but they’ve brought it up multiple times in the MGoPodcast in recent months.
There is likely going to be a lot of attrition on this roster this offseason, especially now that Juwan is leaving. But with that said, is there anyone on this roster that we even want back? This roster is so devoid of any meaningful talent that even if everyone came back next year, who can you reliably build a team around?
Not a single all conference mention. Not even honorable mention.
I think it's a good question and thought exercise, but the flipside is how many playable freshman and transfers will a new coach be able to bring in (especially given UM's admissions record)?
So the challenge I see is that you might want retain some of this year's starters...to ideally be backups next year (or at least "rotational" pieces), just to fill out the roster. But would they stick around if they're losing a starting role? Seems unlikely.
Next year's roster could be rough.
I still think a good coach can make players better, and I think we have some returning players with potential that has never been tapped, so ... I'm not giving up on this roster. I think TWill and Tschetter are decent-to-good bench players, and I think Dug, Reed, and Burnett have the skills to be legitimate Big Ten starters. A few additions from the portal, and I think we could move up to middle of the conference as soon as next year.
If we get a coach soon who can work the portal and start working seriously with whoever returns.