Kameron Chatman story in Detroit News
Nice story in the Detroit News about what Kameron Chatman is doing this summer. He will be in Ann Arbor next week for a summer session to prepare for the trip to Europe. He was roommates with D.J. Wilson for a camp in Sacramento and started building a bond to him.
The key part of the story is that he has bulked up to 211 lbs in anticipation of playing one of the forward spots and has already begun a workout regimen provided by Jon Sanderson.
We will be fun on offense as usual, we will be VERY deep, we will be VERY young, and I expect more suspect on defense, esp inside. Morgan won't be appeciated defensively truly until we see the team without him. Horford was suspect but at least was a junior who knew the ropes. And last year's defense was not good... we'll be throwing out 2 guys at 5 who have never played a Big 10 game - whatever their weights/heights it will be an issue. Especially on nights Donnal gets early foul trouble. We saw versus MSU in BTT what happens when Morgan went out early.
I am hoping the perimeter defensive takes a quite serious leap at least when the starters are in at the 1, 2, and 3 (Walton Caris Irvin) since it was really bad last year and as Coach B says defense comes last to these players, because young players don't usually do a good job of it. I love me a whole lot of Caris and on paper they say he is a good defender, but guys dribble drove him just as much as everyone else last year.
Long story short - I expect a lot of shootouts and a lot of "where is the defense!" when we play anyone with decent inside players or when the backups are in at 2 and 3. I do think there might be some upside on rebounding this year versus last. And it would be nice to see some shot blocking - maybe Chatman and Wilson (assuming he doesnt redshirt) can provide some small does of that.
I love this team and I love John Beilein.
That being said, if the 2014-2015 version is going to make a run in the tournament, we're going to need a big man to step up. It's as simple as that. Point to Mitch in 2013 and J-Mo in 2014. Without either of them, we're bounced out in the Sweet 16 (at best).
Since when does Yeezus love ANYONE???
/s (maybe) :)
gets killed down low and on the boards. Especially early in B1G play. How quickly the bigs develop will determine whether this team can compete for a conference championship and/or make a tourney run.
Funny you say that. Watching the Spurs dominate a one man show in the finals, I was thinking the same thing.
for Chatman from the USA U18 tryout: 6'6.75", 217, 6'11 wingspan