Lets rank the Freshmen!!!
Now that the B1G regular season is over for the team, what freshman, how do you rank them?
For me, I am ranking by who I think will have the best year next year, heavilly weighting on this season's play.
1) Aubrey Dawkins: He seperated himself from the pack down the stretch. His athleticism is a shade below GRIII's, but he probably already has a better stroke. Seems to have a lot of power. He just had the dunk of the year for for the team.
2) Kam Chatman: His play doesn't merit this, but the light started flickering down the strech, and the recruiting rankings were there for a reason. One of my favorite things about Coach B is how he'll let struggling players develop in game (Walton being a prime example). I think Kam reward's Beilein's investment next year.
3) Ricky Doyle: First frosh to break out. He also plateued. Too bad we needed him so bad, I think a quasi-redshirt would have been good for him, where he focused more on his body than the next game. This offseason is huge for him.
4) MAAR: My favorite frosh, he's had some breakout games, but I wonder if defenses have adjusted?
5) DJ Wilson: He was the most intriguing prospect to me. Hope he comes back big next year.
6) Mark Donnal: Disastrous year. Looks like he could be a rare Beilein miss in scouting. Needs a huge offseason, but I'm not even sure his frame will let him get there.
Edit: forgot a very important member of the class. Appologies to all.
7) Austin Hatch: Last in the rankings, first in our hearts. I would guess he gets a medical this year. We didn't want a 7 person class, so it was cool to see him play and even score points.
- 1. HARBAUGH
- 2. Dawkins
- 3. Doyle
- 4. MAAR
- 5. Chatman
- 6. Donnal
- 7. Hatch
- 8. Wilson
I think you're sleeping on MAAR a bit too much. He'll be something next year.
We know what we have in Dawkins, Doyle and MAAR. They just need to make improvements to their game, hit the weight room and make the proverbial "leap".
Chatman is the most important.
Chatman is the X factor, cliche or not. Him and Dawkins seem to have quite the ceiling.
I think MAAR will be a solid bench player. I love what I am seeing from Chatman as I see a raw kid gaining experience and having the game slow down. Obviously Dawkins will be a good one. Dissappointed big time in Donnal. Love doyle and the toughness he brings. He will be a Novak like four year kid...
1. Dawkins
2. Doyle
3. Chatman
4. MAAR
5. Donnal
6. Hatch
TBD. Wilson
2. Dawkins
3. MAAR
3A. Doylestown
5. Chatman
6. Donnell
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
That boy better get more arc on his free throws or else he might cost us a game or two next year.
I can't wait to see what Duncan Robinson brings next year.
Lesser than Bielfeldt, and greater?
i will be shocked if we are not in the top 4 of the BIG next year. then we are set up for BIG titles the next few years. landing another stud or 2 (especially point guard) in the 2016 class could solidify this team for the next several years.
I expect a top 10 team in the country next year. I'm a homer, but if Lavert and Walton were here this year, we'd have been top 25. We bring everyone but maybe Max back. We'll actually have depth and experience.
this team is still bad at rebounding and mediocre at best on D. i expect some improvement in those areas but likely below avg in both next year still.
In two years we could be 7'0" at the five position, 6'10" at the four, 6'8" at the three and probably 6'6" at the two. That team should be able to rebound the ball (not to mention, play a hell of a zone).
we may have top 10 coaching but not top 10 players.
team will improve but we are barely top 10 in B1G this year.
last half of the season with an 8 man roster, right?
results not good at start of year ( emu/njit) but still working hard and holding it together at end.
hard to overlook problems like inbounding the ball against NW .
top teams are either reloading with top talent each year or have a large group of solid upper classmen.
not that familiar with northern iowa.
these teams do play many games that are not competitive due to poor league. would be exposed if had to battle evey game like B1G teams.
these teams are getting ranked higher because of recent ncaa tournament success.
How is this possible?
As John Oliver would say, how is this still a thing?
Donnal having a typical freshman year does not qualify as a "disaster" or that Beilein "may have missed" on him. It just means he was a freshman who played like one. I am betting he becomes, at the very least, a depth contributor inside.
Yeah, remember the good ol' days when players, especially bigs, got better as they got older? I wish that were still true. Welp, it's not, so Donnal is a bust for all time.
remember him. he was first team all american as a freshman right?
/s
Although I agree he's not a "disaster," he's also not a true freshman either. He has a year on all these guys in terms of weight training and practice reps. Unlike Doyle, he had a year to practice alongside Jordan Morgan, Mitch McGary and Jon Horford and was able to focus on basketball fall semester instead of learning how to find his classes or do laundry. He should be a step ahead of this group, and he's a solid step behind.
I'm not saying he'll never amount to anything. But I think Jon Horford might be his ceiling at this point and many of us were hoping for a little more than that.
as a five. I think when Teske gets here, we could see Donnal move to the four. But, even if he stays at the 5, I would expect he exceeds Horford. He will continue to bulk up. You can't expect most centers to impress that much their first year of playing time.
I saw his brother (Iowa OL) at the NFL combine. He should be able to add some bulk in the next few years.
What?
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Amen. That is so hard to believe that Dayton was his next best offer. He would be a star already at Northwestern, for instance. He may end up a star at Michigan.
Like I said the other day, hopefully Caris got a call from his old buddy GRIII right after the latter got released from his non-guaranteed contract with the T'wolves...
Dawkins just hit 8 friggin' 3s in a Big Ten game as a freshman. Wow. His family doesn't need the money, so hopefully Ol' Dad gets in his ear about that and we get 4 years out of this kid.
I think that's a great point. Aubrey Dawkins's dad has lots of money, and not "I used to play in the NBA money" but "I used to play in the NBA and now I'm still making 7 figures coaching" money. Plus he went to Duke and now coaches Stanford so he likely has an appreciation for education. Unless Aubrey's a sure-fire lottery pick after next season, his dad will tell him to stick around, get his degree, and worry about the NBA at that point. One or two extra NBA seasons won't make a huge difference for a family like that.
PG - Walton/Albrecht
SG - Irvin/MAAR
SF - Dawkins/Duncan Robinson
PF - Chatman/DJWilson/Moritz Wagner
C - Doyle/Donnal
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Not to single you out, because a lot of people above you are doing the same thing, but this was the last one I could see without saying something.
I'm sure Robinson will be a nice complementary player next year, but the idea that he will come in and play more minutes than Chatman is absurd. Robinson is going to make us miss Stauskas on defense.
I know that the majority of 1st year 3pt specialists in the B1G are bad at defense. Pretty safe to say that a kid jumping as many levels as he did when transferring in is going to be nowhere near a lockdown defender, and much more likely to be a defensive liability.
But you're right, he is white. Who was the last good defensive wing at Michigan with a melatonin deficiency?
http://www.umhoops.com/2014/08/06/division-iii-transfer-duncan-robinson…
Just one of many articles that mentions his lack of D1 athleticism and defensive ability. But hey, if you want to expect him to be like Novak, you go right ahead.
unless he's improved a ton, it's an issue.
I know a guy who saw Robinson plenty in person at Williams (his son was neck and neck with him for Freshman of the Year honors), and he says his defense was bad even for that conference.
To say "no way" is pretty absurd when you've never seen him play and Chatman struggled for 85% of this year.
Take 5 minutes from him and give them to Dawkins and he and Chatman are even.
Honestly, I really don't care until I know who's on the team next year.
Albrecht, MAAR, Robinson, Wilson and Donnal. That lineup would probably hold its own against the lineup that we started the last half of this season.