Next year's team/lineup
I hate to be critical of any kid after such a great year but it's obvious to me that after tonight that next year's lineup should be the following:
1 - DeJulius/Z
2- Poole/DeJulius
3 - Matthews/Iggy B
4 - Livers/Johns
5- Johns/Castleton
It may not look like this in Nov/Dec but by January it should.
As much as Z improved, he's limited. He can't shoot from the perimeter and he can't shoot free throws. His defense was great at times, but he also looked real bad against some elite athletes. This offense is eons better with a true scorer at the 1.
Teske had a couple of good games for us this year, but again, he's limited. His lack of athleticism is too much to overcome for what he offers. He should never be more than a backup at Michigan.
Johns might not be a natural 5, but hopefully he can play both the 4&5 in Beilein's system.
While I think Mo is gone, I don't think it would be crazy for him to return. He needs to be alot more consistent before he does anything productive in the NBA. Of course if he's being told he's in the lottery that changes everything.
If you have bad spacing and you stop shooting 3s then getting to the basket becomes 10x harder.
OK, now do Sparty's lineup.
So you're projecting Austin Davis to transfer?
Michigan has one more player committed for next season than they have scholarships available. Big men generally take a while to grow into Beilein's system. Somebody has to transfer or go to the draft, but I don't know who it will be. Davis wouldn't actually be my guess. I just hope that person -- whomever it is -- does so willingly.
Brooks, Davis, and Watson need to make huge improvements in order to get PT next season. I could see one of them deciding to transfer elsewhere. Watson seems pretty tight with Poole and Livers, so my guess would be Brooks or Davis going.
I like what I saw from Davis this year. Always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.. I hope he sticks around and improves to crack the lineup next year.
1) Simpson/Brooks/Dejulius
2) Poole/Dejulius/Watson
3) Matthews/Johns/Ignas
4) Livers/Johns/Ignas
5) (Wagner)/Teske
I would love to us put in a trap scheme next year to go with our reg defense. And the return of the 1 3 1.
Beilein dumped the 1-3-1 for a reason. He used it earlier in his career because he didn't have the athletes to play man. The 1-3-1 is susceptible to corner 3s in particular -- if you don't disrupt the pass, the shot is uncontested -- and I don't see Beilein trying to attack a modern offense with it.
I don't see Michigan running a trap either -- it's high risk / high reward, which is pretty much the exact opposite of Beilein's personality. Michigan did very well on defense this year playing man almost exclusively, and I don't see a real need to change that.
Also pretty sure in the Loyola postgame presser I heard Beilein say teams caught up to the 1-3-1.
Livers, Matthews, Simpson should all be shooting starting right now until November.
Apparently the most important thing to win a championship is to have a 6th man who can come off the bench and score 20+. Ugh.
He will be graduating this spring. He's likely is going to declare and sign with an agent.
so it appears he was planning an exit.
He has some skills buy doesn't look like a true point and his offensive foul initiated post game will evaporate in the league.
...divicenzo might be thinking about it, too...this was not a spike albrecht game.
Anyone who doubts that either hasn't been watching or is incredibly pessimistic.
John Beilein is a master at player developemet. Wilson looked useless two years ago, and last year he was sensational. Teske looked awful last year, and MAAR and Simpson both greatly improved this year.
I'll be shocked if Livers and Poole aren't great next year, and Teske, Matthews and Simpson will continue to improve. I won't be a bit surprised if Brooks, Watson and/or Davis become good players too.
We have a bunch of very highly regarded freshmen coming in too - but even without them we have talent.
Michigan is going to be good, and maybe great by tournament time.
And c'mon, we made it to the championship game this year - it's not like our players underperformed or werent' good this year.
Thats not his role. He knows his role is to play defense and rebound. I would understand if he shot 0-10 or 1-10 every game, but he didn't he knew his role and he played it.
moe wagner played 258 minutes and had 86 points for his entire freshman season? and couldn't get off the bench behind ricky doyle and mark donnal? for a team that was relegated to a play-in game? good times.
"I'll be shocked if Livers and Poole aren't great next year"
I think they'll be much improved... but you must have a lot lower bar for "great" than I do.
Absolutely those players were much better their 2nd year than first.
Burke is the only one that reached great his second season (or at all).
the scholly situation. We have 5 guys coming in, but to my knowledge only MAAR, Robinson and Simmons leaving for sure. Do we currently have one open spot? What if neither Mo or Matthews leave?
What Richard said, but there is a Depth Chart by Class that spells this out under Useful Stuff on the top ribbon.
1. Teske played huge and should definitely get a chance to crack the depth chart at the 5. Especially since one of them is a 4.
2. Why don't you give Zavier the next 6-7 months to work on his free throw/ 3pt. shot. He's a good player. Don't write him off yet.
The incoming class is very good, but for you to write off all of these players that just played key parts in a Final 4 run is ridiculous.
Moe is gone, and Moe needs to leave. Moe is ready for the NBA. Moe has $10mil in salary and endorsements waiting for him in a few months. That kinda of money will change his entire family forever.
It would be selfish of Moe to stay at UM. I wish Moe would stay, but what I want isnt what is best for Moe. Moe needs to enter the NBA. He's ready. It's time.
His defense was great at times, but he also looked real bad against some elite athletes.This is an absolutely brutal take after holding the national player of the year to 9 points on 13 shots.
Eh... they had MAAR guarding Brunson a lot.
Logged in to neg OP.
Teske is great.
We have a great core coming back. Can't believe I'm saying this but wish we could just skip over football season all together.