Austin Davis shoots down transfer noise

Submitted by Brian Griese on

A few of my family members are in the inner circle of the Davis’ family and I had heard before the tourney he wasn’t planning to leave but since it’s in writing now I figured I would share. As discussed in a prior thread, some may construe this as more evidence Moe is considering leaving.

“I’ll be here,” Davis said. “I committed to Michigan, and I’m not going anywhere. This season just showed me what I need to do differently.”

http://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20180410/davis-anschuetz-find-roles-du…

EconClassof14

April 10th, 2018 at 9:50 PM ^

I think Davis’ commitment and junior highlight reel (where he could barely dunk) were a low point for me and this board’s belief in Beilein. Glad to see Davis has put in the work to improve and hopefully can be a solid defender next year and even better if he can hit a 15 footer

Night_King

April 10th, 2018 at 9:55 PM ^

He really could play a significant role next year (similar to Teske this year).

If Teske holds it down and Davis is good off the bench, Castleton can redshirt and put on some size.

DeepBlueC

April 11th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^

"playable" at 6'10/245 but not at 6'10/220 is just plain silly. You're essentially saying that all of his basketball skills and his entire ability to contribute on the court at the college level resides in that extra 20-25 lbs. Again, that's just silly on its face. Will he be a more effective player if he adds weight and strength? Almost certainly. Will he get pushed around a little as a slightly underweight freshman? Again, almost certainly, but so do lots of guys. Getting pushed around is how you learn how not to get pushed around. If he's any good at all, you play him, regardless of weight.

DeepBlueC

April 11th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^

that a player can still have the sklls to contribute at the college level even if they are at less than their ideal playing weight. He's not saying that Castleton is as good as Durant, so you're attacking a straw man.

schreibee

April 11th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^

We have two groups of ppl willfully walking down the opposite sides of the tracks and looking only toward the side they're on, telling ppl on the other side they're crazy if they don't see the same things they do!

CC will play, because as one poster pointed out he's the only big that'll allow them to play 5-out.

CC will get abused if he's forced to spend much time guarding the post, due to both lack of strength & lack of experience.

So - how can both camps be right AND wrong simultaneouly?

Judicious usage is how, and our coach is the guy to do that! How many teams have a Haarms backing up a Haas?! Play CC when the other team tries to pack a zone and/or their primary big rests.

Hell, Duncan did a fair job guarding in the paint this year, so it's not like a slender guy can't be taught, more that it'll take more than one summer to teach it.

DeepBlueC

April 11th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^

Weight is not equivalent to defensive ability. And I'm not even sure what "absolutely unplayable" even means. And if by "guard" you mean "not allow to score any points", your question is pretty silly. Other than that, everything is a matter of degree. Beilein has put a lot of guys on the court, even starters, who sucked on defense, even whole teams that couldn't defend well. They obviously weren't "absolutely unplayable", now were they?

TrueBlue2003

April 11th, 2018 at 4:26 PM ^

for one, Fernando isn't a post up guy.  He's not going to play with his back to the basket, he's in there to finish lobs off the pick and roll so rim protection is more important there.

Ethan Happ also isn't a guy that uses size to back guys down.  He uses an array of quick and effective post moves to go around bigger guys.  Guarding him is more about quickness and smarts than width (I don't expect Castleton to actually guard him successfully, but almost no one does).

Kaleb Wesson and Nick Ward would be able to back down a smaller guy for sure, but if he has legth on them (he should) it'll still be somewhat tough for them to shoot over him.

Lastly, Mo Wagner was an awful post defender this year, but it didn't keep him off the floor because he abused guys like Wesson and Ward far more than they abused him.  If Castleton provides similar mismatches, he'll play even as a defensive liability.

I could easily see him getting more than the 20% of minutes that Wagner got his freshman year because Castleton is a longer defender and likely better rim protector if not for...

...the existence of Brandon Johns. I think he is going to compete for backup minutes at the 5 next year too.

Maize and Blue…

April 11th, 2018 at 4:22 PM ^

Same situation, you have an advantage on one end and a disadvantage on the other.  If he is the 215 (Mo listed at 210 when recruited) he is listed at it should be relatively easy to put 15-20 lbs on him before next basketball season. That would put him relatively close to Mo"s listed size now. Teske played as a freshman and he was listed at 210 coming in.

TrueBlue2003

April 11th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^

I wouldn't have felt comfortable, at least for spot minutes, with him matched up against assuming he'd be a significant upgrade over Davis on the offensive endt: Wesson, Haas, Happ, Ward.  That's about it. 

And Haas and Happ abused everyone anyway.  It's not like Castleton would be much worse than what we had guarding them this year.  And Ward and Wesson are big dudes that are good in the post but their own defensive limitations make them just as tough to play if they're guarding a guy with any perimeter skills.

In reply to by CLion

DeepBlueC

April 11th, 2018 at 1:32 PM ^

a lot more than seniority in college bball. Was it "silly" to think that freshman Nick Stauskas would be better than senior Matt Vogrich right out of the gate?

CLion

April 11th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^

You have hardly even seen Davis. He was completely servicable in his limited minutes this year and he's physically ready. Jon Teske is a good player and took the back up role by the reigns. He should be a good player next year. At this point there is no reason to think Castleton should be clearly better from day one other than his highlight video. 

I'll say there is close to a zero chance Castleton has control of the back up role to start the season, and I doubt he does by the end of the season. I also doubt he redshirts. In certain games his shooting may get him on the court, but he won't have anything else to offer this year.

In reply to by CLion

Maize and Blue…

April 11th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^

That's a matter of opinion. If you have hardly seen the floor in two years you are probably in over your head.  Fouling out in 7 seven minutes against Detroit Mercy (Mo didn't play so he was the backup) indicates that to me.  That is just my take.  I do hope Austin proves me wrong next season it would be good for the team.

TrueBlue2003

April 11th, 2018 at 5:06 PM ^

Other than his astronomical foul rate, he actually was quite serviceable.  Finished well (7-11) and was a great rebounder.  The foul rate is a problem but I imagine they'll get that under control.  He had a very high block rate to go with it, so it's mostly a matter of having him not try to challenge so many shots so aggressively.  Fine to get fewer blocks if it means fewer fouls.

My guess is that he's the backup early in the season but that one or both of the freshman bigs (Castleton and/or Johns) pass him on the depth chart as they get comfortable with things.  Those two are too talented for one of them not to pass Davis by midseason, IMO.

 

In reply to by CLion

DeepBlueC

April 11th, 2018 at 6:38 PM ^

I've hardly even seen Davis.  He isn't good enough to warrant seeing the floor when it matters.

And "completely serviceable" is just about as meaningless as "totally unplayable", especially when those minutes came mostly in garbage time.

Whole Milk

April 11th, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^

I think that emergency could come sooner than you think. Teske is a big, big man who won't be able to play 30 minutes a game, and although I am in the camp that Davis will be certainly viable as a backup, the guy had a foul every 3.3 minutes of playing time this year. Seeing as how we have 0 other big guys, I think Castleton will likely be relied upon to get somewhere between 5-10 minutes on a lot of nights next year.

TrueBlue2003

April 11th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^

he was top 12 in the conference in defensive and offensive rebounding, he was third (!!!) in steal rate, 19th in block rate, shot 45% (!!) from three and posted a 117 Ortg.  He kind of did it all.

He was not a starter though at least not towards the end of the season. He was playing behind Thomas Bryant, who was also really good that year.

And he wasn't that much worse his final season at Michigan, except for not having a good 3pt percentage, which felt low on a small sample size.  He shot like one per game and it's really hard to do that and get in any kind of rhythm or get comfortable.

champswest

April 10th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^

The speculation that Austin was transferring was crazy. Michigan was his dream school, he is a high on academics and he is a stand up person. I had a hard time believing he would leave Michigan without a degree.

I look for Austin to continue to progress and to play a major role next year.