Projected Basketball depth chart. Trying to stay positive

Still a tournament team, just not a title contender. Have to wonder what additional roster changes could still occur. Will Howard fill those scholarship spots with other transfers or incoming freshmen? Will Livers or Wagner enter the draft? I don't think they will, but the worst seems possible right now. 

Next year will be relatively fine, it's after that which is concerning. 1 point guard on the roster, 1 center, losing Livers and Wagner (if we don't lose them sooner), losing Brooks, Smith, and Davis

We need to take at least one more player in this class or get DDJ or Castleton back, the roster will be completely barren after next year

Still good, but the entire thing lifting us up all year was "who cares what happens -- we are going to dominate next year with a team of 5 stars / 4 stars." Need to pick it up on the court this year if we aren't truly going to get the caliber of players we thought we would be getting.

I think your roster above is fine, I think the problem is, it's an absolute best-case scenario. I'll be pleasantly shocked if we can get 25 mins & 20 mins out of Dickinson and Zeb. 

Livers could still go pro, Wagner could still go as well. 

This team still has a nice ceiling but with so many unknowns, the floor for this team could be.....yikes. 

No way Dickinson gets 25 minutes a game.  20 tops.

Still a tourney team. Still excited for the real beginning of Juwan’s thing (Dickinson might be a 1-2 year guy but the other 3 freshman are probably here 3+). Still time to get more players. Still a bummer today. 

Do not be discouraged Juwan. Instead, tamper with the best guards in the country. Nobody is on campus it’s poachin’ time. 

Eli average 32 MPG last season. So why does he drop to 25 after we lose Z and DDJ?

And don't forget, we've got a couple scholarships to use on...someone...somewhere.

It doesn't make any sense to speculate at this time.  Who knows who will even be on the roster by the time the season starts?  Who knows if there will even be a basketball season, college or pro?  I wish I was kidding but nothing would surprise me at this point.  We just lost 4 likely players in just a few days, our 2 highest profile recruits and 2 promising current players.  And their delayed decisions likely cost us a couple other recruits.

I'm a big basketball fan but I am completely soured on the recruiting process and college basketball in general after the past several days.

A ton rides on Dickinson in the post. If he can’t defend we will be in trouble. 

Don’t forget the ruling coming May 20th on immediate eligibility for transfers. That changes everything. Maybe in a good way, or bad. (Bajema/Johns/etc. willing to leave if they don’t have to sit. Or grabbing a stud guard from somewhere else). 

If Johns isn't earning more than 20 minutes a game next year it will be a disappointment.  He improved as a shooter, showed the ability to drive and was a strong weakside shotblocker.  With added strength and improvement as a shooter it will be tough not to give him minutes as a small ball 5.  This year it didn't work because he couldn't quite exploit slower but stronger bigs on hte offensive end; next year, if he improves he should be able to while learning enough tricks to mitigate damage on the other end when he faces the Kofi Cockburns of the world.  I believe his arc will be similar to DJ Wilson's.  

On top of all that, Johns right now looks like the only big with the mobility to defend pick and rolls and we will need that next year because teams will attack Dickinson (to say nothing of Davis) in pick and roll all day.  

A breakout from Johns would go a long way to mitigating the loss of Todd.

I think/hope Bajema gets in there, particularly over Zeb at the 2. I don't see any way Zeb gets 20 minutes. Also, Johns is going to get more run at the 5, depending on the matchup. Davis and Dickinson simply won't cut it against certain opponents, particularly on the defensive end.

Once the NCAA announces that sit-out transfers won't have to actually "sit out" and will be eligible immediately, I think we'll see another wave of players hit the transfer portal.

I think the likelihood is high that we add at least 1 more player, possibly 2. I think ideally you add 1 grad transfer (Haarms) and 1 recruit or multi-year eligibility transfer (Carton?).

Start Bajema at the 2 and let Williams have minutes at the 3. Johns can have some minutes at the 5. 

More than their importance for next year is for the 21 year where they will be needed as the upperclassmen for what appears to be a large class. 

I'm still incredibly excited about the Livers/Wagner/Johns combination.   They are a versatile trio and will keep us competitive.     

An obvious point:  in the wake of the Christopher, Todd, DDJ, and Castleton announcements, losing Livers and Wagner would be.....bad.   We would transition from an embarrassment of riches to a dangerously thin roster.   My how things change in the course of a few days.

1-Brooks/Smith

2-Brooks/Wagner

3-Wagner/Livers

4-Livers/Johns/Williams

5-Davis/Johns/Dickinson

Total mpg by player (assumes 100% healthy and 12 scholarships):

Livers 34, Wagner 31, Brooks 29, Johns 28,Smith 25, Davis 23, Williams 7, Dickinson 7, Jackson 4, Nunez 4, Bajema 4, Howard 4

This is basically a 6 player rotation with spot time/situational time for the remaining 6 players. Nunez, Williams, Dickinson, Bajema, Jackson, Howard could all be +/- 10 mpg from what's above, but the gains would come from this pool of players as opposed to the top 6. I see them as being in a pool of 30 mpg that could be divided differently as players step up or show themselves to need more development. I could also see the allotment among these players shifting as the season goes on.

The big wildcards are Bajema and Smith. Bajema's performance to date indicates 4 mpg is a reasonable expectation. His recruiting profile suggests a jump is possible. By his past performance, Smith looks capable of being a 25 mpg contributor. Looks could be deceiving based upon his competition level. These are the two players that could really scramble what's above. Smith is the only of the 6 "starters" I could see getting dramatically less minutes and Bajema is the only of the 6 "reserves" that I could see breaking through and making it a 7 man rotation.

Without looking at the schedule, I think this team wins 18-20 games, finishes mid-pack in the B1G, has a couple of nice high quality wins, has a stretch where they struggle, makes the Tourney as a 10 seed. Sound familiar? 

If we are sure Wagner is gone after next season we have 7 scholarships open the following year. If we were to lose a couple more players to transfer or Johns going full DJ wilson that number could be 9. Good god man. How do you recruit 9 spots?  

Damn. We need another guard for sure. 

Bajema will get some run this year.  It may be as few as 5 or as great as 15 minutes.  Great shooter and should be much more ready for the other parts of the game.  

I also think Johns gets some time at the 5 with Hunter getting more like 20 minutes.  

Michigan lost a lot of talent today. But all that changes is that Livers, Franz, and Johns have to really step up and carry the load now. Todd would have split time with Livers and Johns and Christopher would have taken scoring load off all 3. Now they just need to have great seasons and all play 30+ minutes. Secondly Bajema needs to have a breakout season. With the new roster, Bajema and Nunez will get minutes. If they arent shooting well then those other 3 will have to be lights out every night.

If Livers and Franz have NBA late 1st rd type seasons this can still be a team that is in the top 4 of the B1G and a top 4 seed in the tournament. 

The DJ Carton possibility Brian brought up is really intriguing. Thats a home run transfer pick up. Immediate plug in and start at PG. And I think he could get a waiver because the OSU LB Blue got a mental health waiver over last off season. 

PG - Smith/Brooks/Jackson/Wade

SG - Brooks/Nunez/Bajema

SF - Franz/Livers/Bajema

PF - Livers/Johns/Williams

C - Dickinson/Davis/Johns

We can still be a solid B1G team, we just need some people to step up. We might need more scoring from Mike Smith than once thought. We need Bajema to have taken step forward defensively. Nunez needs to actually become a somewhat decent shooter. Franz and Livers are going to have to take a lot of shots. Johns is going to play an important role as the 6th man who plays both front court spots. Zeb Jackson and Terrance Williams will both likely need to play some minutes. Brandon Wade may need to see minutes at PG

Beilein was missed this past year —- my feeling is Zavier will be missed this upcoming year. 

Start your best 5....Livers, Wagner, Brooks, Johns will see heavy minutes......Dickinson, Davis, Smith will see quality minutes.....Bajema, Nunez will see spot minutes....Williams, Jackson, Howard, everyone else will barely see time.....my guess is it will be a 7-man rotation and an 8th based on foul trouble or someone who can play defense.