Michigan Basketball is trying to rebuild from a failed experiment with one of its former stars. Now, I don't 100% blame Juwan for Michigan's failure on the hardwood. Admissions and lack of NIL resources also needs to own some of the failure.
What did we see on the court last night from UConn? A number of players that executed in the system and no superstars. They have a 7 footer to protect the rim, they run strong offensive sets with motion/movement, and they defend. They don't have a KD or Melo to handle the load of the work, they play as a team in the model that Hurley has. You can tell Hurley has them practice until they get his system right.
Michigan is not going to pay a 5 star $1M a year to play in Ann Arbor. We saw how that model worked for Juwan, they showed up, played poorly, and headed to the G-League as quickly as they could. So Michigan has to take a different approach. The approach we saw last night. You could say Purdue did the same thing, even though Zach Edey is the back-to-back player of the year that might sniff the 2nd round of the boring NBA Draft.
Find talented kids that want to work and Michigan will win Championships under Dusty. Let Coach Cal and others pay the big bucks for one and dones. Michigan Basketball will succeeded on finding under the radar talent in high school gyms and the portal. The way Coach B used to do it. There was NIL money back in his day, it was just under the table.
I'm excited for Michigan Basketball again and seeing what Dusty can develop.
Where does it stand with some of the portal transfers?
- FAU
- Martin is now in the portal, with a do not contact tag. Is that good news or bad news for Michigan?
- Goldin is now predicted to Michigan
- Davis per insiders is leading more to the NBA then Ann Arbor. We will see what the scouts say.
- Boyd does not have Michigan on his list
- Yale's Danny Wolf is getting some interest from UNC and NW. Might take a visit to North Carolina.
- ND's Booth has Michigan in his top 5 but no visit or anything planned yet.
- Penn PG Clark Slajchert has Michigan in a top 8
- The rest of the guys have Michigan on a long list and it's way too early to tell.
As Dusty rounds off his staff there are 2 names that keep floating around, his former running made at FAU Kyle Church and/or Tennessee's Rod Clark.
- Speaking of basketball assistants Saddi Washington is expected to interview with Michigan State.
- OSU RB Dallan Hayden is entering the portal.
- Big Ten is great at getting to the Final Four's terrible in National Championship games. Since 2000 the Big Ten has been to 8 Final 4's and 0-8 in the NC. Last 2 Big Ten teams to win a NC? MSU in 2000 and Michigan in 89.
6 comments:
Edey, will not be a superstar player in the NBA no doubt.. but he could fill a role if he willing to concentrate on defense and rebounding.. A Mark Eaton type
Ron, the NBA has changed. Not sure a teams going to waste a roster spot on a guy with such a limited skill set. It's a 3 and D league with very little back to the basket play. he's just a taller Luka Garza. If he is to get drafted I'd expect it to be in the 2nd round and he'd spend significant time in the G league. He's not overly athletic and the NBA is an athletic freak show.
Anytime a guy enters the portal and has a do not contact, he's already picked where he's going. I would not be surprised if Martin ends up in AA.
So there's been a lack of star power in college basketball for a while now. The best prospects out of HS have been going to the G league, getting paid, and not having to pretend to be a student for 1 year. You would expect NIL to reverse that trend, but we haven't seen much of an impact yet. How much NIL would it take for some of these top prospects to do the college thing for 1 year and deal with being a "student" athlete.
Edey will get a shot. You can't coach 7'4", and rebounds are still part of the game. Kareem and Manute Bol are in the H.O.F and it wasn't for their 3 pt. shooting.
Good post today, Bob. As Gaylord Focker once commented on Jack Burns' poem, "So entertaining, yet informative".
Spot on about Hurley. Dude is a spaz, but a genius spaz. Says he very content at UConn, which is what they all say before taking the big $$ at a place like say....Kentucky?
UConn played team ball, they are the bball version of UM football although our football team does have some draft picks coming up. The resemble each other in that they play so well and disciplined and share the load. If JJ were less of the class act that he is, he probably would have left and went to a school that would have had him throw 30-40 times a game. But he stayed in the system that he knew would make him a champion. Everything else came second. That's what I saw from UConn. It was 5 UConn dudes on the floor vs 1 Turdue player.
....and to be honest, I wouldn't say the future is bright for Turdue. They built their system around 1 superstar and a bunch of supporting actors.
Brady the guys you mentioned are from a by gone era. The NBA just doesn't value an old fashion back to basket post up game from their centers. Cs need to be able to get out and run and shoot the 3. they like rim protectors, and those guys also have to be rim runners. Edey plods around on the court. Will someone take a shot on him in the 2nd round. Probably cause the NBA have some really dumb GMs. Hell, maybe Troy Weaver takes him. He took Luka Garza and he seems to like to collect flawed bigs like beanie babies.
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