chaundee brown will hunt you down

Well we can’t have everything. Michigan’s energetic three-and-d bench wing is also going to be a one-year rental, as Chaundee Brown Jr. announced on Twitter that he intends to enter his name in the draft and hire an agent, meaning he’s not coming back.

pic.twitter.com/w8VUNmwdIs

— ⭕️Chaundee️⚠️Brown (@cbrownballin935) April 10, 2021

Like the other seniors, Brown had the opportunity to come back for an extra year because of COVID. However the grad transfer from Wake Forest is already 22, and probably figures he’s gotten enough tape out there for the league to know if they’re interested.

Like fellow grad transfer Mike Smith, Chaundee dramatically changed his role at Michigan. A regular starter and inside-the-arc bucket-getter at Wake, Brown became an off-the-bench ball of energy, and a lethal outside shooter, launching more of those than twos for the first time in his career, and hitting them at a 42% clip

Brown’s signature skill—well okay, his second signature skill—was converting those against closeouts. His 7/12 hot streak in the tournament was a major part of Michigan’s run to the Elite 8, and there were a few times when I thought one more pass his way against UCLA could have extended that run another round or two. While the Big Ten named Illinois’s Andre Curbelo the conference’s 6th man, they also named somebody other than Franz Wagner the defensive player of the year. Anyway Brown got to cut down the nets at the end of the season. We know what's up.

His signature skill, of course, was coming in like this:

I’m weak https://t.co/nsYUZn6msg

— ⭕️Chaundee️⚠️Brown (@cbrownballin935) February 12, 2021

He should catch on with some team, as both of those skills are marketable on the next level.

His old team should also be okay, with starting SG Eli Brooks back to settle the backcourt, some very skilled potential off-guards in Kobe Bufkin and Isaiah Barnes coming in. A good offseason, perhaps imbibing some of Brown’s attitude on defense, could also see Zeb Jackson blossom into a starter.

That doesn’t meant we won’t miss the senior, but that would have been quite a luxury. If Michigan’s not comfortable gambling on the above, they may now look to the portal for a true point guard since that’s not Brooks’s main thing. If there’s another Chaundee Brown, well, you’d take that every year. Hopefully an NBA team thinks so as well.

I had an entire post written about how Michigan blew up the early narrative of this game, which was LSU's incredible shot-making being too much to overcome for a Wolverines team missing their most reliable bucket-getter. When I went to hit submit, my still-shaking hands hit the wrong button, and I blew up my own post. This feels apropos.

So let's do the short version because my brain is still going AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH after one of the more fun, and therefore partisan nerve-destroying, games of the entire tournament. For most of the first half and a decent chunk of the second, it appeared that Cam Thomas and Javonte Smart would hit pullup jumper after pullup jumper, no matter how difficult, and LSU would do just enough on defense to pull off the upset.

Michigan refused to allow that to happen, grinding away a nine-point first-half deficit at the line after LSU's seventh foul to take an improbable 43-42 halftime lead. After Thomas opened 6/7 from the field, he closed 4/16 as Juwan Howard unleashed Chaundee Brown on him. Brown added a season-high 21 points, 14 after the break, to tie for the team lead with an inspired Eli Brooks, who drained 5/9 three-pointers.

Franz Wagner put the game out of reach at the end, hitting a hook, resetting for a three-pointer, dunking off a Hunter Dickinson outlet pass to break a press, putting back a Dickinson miss in traffic, and smothering a Thomas drive on the final Tigers possession with a sliver of hope. Nine of Wagner's 15 points came after halftime. Hunter Dickinson, who battled foul trouble in a poorly officiated game on both sides, managed an efficient 12-point, 11-board double-double in 31 minutes and did his usual bending of LSU's defense to open up the perimeter.

My narrative didn't survive the publishing process, which is how I refer to misclicks. Thankfully, Michigan's basketball team is much less shaky in the clutch. The Wolverines move on to their fourth Sweet Sixteen in a row and sixth in the last eight NCAA Tournaments. They'll face Florida State, convincing winners over Colorado this evening. Enjoy it as best as your nerves allow and be careful operating machinery.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]

OUR TOURNAMENT COVERAGE HAS A SPONSOR

The housing market is currently a bit out of control. Finding the right house at the right price is becoming more difficult by the day. That is where Matt Demorest, who runs Simplified Homes with Keller Williams Domain, comes in. You have memorized all his ad copy and the names of his children. If you're reading this, there's a good chance he's bought you a beer. There's no better person to help you buy a home in Michigan.

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Previously: Examining the Void

here they come [Campredon]

Yesterday, I covered what Isaiah Livers brought to this team and how his loss could impact their tourney run. Before diving into what his replacements bring to the table, let's refresh our memory on the offensive stats I posted yesterday...

...and some additional rebounding and defensive numbers:

I'll help contextualize the key stats from the above when discussing each player. Which, let's do that.

[...after THE JUMP]