Austin Davis shoots down transfer noise
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…
Great attitude to have!
He will play an important role next year. Glad he is staying.
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
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.
Castleton has too much ability to sit. He is the only big who gives us five out and he is far more athletic than Teske.
Right out of the gate. The notion that some posters have that a player should redshirt just to put on a few pounds is just plain silly.
Castleton arguably needs to add 25-30 pounds before he's playable against high level D1 bigs. Name centers in the Big Ten you would have felt comfortable matching Castleton up against this year in the post.
I highly doubt Castleton plays over Davis. We really haven’t seen what Davis can do yet, because he was behind Teske and Mo, and I expect him to surprise some people. I think he’ll be a more than solid backup.
"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.
April 11th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Kevin Durant was 6'9" and 204 lbs during his one season at Texas. He seemed fine.
April 11th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
Not sure if serious. If you are, do you need me to elaborate on the differences between Kevin Durant and Colin Castleton?
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.
April 11th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
I know reading can be hard sometimes. I never once compared their talent levels, only their size.
April 11th, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
Was Durant guarding other team's centers?
April 11th, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
Durant wasn't, and that's why using him as an example was a pretty bad argument.
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.
You have some nerve using logic, facts and nuance.
Please resume only posting hot takes.
April 11th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
ignore
April 11th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
I'd give a kidney for Castleton to become Kevin Durant 2.0
and maybe only decent post in this thread.
April 11th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
in the post resides in that extra 25-30 pounds. He's absolutely unplayable when guys like Ethan Happ, Bruno Fernando, Kaleb Wesson and Nick Ward are in the game. Again, please name some Big Ten centers he can guard at 220 pounds.
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?
April 11th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
Any of them as long as he has proper positioning, discipline, and ability to stay vertical. He has incredible length which should help him not get completely bullied.
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.
Ethan Happ was listed 6'10" 230lbs. How was he ever able to guard big ten centers?
listed him at 175 lbs and he promptly took a redshirt year. Thanks for proving my point.
April 11th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
Weight is such a bad barometer (esp in today's spread game).
Nick Ward
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.
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.
The assumption that "Castleton will be better than Davis right out of the gate" is just plain silly.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
April 10th, 2018 at 10:02 PM ^
Has better ball skills. How he handles physical play at his current weight will tell if he’ll redshirt
April 10th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
Only an emergency would cause Beilien to burn the Castleton redshirt
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.
Hopefully Teske is lethal with his mid range jumper next year. If Moe leaves it is going to be rough not having 5 guys on the floor to stretch the defense and his absense will make it harder for other guys to get good looks.
he will be part of the regular rotation as the backup 5. No emergency required.
April 10th, 2018 at 10:06 PM ^
I feel like he can be another max beifieldt (sp?). About 8 minutes of solid D and rebounding a game, maybe more if there’s some foul trouble.
April 10th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
With Teske's history this year, we can expect a few games where he is in foul trouble. It would be nice to have a solid backup behind him that can spot him some minutes and still provide solid defense with an occasional bucket here and there.
April 10th, 2018 at 11:19 PM ^
He’s better than Max right?
No. Max started for a Sweet Sixteen Indiana team that won the Big Ten
a you'd hate to confuse coincidence with correlation, wouldn't you?
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.
April 11th, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
Max was a perimeter player on offense with 3 point range. On defense, he was undersized (except for his calves.) He was not a shot blocker. I hope Davis can give us more of an interior presence on offense and defense.
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.
April 10th, 2018 at 10:18 PM ^
You can definitely be a stand-up person and decide that you'd rather use your fleeting college eligibility somewhere where you can get more playing time. There is nothing wrong with that.