Bajema to Washington
Best of luck to him.
He was homesick and I’m glad he gets a chance to do so. Good kid, great player and just what the Huskies need. He will be missed....
He was homesick? Is this confirmed?
Can’t say that I blame him. UW has one of the most beautiful campuses around.
Godspeed, Cole. Fill 'em up.
I may get negged for this, but Juwan made a major error in having Nunez ahead of Cole in the rotation. There is absolutely nothing Cole could have done worse than Nunez
You think Beilein should've given Nunez a scholarship?
Doubt you get negged for that. Juwan's tenure is off to a good start but playing Nunez over Bajema was inexplicable and most of the fan base agreed on that. Though it probably had more to do with Nunez than Bajema.
Best of luck to him in his Husky career.
The start of the start to his tenure was great. Developments of late not ideal.
How a Freshman transferring has anything to do with a coaching mistake is baffling to me...especially when said freshman wasn't even the One and Done type.
What's really interesting to me is the differences in attitudes between football and basketball.
C Baj was a freshman, not an upperclassman and people are blaming the coach for him transferring after his freshman year because of what they're assuming is *lack of playing time.
*(It could possibly be some other reason, but playing time is what they are fine with basing the transfer decision on and thus the blame)
What would have been said if Dylan Mc (or B Pete) wanted to transfer after watching JOK perform during their freshman and redshirt freshman '17 seasons, just because they completed some passes during garbage time? You'll never have to say because they toughed it out past their first couple of years on campus.
At minimum, the differences in perspective are interesting.
Look, he started off fantastic, the Bahamas was great and recruiting looked spectacular. The back end of the season was pretty brutal and we lost two (presumptive) commits that looked like they could put our program into a different league. DDJ is gone. Bajema is gone. Recent developments have not been stellar.
Look, take a Look at how Michigan finished the year when Caris went down.
*Hint: there was nothing stellar about it.
*Another hint: freakin #FireBeilein was a born then.
You saw the levels that could be reached with a full squad. They were almost regarded as the #1 team in the country.
They beat Sparty this year. That was enough for me, after getting swept the previous year. That's the reason they're quiet over there...There's absolutely no excuse for them to give for that L.
But go ahead and nitpick a coach after their first year because they didn't *checks notes* SIGN 2 TOP 10 PLAYERS (one who opted to essentially turn pro and go get paid...the other stayed closer to Cali to play with his brother during a pandemic) and had to settle for the Top class in the B1G.
Lack of context is an understatement.
Good reply. One can look at the glass half full or half empty when it comes to Mich Men's BB. I'll look at it half full for now.
The $500K lure into the G-League will affect many other blue ribbon programs beside Michigan and Juwan Howard.
What a dickface.
Do you see me saying to fire Howard? Certainly developments February through current for Michigan basketball have trended down. They probably aren’t even going to play basketball next year so whatever. Get worked up over a pretty benign observation if you want.
February 8, 2020
Michigan 77 - #9 Michigan St. 68
--------
Sucks about DDJ. But besides that, how much production transferred out? We were just hoping Colin developed the skills in year 3 that Dickinson's coming in with, to maybe take some minutes from Johns I guess.
Of course I'd rather have Cole than Nunez but if he ultimately wanted to transfer after his freshman season with only Nunez to battle after next season, why is there any blame thrown anywhere? A lot of people would like those odds for playing time.
If there's no season, then what would the 1 and Dones have mattered anyway.
-----
Oh yeah...Poo poo face, since I guess we're doing that.
You seem insane.
Are you in practice everday? What if Bajema was homesick after all this pandemic stuff considering where he transferred?
Hows Juwan going to handle that?
Calling it a major error is a bit of revisionist history to me, unless you're telling me you know for a fact Bajema was ready to start in place of Franz to begin the season. After that both of their minutes were limited enough that I don't think it made much of a difference. I know everyone assumes that's why he left but that's not a given.
"both of their minutes were limited enough that I don't think it made much of a difference."
Are you serious? Nunez's minutes came in the first half and early second half. His minutes were during parts of the game where it still mattered - whether UM was leading, or not. Bajema only saw mop-up duty in blowout wins. Nunez played in 22 games to Bajema's 10; and he averaged 7.6 min to Cole's 3.3.
And just what did Nunez do better than Bajema throughout the season? He couldn't play defense - was blown by by whoever had the ball across from him. Couldn't stop a forward in the post, and couldn't keep up with guards anywhere else. He shot 31% from the field, and 25% from 3 (and only 50% from the line). Bajema had work to do on defense, but wasn't the liability that was Nunez all over the court, and he shot 77% from the field, 57% from 3, and 100% at the stripe.
Nunez got more than twice the minutes, games, and opportunity that Bajema got. The stats and the 'eye test' (watching the two actually play) both tell us - without doubt - that Bajema deserved more 'opportunity'. Starting over Wagner has nothing to do with any of this, and was a strange statement.
I have no idea why Nunez was so favored over Bajema. The only reason that makes any sense (to me) is that Bajema and the coaching staff (or parts of it) didn't see eye to eye on some off-court issues.
In any case, I wish Cole the best of luck in Washington. And I bet he becomes a pretty good player for them.
Nunez starting has everything to do with this as that is where the majority of his extra minutes came. I don't feel strongly enough to argue about this, I just think there are too many unknown factors involved to definitively state it was a major error.
This is fair. While stats (and eye test) show a pretty clear picture, we honestly have no idea what was going on around the team - work effort, personalities, practice and coaching methods for each player, etc. "...too many unknown factors involved...", indeed.
Cole would have assuredly got his "opportunity" had he stayed past his FRESHMAN year.
Quotes, bold, italics and all caps. This is thoroughly empathize statement
Why does everyone assume Bajema is transferring because he didn’t play over Nunez, and not the other way around. For all we know, Bajema told Juwan he was leaving to go closer to home and so Nunez got more minutes.
Yes, the only reason has to be that they didnt see eye to eye. Only reason.
Not perhaps that he didnt practice well, or not show understanding of the O or D.
People cite these stats without context. All of Bajema's stats were in garbage time without any pressure, and against less competition. Not all, but a lot of Nunez' stats came in more competitive gameplay against better players.
The stats arent the whole story, and neither is your narrative
This is such a ridiculous comment that illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding about basketball on this board. Bajema had a prettier shot than Nunez and people who know nothing about basketball think he should be in.
Everytime he played more than a minute he was a lost baby deer on both offense and defense. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t stay in front of a traffic cone, the coaches talked about him not even knowing where he was supposed to be. Not knowing the sets makes running an offense impossible even with a Steph curry level shot and it made him just as much or even more of a liability on defense as nunez. Bajema could do one thing better, Nunez could do 10 things better but people just look at shooting and ignore everything else
Ahhh Might explain why CJ Baird got some run over him that one game...
CJ was a hybrid, best of both worlds between the two's skillsets.
Nunez role on offense was stand at the 3 point line and space the floor. I think Bajema could have figured that out.
Sounds like you're saying he was forced out.
He could have gotten his chance this year.
That’s not even remotely true and also still doesn’t take into account defensive rotations. This board loves just picking players and assuming they are amazing with literally no evidence
I dont see anyone saying Bajema was amazing. I dont see anyone saying he deserved minutes over DDJ/Brooks/X. I havent seen any mention of how he would have been a huge contributor (this year) had he played more. Perhaps you're just tired of bashing on Nunez for a guy who left. That I understand.
But there was plenty of evidence that one player was struggling and the other had potential. The player who got the minutes continually got blown by and lost on rotations defensively. Then the same player couldnt hit a shot on offense and presented little off the bounce. He also didnt rebound. I can certainly understand Nunez originally playing over Bajema. More experience. He probably splashes 3's in practice. I feel for the kid because I think its safe to assume he looked far better outside of live game action.
The frustration I think a lot of us are feeling is that we kept going back to Nunez, despite his struggles, anytime we needed that 4th guard. At some point I really thought we'd stop banging our head against the wall and give someone else a shot. Does Bajema get lost on rotations more than Nunez? Perhaps. But well never know and postulating is sort of the point of a message board.
In Bajema's limited time he showed a smooth stroke and ability off the bounce. What did Nunez show? What are those 10 other things you say he is better at? At some point it seems like you should roll the dice on the higher ceiling. Was our season going to crater because we switched 5 mpg from one player to another? If Bajema comes in for a short spell and the whole team crashes and burns... well then you take him back out.
All of that said I think people are being too critical of Howard. Juwan obviously thought playing Nunez gave the team its best chance. But he is also a first time head coach who hadnt been around the college game in a long time. He is going to make some mistakes. Maybe this is one of them or maybe it isn't. Still wish we had any of our transfers back.
Bajema can show all the potential in the world, if he can't function within the offense or defense bringing him in for a five minute stretch to just try to bridge foul trouble or get to a media timeout is a mistake. There is a reason CJ Baird got in over Bajema too at Nebraska and just like Nunez it wasn't because Howard believed CJ Baird was the better basketball player in a one on one situation, its because knowing what he was supposed to do on the floor was more valuable than the difference in skill set.
We just have a bunch of keyboard warriors that have never fun an offensive set or communicated a switch on defense deciding who gave the team a better shot to win.Just like it was so clear John O'Korn was better than Speight or that Norfleet, despite not even being able to make the back end of a CFL roster was a secret offensive weapon. It happens as fans but when we see someone get playing time struggle everyone just convinces themselves that kid on the bench has to be a better option and its almost always wrong.
I agree. The board hates Nunez and loves Bajema. We get it, Bajema has more potential and a better shot. But I think it’s a little crazy to act like the coaches were purposely playing a worse player, especially when they have more information and basketball knowledge than the whole board combined. Howard wasn’t trying to spite Bajema or prove a point, he wasn’t trying to favor Nunez, he couldn’t choose to keep 1 or the other. Blaming Howard doesn’t make sense.
seemed like a great kid with a lot of upside. Sad to see him go, but good luck to him.
I am assuming family proximity might have played a role
HUGE role....he and his dad are very close. I’m honestly happy for him. I think Juwan knew it to be honest...
Best place he could've landed. Closer to home, and the 2-3 zone will help hide some defensive 'limitations'.
Purely speaking from a geographical context below:
Was thinking about this transfer and many amongst the country, how recruiting transpired in April and these transfer portals, whether it has given Juwan and staff some level of pause on their direction in recruiting? At least maybe their 2021 class with this covid 19 uncertainty. I've noticed a lot of the transfer portal kids are heading "home". A lot of high school kids are choosing to stay regional now as well. Your typical one and dones wont worry about their home for a year but these 2, 3 and 4 year kids will. Will we really start to focus regionally for kids first and then branch out from there?
Gonna be rough seeing this dude light it up. I'm nearly positive he is going to be very good
My posse's on Broadway, it's time to get ill. Good luck, kid. I hear that Dick's is the place where the crew hang out- the SWASS like to play, and the rich flaunt clout.
He'll be with the Mix-a-lot posse on the Broadway set.
Just gotta watch out for the Bremelos.
This year is so nutty, not having guys on campus, unable to talk in person and being at home is leading to so many surprise transfers. Honestly don’t think this one happens if there was a normal spring
He's gonna be the next 1st rounder UW has while UW also manages to be a Pac12 basement dweller again
I will judge Juwan after both Bajema and Nunez’s careers are done.
My bet is that Bajema will be the far better player, but I’d like to see it play out.
Judge Juwan because a player decided to transfer after their Freshman year?
That's like saying I'm gonna judge Beilein on Aubrey Dawkins and Andrew Dakich.
Didn't Doyle and Donnal play while Mo Wagner and DJ Wilson were red-shirting?
Fan base........broken
Losing Bajema, AND DDJ, AND Castleton, AND not getting the two 5*s, collectively was a big deal. Losing or not getting say, two or three of those five would not be a big deal.
Now Juwan has to fill, what, seven scholarships next year? Not good roster management.
Not saying Juwan is a bad coach, but he has to get an incomplete at this point. You can't go after the 5*s, take the transfer hit, and then not get the 5*s.
Since the abrupt end of the season, Juwan Howard...
* lost three players who originally committed to play for JB
* lost a 5* to a brand-spanking-new G League alternative that pays over $400k per season
* lost a 5* who (apparently) wanted the program to revolve around him to a vastly inferior program willing to do just that
* despite losing two 5* recruits, signed the #1 recruiting class in the B1G less than a year after he was hired
UM's inability to beat Ohio State's fully operation football Death Star has turned a significant portion of the fanbase into goddamn idiots regarding any & all UM sports. Amazing.
This year's class would have had those 2 join 1Hunter, 2Terrance, and 3Zeb (4Jace)?
Would that 5 or 6 have been a problem?
Good luck to him. Hopefully he gets more playing time.