Per ESPN, Hunter Dickenson to the portal (or, "For every Yin, there must be a Yang")
Sorry to share this news on Jadyn day.
All I’m saying is the pining for the JB era whenever there is a perceived and inherit Coach Howard miscue (mediocre season, players transferring/going pro, lack of recruiting, etc..) always comes back as if the current coach isn’t doing his best to make it work runs rampant on this board. Now - granted the post I responded to was more “celebrating” the JB era and not wistfully hoping it reencarnares itself but the same sentiment rings true. We gotta let it go. Subs were had, it was crazy but we’re far removed from that regime.
also -1 for the low-hanging, grammar-nazi fruit. Please let me know where I can direct my apology post for completely screwing up Juwan’s name, Mr. Kinng.
Hmm.
Well, not great.
I haven't opined much on basketball this year. Partly due to watching less, of necessity.
The impression I've gotten is that Hunter hasn't always been happy.
He doesn't appear to be NBA material, so his best earning potential is probably in college for the time being.
But he doesn't want to do it here.
A lot of what has frustrated people the most about Michigan basketball this year really seems like stuff that's locker-room type stuff. Lack of effort on defense and consistency, that kind of thing. Note the contrast between this team and Juwan's B10 winner, which was unified and intense and full of hard workers. It's quite different.
Locker room has something to do with it. Is it the players? Is it the coach? That's hard to tell. But Hunter seemed frustrated at times, and it's not hard to imagine that Juwan, with his best player being his own son, might have been in a weird situation with how he coached his players this year. If you have a certain type of relationship with your son, and you are consistently light in your touch, and he joins the team that needs a harder touch, and you can't offer that... well, that's one imaginary scenario. Among several.
But Hunter played well for us and it's over now. Very unfortunate. But, honestly, I thought I'd be more shocked than I am. I'm a Juwan supporter and want to give him a chance to build again, but a rebuild is definitely what is needed right now.
I think a fair question to ask is who/what is responsible for the obvious career regression: Hunter, Juwann, team around him, or voodoo witchcraft?
Does Juwan deserve a shot at a rebuild? He hasn't proven himself as an excellent coach or recruiter while he has lost his temper and damaged the image of Michigan Basketball. We are four years into his tenure and we are looking at a total rebuild with a more than likely bottom third team in a bad B1G after two years of nearly a .500 record. Juwan deserves one more year but if the team does not show significant improvement in attitude, effort, and performance, he should go.
I have had a similar thought that Juwan's bringing in his sons has been a negative for the program. I'm not close enough to the program to really know (and I'm prepared to get slaughtered for my rampant speculation). But, your comments about the light touch along with Jett's defensive struggles seem fair. I also wonder how many players looked at a roster with two of the head coach's sons and decided that they didn't want to compete against the coach's sons for a starting spot, assuming (correctly or incorrectly) that it would not be a fair competition.
The Jett nepotism claims have validity but Jace is a deep bench guy who averages 7 minutes a game. And he was all effort out there, especially on defense.
I wouldn't lump him in as a guy who messed with the culture.
Good thing we’re and football and hockey school! Go Blue!
Maybe his girlfriend will graduate this semester. Time to move on.
Juwan has no chance to survive this, next year will be his last and rightfully so. This team is going to be brutal next year and a must win year for him
Warde might give him a "rebuilding year" pass with all the talent exodus. I realize that roster management is the coach's job, I'm just saying Warde will use that as a reason to not fire him.
Warde doesn't seem like the type of guy to fire anyone.
From what I’ve been told directly from his girlfriend (I met Ziyah at a football game last season), she is graduating early and trying to train for the Olympics. And btw, she is outstanding!
appreciate the 3 years and the memories BUT peaked as a freshman…I’d imagine one last NIL payday probably pays a bit more than the NBA jr. Leagues 🤷🏻♂️
Should probably brush up on his Chinese knowledge because that’s where he will likely be because his NBA potential is pretty low.
And going to China/Spain etc is not a bad thing at all - their leagues pay pretty nice contracts there that beat the NBA G league if I recall.
He should have left for the NBA after last season. Its possible he could gotten drafted. Now he has no shot at the NBA imo
Maybe he can take his podcast with him.
Its ok teams don't win in the tourney with traditional big men. Look at Purdue
It does bring up a good point . . . is our offense sort of obsolete?
Not seeing many teams in the Final Four or even Elite Eight that look like Michigan's offense.
Incredibly bad news for the bball team. I've defended Howard, but this is not only terrible for next season's prospects, but a bad omen for the program's trajectory overall. Looking like a very down year next year, then not sure how much longer Howard gets unless there are some huge transfer pick ups like tomorrow.
If I told you last March that Kobe, Hunter, Jett, Frankie, Diabate, Caleb would have exactly 3 combined seasons in a U of M uniform you wouldve sharted your pants. Oh and our top transfer wouldnt be allowed in as well. Honestly if your are Juwan and its spring 2023 how do you even replace and entire team leaving 8+ seasons behind. This is Beilein after his second year, Harbaugh Covid season level shit right there. Recruiting is a minimum 2 years of relations with high school players.
I do think it’s important we give Juwan this entire offseason. College sports are goofy with NIL/transfer and play right away. Portal filled with talent. Juwan better get to work. Recommend he tells a few of his own guys to hit it, and we add 3-4 more dudes. Get a roster that’s tougher and plays good D. We definitely need more talent though, Juwan needs to hit portal aggressively. This CAN NOT be the roster we take to new season. That would be unacceptable and something every UM fan should bash Juwan about. Lets see how it plays out. The next 6 weeks is vital to this program.
Never felt like he got all that much better as his career went on. some of that was probably the talent degrading around him, but he never seemed all that improved each season. Still stinks that he is bolting since he is the closest thing to a consistent player the team has had for the past 2 years.
Oh well, likely another nail in the coffin for Howard’s coaching tenure for the upcoming season - which increasingly looks to potentially be the worst Michigan season in decades. There are massive holes everywhere and combining Howard’s already-questionable coaching is a recipe for disaster.
Also, why the fuck does every good Michigan moment get followed up with an immediate sucker punch of bad news?
Its going to be hilarious when he ends up at Maryland after all the shit talking he did. That team looks to be a big man away from being very good next year.
People are also really underselling the team next year. They aren't going to be national championship good but they will be fighting for a tourney spot just like this year. This blogs complete lack of basketball knowledge is really astounding.
The only tourney spot Michigan will be fighting for next year will be the CBI. They are going to be terrible. There is no amount of porting that can fix this mess
Its really not that hard to see a middle of the pack team that gets a little more luck and makes the tournament. Another year of progression turns Dug into a solid PG who is able to distribute the ball better and be more consistent. Reed already showed he's a more athletic and dynamic defender than Dickinson and while the offensive drop off will be greater than the defensive gain its not negative all around. On top of that you can see where Llewellyn plus Burnett and Washington off the bench is a better guard rotation than just Dug and Kobe this year even if Kobe is the best individual player of the group. Then you just need a transfer at the 4 and some growth from Khayatt into a role player. That leaves you with
2023 Dug> 2022 Dug
2023 Llewellyn/Burnett=2022 Kobe
Everyone on this blog is convinced that Baker was already better than Jett so lets say Baker= 2022 Jett
Transfer at the 4 plus any growth from Khayatt or Terrance Williams getting his head out of his ass> than whatever the trash pile at the 4 this year was
2023 Reed<<Dickinson but the defense will be better
That team is probably finishing somewhere 35th-45th in kenpom and depending on the bounces on either side of the bubble
For someone complaining about the board's lack of basketball knowledge, you seem to be producing the dumbest basketball takes this board has seen in months. Congratulations. By position:
1: correct, will be better
2: Llewelyn/Burnett = a guy who played his way into the first round of the NBA draft? Laughable.
3: Even if we take your absurd claim Baker > Jett (because for some reason you take random hot takes on the board as 100% truth), we're going from Baker *and* Jett to Baker (if cleared), *no* Jett, and a true freshman. So it'll obviously be worse, putting aside the fact that again we're losing a first rounder.
4: you admit is a giant unknown
5: huge downgrade (HD+Reed<<<<<<Reed + true freshman)
So, in comparison to a team that missed the tournament and wasn't even on the bubble until the last two weeks, we are upgrading the 1, downgrading at the 2/3/5, and hoping our steaming trash pile at the 4 smells a little less badly next year. Recipe for success right there!
Dug will be better, but why would Llewellyn who was bad and coming off an injury and a guy who has also been injured but also not good when he has played be better than Bufkin who is probably going to be a 1st round pick be equal?
Also Baker is who he is, a spot up shooter who can be a little too inconsistent. He was not as good as Jett last year overall and won't suddenly be better in his 6th year.
This team unless it hits on all its transfer will be worse than this year. This team was already floating around the 40/50s on Kenpom this year, but it'll be better next year by losing all its best players besides Dug?
Howard needs to hit on every single transfer pretty much and hope that Khayat is good.
Yeah, his beef was with the previous coach. Willard would be a fool not to welcome him with open arms.
Don’t you mean:
*creed voice* “WITH ERRRMS WIDE OPENNNN”
If you attempt to make a queer comment, at least get the phonetics right...
I think I have at least a little basketball knowledge. Assuming TWill follows HD out the door, the starting 5 is potentially Dug, Nimari/Llewellyn, JoeyB, Tschetter and Tarris. Does that inspire confidence in you?
EDIT: I forgot about Khayat. But counting on him to make the leap is asking a lot.
I think its stupid to assume with the transfer portal that would be the final starting 5/rotation but even if it was I think its a roster that can make an NCAA tourney if the bench play can come through at all with Washington being a hit, Papa playing solid defensively to spell Reed and Williams getting himself back to being a 30% 3 point shooter with a great rebounding rate
Well, that is where youre erring. Khayat is gonna be a stud. Saw the flashes as the last game went on. It is just a matter of time. We get one big transfer at the 5 and we are back in business.
2 NBA first rounders and an All big ten center replaced by ??? and a 2 pt a game guy? I try to be optimistic but as of now we are nowhere near back in business. If Khayat is the answer at the 4 he wouldve had at least one of 30 games where he showed something. He was playing behind that absolute #$%^ and it kept him on the bench all season? He could be the answer but its not like he was playing behind Livers all season. This team is a hodge podge right now and a minimum of 3 decent players away from being able to make the tourney.
Not putting them off but this is how their lineup shakes out right now:
PG- Dug/Llewelyn
SG- Burnett/Washington III
SF- Baker/Glenn/Jace
PF-T. Will/Tschetter/Yo-Yo
C- Reed/Kante
This squad is lacking quite a bit! Add to the fact MSU, Maryland, Purdue are returning quite a bit. OSU has a really good class coming in next season. Illinois seems to have no issue grabbing transfers. Our ceiling looks to be middle of the pack in the B1G. On top of that, nobody in this group has been real consistent at this level besides the guy(Dug) you said wasn’t even a B1G caliber guard before last year.
Our Biggest hope is GW3 is the second coming of Trey Burke and Yo-Yo/Reed have outstanding Sophmore seasons.
Kobe wasn't consistent last year. He was a nothing offensively to start the year and was invisible in the biggest game at the end of it. Yeah it will be great if he comes back and is more consistent but Burnett/Llewellyn/Washington can absolutely give you the level of production they got from Kobe this year even if individually none of those guys has the same ceiling. Everyone on this board already argues Baker was an improvement on Jett this year so that should be seen as an improvement at the 3 and the center spot is going to obviously be worse offensively but it will be better defensively. And that is before we get whoever we are going to get out of the portal at the 4 spot at the very least.
I'm not arguing the team is going to be competing for any championships, its absolutely plausible it will be competing to be in the ncaa tourney
I get what you’re saying but all that is sight unseen and hope. Kobe was a 19 year old with pedigree(former top 30 recruit/ McDonald’s AA) it was always a good chance he would flash at some point. Hence the reason the NBA is salivating over him right now. None of the guards you mentioned fit that profile besides Burnett(and even he has yet to flash like Kobe had in brief career). Now if Kel’el Ware, Tamar Bates & Caleb Love show up on the team next season then I will gladly re-evaluate but as of today they look to be a below average team.
Yo-Yo is the starting PF. He is ahead of the others.
Hate to be that guy but I think until Yo-yo proves more on the court, I got the order correct.
Tschetter was starting as a reward for hustling in practice. He is limited athletically. TWill is likely following his friend HD out the door. Khayat is the starting 4 by default until a transfer 4 arrives. And even then, I’m not convinced the Wofford guy is the answer.
This blogs complete lack of basketball knowledge is really astounding.
Basketball is a game of inches!
It's mind blowing how often his name is misspelled. Good luck to him. This feels like a make or break year for Juwan.
Well no need to care enough to spell it correctly anymore anyway 🤷♂️
Naga naga naggonnaworkhereanymore amirite?
He has improved. The offense just changed around him. In the right offense he could average 25 points. He’s very skilled all around offensively.
I hadn't thought about it before, but honestly this makes a ton of sense. This is probably his highest earning potential of his career. He can try to start a bidding war among top teams and get to both make bank and compete for a championship instead of playing for a bubble team again if Kobe doesn't come back.
Does that mean Ziyah is also in the transfer portal?
Not trying in any way to slander the man but my guess is Hunter is trying to get as much money as he can while in college since he won’t have much of an NBA career most likely. That combined with the ineptitude of the team this year and the likely circumstance of Jett and Kobe both leaving. Makes sense I guess.
I think this makes us worse this year obviously but I actually think it’s good developmentally for the team long term. I’d had enough of Hunter’s antics anyways and was half hoping he’d declare for the draft.
We are probably looking at another year or two of being mediocre but hopefully we can turn it around from there.
4 years and Juwan has officially killed the basketball program. We are going to Fn suck next year - as if this year wasn’t bad enough to watch. The 3 best players all are going to leave 😂😂