Gentleman Squirrels

May 11th, 2019 at 8:16 PM ^

What are Michigan's options now? I expect them push hard for Jaevin Cumberland but that's more of a replacement for Poole. Are there any other candidates Michigan has reached out to?

If the roster stays as it is (plus Cumberland), it's possible Livers spends time at 3 more, with Johns playing 4. Wilson to back up either 3 or 4.

GhostofJermain…

May 12th, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^

If you believe his bartender brother and family who live in Maysville, KY then JC has already agreed to come to AA.  

The local applebees (I'm not making this up) is where his brother started telling people last week about JC committing.  His entire family are huge Michigan fans as well as UC fans of course.   Please take this with a grain of salt, not my typical source of intel, however with FW deciding to stay in Germany it sounds more plausible.  To any of those mgobloggers traveling through the beautiful state of KY, if you blink you will miss the little town of Maysville, recently gutted by Manufacturing jobs being moved. However there is only one applebees, and the bartender and town love them some Michigan fans.

Cheers 

 

 

Gulogulo37

May 11th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^

Seriously? I mean, they're not going to win a national championship most likely, but I'd be shocked if they're not an upper tier Big Ten team. Simpson, Teske, Livers. And last year's freshman class was big. If just a couple of those guys step up we should be as good as this year. Matthews was a good player but flawed. It seems Poole checked out halfway through. And Iggy also was good but not amazing, not to mention the fact it's still possible he returns.

Castleton should be much better after bulking up. Johns should look better playing at his natural position. DDJ's stats were poor, but I liked how he played and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him make a leap. If Brooks can hit 3s he would actually be fine as a 2. Nunez could also very easily at least turn into a valuable bench 3-point sniper. Plus, we have 2 more highly-rated freshmen coming in although they don't look like major contributors in their first year. Wouldn't be surprising if Jalen Wilson is a solid bench player. Not all of those guys have to hit. Just a marked improvement from a couple and Michigan will be fine. I'm not at all worried about the frontcourt.

Jud's_Forehead

May 12th, 2019 at 9:44 AM ^

LOL nice analysis....

Matthews: Flawed (invited to NBA combine)

Poole: Checked out (Invited to NBA combine)

Iggy: Not great (Invited to NBA combine)

You then proceed to list players who couldn't beat out the three flawed, checked out, and not great players for playing time, predict they will be much better, look better, won't be surprised if they make big leaps, and say this years team will be as good as last years.

LOL

Jud's_Forehead

May 12th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^

Very true about JJJ and Bridges. But I'm not gonna say State was better because they were flawed and left. They were lottery picks. Izzo struggles to coach positionless basketball.  He thrives in defined roles squads.  You've seen how he will out coach 95% of other coaches with that type of team.  Even if the other team has three future NBA players on it. As far as not getting better under Izzo, Winston, Tillman, McQuaid, Charlie Bell, Forbes, Harris, and Payne say hello.

mackbru

May 11th, 2019 at 8:33 PM ^

Yeah, the article doesn't really say what the OP says. It just sort of vaguely says he hopes the team offers him another contract.

jsimms

May 12th, 2019 at 8:08 AM ^

here is a follow-up post/tweet from the same source

 

NBADraftProspects (draftprosnba)

I'm very sorry for the misunderstanding caused by my tweet. The German article only claims that contract talks between Franz Wagner and Alba will begin in the immediate future. Seems like no final decision has been made yet and every option, including Michigan, is still in play.

CWoodson

May 11th, 2019 at 8:50 PM ^

I don't speak German, but Google Translate doesn't seem to agree with this take. It's largely generic stuff about him being happy there and wanting to talk about a new contract. There's not much new here as far as I can tell; it's not "I'm staying" for sure. Relevant lines: However, Franz Wagner is already thinking about the near future "without interruption". Talks about a contract for the upcoming season did not exist yet. "We have to do that now," he said. "I hope they want to keep me." A solution seems tangible, because even Alba would like to keep his youngster. "We will hold talks in a timely manner," Ojeda announced.

MichiganStan

May 11th, 2019 at 9:42 PM ^

This one really sucks. Franz would've been a star at Michigan the moment he stepped on the court. Wouldve immediately filled a shooting need. 

Hopefully we can get that Cumberland guy people are talking about

 

BlueMk1690

May 11th, 2019 at 10:08 PM ^

While the article doesn't explicitly say that he won't go to Michigan, I don't think he would be talking about how he is hoping for a new contract with Alba if that wasn't his preference.

Now this development might be related to him getting more minutes on the first team in the BBL run-in. His flirtation with Michigan may well have been caused by the idea that he won't get the minutes to develop properly with a men's pro team..which may prove to not be a factor after all.

Overall if he could play for Alba full-time and get good minutes, that's probably a better competitive environment than college basketball. So you can't blame him.

Mr Miggle

May 11th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^

He hasn't even visited Michigan yet. Of course, he wants a good option to stay in Germany. I'm sure he also wants to see that they want him. It's a bit of a leap to say that means he's staying. Is that really that different from recruits who want to get more scholarship offers before they commit?

His timeline is still unclear. Does he have a guaranteed spot if Cumberland accepts his offer and Iggy returns? 

It sure sounds like that article is more opinion than hard news. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be correct. Alba does seem like a good option for Franz.