Hunter Dickinson Revenge Game Against Johnny Juzang
Cool tidbit I heard in Hunter’s most recent press conference. https://youtu.be/k7nN4Ctdroo. Relevant part is at about 12:50. A reporter asked him about playing at almost 10pm ET tomorrow and Hunter brought up the last time he played this late was an AAU game in Vegas that was basically a 1:30 AM ET tipoff after arriving in Vegas that day. (AAU sounds like a messed up world btw.) AND he mentioned it was against a team with Johnny Juzang who is now UCLA’s leading scorer.
I looked up the stats here: https://www.prephoops.com/2018/07/compton-magic-vs-team-takeover-the-numbers/ . Hunter had 8 pts and Terrance Williams had 3 pts for “Team Takeover” and lost 81 to 79 to Juzang’s “Compton Magic”. Juzang had 20 pts in the win but that team also had Evan Mobley(!) with 22 points. Hunter’s team had no one else I recognized so to only lose by 2 in that situation seems pretty good and I got to think Hunter will have some Maryland game style extra motivation going into tomorrow. Can’t wait. Go Blue!
Also if you listen earlier in the interview you can hear Bob Wojnowski’s (Wojo) AOL email address get called out by the moderator. Oh and also Hunter is a really good interview.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:35 PM ^
Hunter’s team also had McDonalds All-Americans Jeremy Roach (Duke) and Armando Bacot (UNC), and Maryland Gatorade POY Justin Moore (Villanova). Juzang’s team had both Mobleys and Onyeka Okongwu, so they were pretty loaded.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:43 PM ^
Yea. I just looked that up some names after. Looks like Hunters team wasn’t chopped liver but no one has played better than Mobley this year and after Mobley, Juzang probably has the second highest scoring average of any of those guys. Also makes me realize after AAU Hunter has probably played against half the top recruits in the country already so maybe this wasn’t as notable as I thought but still interesting to me.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:40 PM ^
TL;DR, but if Hunter is pissed off, I like our chances. See @Maryland.
That said, I'll say it when I shouldn't, dude is a little overrated at this point. He's not an All-American type player beyond the hype.
He refuses to do anything with his right hand. And misses a lot of bunnies. The pocket pass dunk he has last game was the most athletic I've seen him outside of the steal and layup versus OSU. He also complains about EVERY call.
If he was on any other team, we'd hate him. But he's a Wolverine so do your thing Hunter!!
Looking forward to seeing what he can do next year. I think a summer with the S&C staff and Howard and Washington helping him in the post is going to make him truly an All-American.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:43 PM ^
A) he doesn't complain about every call. B) what does that have to do with whether or not he's played like an All American?
March 29th, 2021 at 11:56 PM ^
Hunter actually has used his right-hand plenty of times this season. Sure, he’s overly-reliant on his left, but most players are when it comes to dominant versus non-dominant hand. Also, he’s 51st in the nation in 2-point FG% with 61.1%. That’s not exactly the kind of player who “misses a lot of bunnies”. And, as the other poster mentioned he really doesn’t complain about every call; Hunter gets fed up with himself when he fouls and you can see it in his reactions.
Whether or not he’s “a little overrated” is really just a subjective pissing contest. The guy is an extremely good player - as a freshman. That’s the reason he was an All-American: he walked in to the toughest league in basketball and was a top-three player at his position.
I mean Hunter is not a offensive juggernaut at this point - 51st in the nation in 2-point FG% isn't not super hot for a 7 footer who rarely takes a shot more than two feet away from the rim.
But like most players on the team, he's a great all around player who affects the game in a lot of different ways - as a defender, as a passer, as a rebounder, as a guy who draw double teams and creates opportunities for other players.
He also sucks up rebounds like a hoover. Some of them very difficult. Don't think I saw NPOTY Luka Garza even attempt to rebound.
No one claimed he was an offensive juggernaut. I was merely refuting the claim the other poster made that Hunter was "a little overrated" and "missed alot of bunnies". Just so we're clear, 51st in the nation in 2-point FG% is extremely good, especially for a true freshman.
March 30th, 2021 at 12:04 AM ^
Did Hunter piss in your Cheerios or steal your girlfriend or something?
March 30th, 2021 at 12:20 AM ^
Who cares about his right hand when his left hook is highly effective. Dickinson as a true frosh is an All American yet you nitpick ? Sheesh.
March 30th, 2021 at 12:44 AM ^
If he isn't an All-American, opposing teams sure treat him like one, making him the focal point of their defensive gameplans. He's averaging 14 ppg in the tournament anyway.
March 30th, 2021 at 12:51 AM ^
This is silly. If he shoots great with the left hand, then make people force you to use the right. They haven't forced him, so he keeps going left. He'll have all summer to work on his right hand as well as getting stronger.
He's been our best freshman big-man since Webber and Howard. He's leading the team in scoring, rebounds and blocks. As a freshman. So..........yeah. Criticizing him is pretty stupid.
No one has said he is a perfect player who doesn't have anything to improve at. But he's a FRESHMAN.
Since apparently being good means being ambidextrous, I'm going to guess you are not a fan of Brooks, Wagner, or basically the rest of the team. Since they mostly only shoot with their right hand.
This is a bad take. At the basket, you should be able to make a layup with either hand. Using your right hand from the left side gives you a bad angle and opens you up to getting your shot blocked. This is basic, fundamental basketball that should be taught and developed at the middle school level, if not earlier.
Pretty sure the guy can make a LAYUP with either hand. But hooks and turnarounds are not layups. Those are a 7' post players version of a guards jump shot. You really shouldn't confuse the two...
In the low post, as close as Dickinson gets, most of his shots are essentially layups. There are numerous varieties of layups. There’s the standard layup line, running layup. There’s the jump stop layup. There’s the reverse layup, the underhand scoop layup. The finger roll layup, the layup from the baseline (where you use the right hand from the left side.) A little drop step, turn and bank the ball in from 2-3 feet is effectively a layup. Dickinson should spend the summer running the Mikan drill every day until he’s comfortable using either hand inside. It’s obvious he dominated in high school due to his size and didn’t have to develop his right. If he wants to succeed in the pros, he’ll need to develop that 12-15 foot shot with his left, AND a right handed counter move in the post.
Teeba knows everything there is to know about the layup business.
I don't know why you're complaining about his athleticism. He came in as a freshman being perceived as someone who couldn't move, and months later he's in the Sweet 16 being trusted to guard the opposition PG in the second half. He's already shown so much improvement in that area.
Also the right hand/bunny comments are simply untrue, and probably a product of you focusing in on him a bit too much, but others have corrected you.
Watch him play. His right hand is nonexistent.
I don't agree with anything in your Hunter critical hot take.
Isnt he rated completely on his play this year. We were wondering if he might be behind Davis all year. Im not sure how he can be overrated.
Hunter's HS tape demonstrated the criticisms you level here all too well-and thusly lowered my expectations of early contributions from Hunter. Here he has actually significantly exceeded my expectations. Hunter still has great room, and need, for improvement. The really good news is that there is good reason to believe that he will realize the needed improvement-and opponents beware when this happens. The Michigan staff has done an exceptional job in mitigating and correcting Hunter's faults-at the macro level.
Hunter's dominant left hand confirms my 68 years of experience in life. I have never encountered a left-handed player who developed their right hand particularly well-and this is pretty much a universal truth. Watch Brooks defend a left-handed player-he understands this "universal truth'-its sort of comical and so on point. The staff is surely working on this.
Hunter does complain too much. And I believe this was/has been reflected in his increased foul numbers as the B1G season wore on. There is nothing more grinding on an official than a player that whines about calls-every call...even the most obvious, egregious violations. You lose a measure of patience and the discretionary part of blowing the whistle loses a level of the benefit of the doubt. Those increased foul numbers declare that Hunter has developed a reputation-and good luck with recouping said reputation. (Isn't it interesting how his foul numbers have decreased in the tournament-away from the "reputation" he has developed with the conference officials???) The fact is that there are very few calls that are made that are not legitimate and Hunter had better come to an understanding that he is on a slippery slope here. Here to, I believe the coaching staff will do good work on changing the behaviors that impact Hunter's relationships with the officials.
Like it or not, subjective as it is, this is a part of the game.
Hunter is the focal point of an opponents defensive game plan against Michigan - do they double him low, or not? Can they get away with single-ing him up? If they can, they have a much better chance of slowing Michigan's offense. If they can't, you can bet on Michigan figuring out a way to get consistently good looks at the basket - and that is bad news for your defense. On defense, he can plug the post as well as any one player in college basketball today. He gave Kofi Cockburn all he wanted (Cockburn's points largely came against Davis). If nothing else, he neutralizes the opposition big.
The kid is a true freshman that is a lynchpin - offensively and defensively - for one of the top three teams in college basketball.
And here you are telling us how over rated he is, and everything he is so bad at on the court. What a douche you are...
(You've probably figured this out by now, but there are other ways to explain your points that wouldn't include getting voted into Bolivia...)
Yeah, you've gotta be right, random dude on the internet. After all, what do The Sporting News and AP know about All American teams, anyway?
Are we watching the same Michigan team? What are you talking about?
Logged in just to tell you what a miserable person you must be to go out of your way to find fault with Dickinson's game at this point. How about you just sit back and enjoy his success?
Nice right hand, Hunter ?
That was from earlier in the season. The last time I saw that move may have been the Wisconsin game.
Logged in to downvote and post this gif.
Dude, he's a freshman and one of the best in the country. He was never going to continue playing like he was for a stretch at the beginning of the season because teams adjust and learned his flaws
You would've been +51 if you stopped after the first paragraph.
March 30th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
I'll give you a Hunter hot take: Michigan is not a 1 seed, doesn't win the B1G, and doesn't even sniff the elite 8 without him.
March 30th, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
You're gonna have to put a blow torch on that 'hot take' to warm it up...
March 30th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
may be the worst post ever
I’m still befuddled by how you started this nonsense off with saying TL;DR directed at the OP. So if you didn’t read it, how did you decide and conclude that it was a great opportunity to
THEN proceed to go on with a lengthy fecal post where the focal (and basically only) point is exaggerating the few things that a freshman All-American objectively doesn’t do well... Not long before he’ll be playing with the #1-seeded team, that he leads and you I’m guessing support, in the ELITE EIGHT.
TD;WIHR [Too Dumb;Wish I Hadn’t Read]
He honestly gets mugged every play. Sort of a Shaq thing when you’re that big, the refs tend to try and even things out. Watch the tape though.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:42 PM ^
Wojofan. Lol
$10 says MaizeBlueA2 couldn't make 7 out of 10 layups with his weak hand with nobody even guarding him
you're either the Hunter, or the hunted.....
Wait. Somebody still has an AOL email address? LOL!!!
I don't know that a one-time game against any particular player means quite as much as your hometown team (that you've rooted for your entire life) not even bothering to recruit you. But if something like that sort of manufactured grievance will induce a performance like game #1 against UMD, I'm all for it... Manufacture on, big guy!!!
@hotmail.com and @yahoo.com......
i was around when the only mail you could get had to have a stamp on it (postage stamp, not a time stamp)
"i was around when the only mail you could get had to have a stamp on it (postage stamp, not a time stamp)"
So was I, pretty girl, so was I...
That's a pretty loaded AAU team Dickinson had as well. Roach (Duke), Bacot (UNC), Harris (UNC), Moore (Villanova), Morsell (Virginia). The others also went D1 to smaller schools
March 30th, 2021 at 10:07 AM ^
Jeremy Roach plays at Duke and was a big time recruit, so your entire hypothesis is flawed.
edit - I see someone else who knows far more than me pointed this out in much more detail.
March 30th, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
Revenge is a dish best served cold, at midnight.
March 30th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
all you can eat....