Men’s basketball questions

The larger issue is Dug and Williams can't be relied upon to provide reliable scoring options.  I like Dug and think he'll get there eventually but as a freshman he can't do that.  Off the bench we have Baker and Reed (another guy that I really like) as decent options but not much else.  This team is so Hunter-centric that when he is anything less than dominant we struggle.  Even Izzo realized that and started doubling him this game which he hadn't done before.  If he leaves after this year, where does this team go for offense?

The defense was better but we still gave up a lot of open looks to good shooters like Hauser and Walker who thankfully didn't knock them down as they usually do.  And again, can they bring that defensive effort consistently going forward?  History doesn't suggest they will.

Nobody really expected Diabate or Houston to be here more that one year, but they did expect them to be better while they were here.

I think what concerns me is that we very simply have nobody to shoot the ball from deep.  There really is no way Michigan is going to be the conference favorite next year because there is no evident fix for that on the way.

I admire the resolve they showed to stay in the game today but there is no cure for what ails them right now.  I like every single one of Michigan’s players, they play hard, they don’t quit, and they are good kids, but we are going to be talking in here a month from now about another game that Michigan should have won if they could shoot.  But they can’t shoot.  That’s kind of the entire story.  

Biggest key for 2023 is trying to keep Jett in Ann Arbor one more year. He’s a projected lottery pick but would be one in 2024 too. Hoping George Washington III comes in with some ball handling and shooting as well. Having Kante for some big spot minutes could allow Howard to play Reed and Hunter together more as well. Depends on who comes back though. 

More Diabate.  If Houstan started over Jett we’d all be pissed (and there’s no way he would lol, Houstan went 2nd round in a worse draft, Jett is likely to go top 10 in a stacked one).

Losing Diabate was massive. For that matter, so was losing Johns.  T-Will isn’t giving much on offense and Johns was far superior on the glass and on defense

That is true, I think a better way to phrase what I mean is: it's never a bad thing to have a center that can dominate a game offensively if that's where you want to focus recruiting efforts. 

However, if you don't pair that type of player with a few legit scoring perimeter threats it's extremely difficult to win anything of significance. To truly get the most out of Dickinson and Reed and the players like them that come after, you have to be able to space the floor. Right now, outside of Jett Howard, there is no one on Michigan's roster that teams have to account for at all times on the perimeter; and there hasn't been since Franz and Isiah Livers left for the NBA. 

I don't have any issue with Juwan focusing his roster construction around punishing big men that can dominate offensively in the paint; after all his trademark in the coaching profession is developing big men into highly skilled scoring options, But until we either develop or recruit perimeter players that will shoot you out of the gym if you're late recovering, Michigan's offense will be vulnerable to bog down, regardless of how good our center is offensively.

What do you think he's saying, "I hope I don't miss this shot too"?

The guy misses wide open shots all over the place that he jacks up regardless of shot clock or open teammates. That late three he missed was a game killer. He got burned (again) on defense. He turns the ball over. He boards about the same as Dug. What's he add on the court? He should be a 10 rebounds and 4 points type of player and would be a great value to the team if he were.