MBB - George Washington III withdraws name from portal
Nice.
It is good he decided to come back. He wasn't given a chance to do anything last year. He has hops and was known as a good id not great a shooter coming out of HS. His FT% suggests he can shoot well and improve upon his 3 point shooting. Most expect Burnett back, so as of now we have Phat Phat, GW3, NB, WT, and JH. 5 guys. Plus after this weekend we are going to have up to some more guys committed, up to 3 we are thinking.
Did we see enough of Washington last year to have a sense about whether he can be a major contributor?
EDIT: I see that there is little enthusiasm for him at UMHoops. But that place took a dive into cynicism last year. It's just a handful of people, but they dominate that board so thoroughly. . . . May might just be too polite too encourage him to look elsewhere, but I'd be surprised if a player didn't take a hint if he's really not wanted.
What I saw last year was enough.
That team you saw was a poorly coached mess. I wouldnt take anything from last season. Start fresh and have every position up for grabs when practice starts in october
A lot of good players look terrible as freshmen. Eli Brooks, for example, looked completely unplayable.
I'm hoping for a 2021-NBA-Preseason-Franz-Wagner vs. everything-Franz-Wagner-has-done-since-then-type situation.
Young guys, particularly guards, tend to make the biggest leap from year one to year two, so hard to say but I think it's a good bet he will be better than last year. Hard to factor in how the team was doing overall as well to get any real clear forecast.
No. That team was a disaster.
I think it's too early to tell whether he could be a major contributor in, say, 2026. But I think that it would be a big surprise if he were one this coming season.
not really but the team was a mess. I'm happy to have him back because he is talented and is the kind of player May prefers (young, needs development)
His freshman year kinda reminded me of Kobe Bufkin. He passed the eye test and he seemed to do the right things, but his shot would just not go down
Who says he’s being asked to be a major contributor this year?
I don’t think May is being polite. GW3 was in the portal so he presumably convinced him to withdraw because he prefers using a scholarship on him over some other portal options.
The UMHoops forum is less than enthused about this news. However, I think we have saw some players struggle out the gate and become servicable over time. Plus we had 9 scholarships to give out.
I'll never forget how much Michigan fans wrote off Eli Brooks after his first two years. Basically non stop negativity for years... and Eli then became one of the most important players on our team for multiple seasons.
Don't write off freshman and don't pay mind to jaded asshole fans.
Dusty making all the right steps to start.
I have to agree. I don't know what he's doing - or - how he's doing it - but, it seems like his actions and decisions thus far are "good". Hoping we hear more news out of the portal in the next few weeks.
Go Blue!
With Washington that makes 3 scholarship players now on the team. Only 10 more to go Dusty! Any word on Burnett or Howard?
Robbie Avila from Indiana State just entered the portal. Would love to go after him.
He entered the portal with a no-contact designation so the assumption is he's following Schertz to Saint Louis.
For someone who doesn’t follow B-ball, who are the 3 players?
Tschetter, GW3 and freshman Phat Phat Brooks
Nimari Burnett and Jace Howard are still with the team as far as I know
I would try hard to keep Burnett. I would tell Jace to look elsewhere.
Asking the former coach's son to take a hike just before he graduates--when his family is so closely associated with the U of Michigan--probably impolitic. If he's graduated and wants to play elsewhere, he may go. But. . .let's let Dusty make this decision.
Shot 18.5% from the floor and 22.2% from three. He does have an 85.7% free throw percentage which suggests he could be a deadly set 3 point shooter.
He was high school player of the year in the state of Ohio, scoring 24 a game with 47.3% from 3.
Now I'm curious what the greatest discrepancy is between a good FT% and a poor 3% for any college player with a decent sample size.
You never know what to expect from freshman. He was used quite sparingly despite their desperate need for guard depth. While you can’t ignore stats, I wouldn’t take them too seriously in this case.
He started out the season playing minutes - so when Martelli was coach. Then he sat the bench most of the rest of the season, playing more on the road when Dug was sitting home studying. He looked good when given more freedom early in the season, I'm still high on GW3 - and agree the FT shooting & his shooting mechanics, HS history reflect a good shooter. Take TWill as an example of a guy who completely turned around his shooting in year 3 for inspiration anytime we question guys with even a decent track record of shooting.
April 11th, 2024 at 10:06 PM ^
Or look at Will T, 0.250 from 3 as a frosh, 0.519 as a soph.
Assuming that Dusty May had to approve this, it's the first move by him that doesn't make a ton of sense to me on its face. But then no one has ever wanted to hire me to coach a basketball team.
I think Washington is much better than people think. I was not extremely high on him either on last years squad, but consider the context.
He can shoot. He has a nice stroke. He will become a real good spot up shooter with a good mid game to boot IMO. I think this is a solid re-pickup.
I like this move as well. His shot wasn't going down but I liked what I saw from him generally speaking for a freshman
I hope I'm wrong!
You are lol
I agree he'll be a solid player but I'm not sold yet that he can be more than a bench rotation guy. His shooting numbers last year were so minimal it's hard to read much into them but I worry about the times he did see the court not necessarily looking physically ready. Lots of growth potential, though, as he ages. UM still needs to get two starter level guys for the backcourt, which isn't ideal.
...and he was lost a lot on D. But i blame the coaching for most of his issues this past year.
Who on the team wasn't lost on defense last year?
Build bridges don’t burn them. Coach May treating young man with respect. I dig that. Give it another year to see if he fits, if not, there will be other portals to jump in.
Really? It's not like he's handing Washington the starting job. He was a reasonably highly ranked recruit and can fill a role as a garbage time 4th guard while he develops.
What exactly do you not like about keeping a Top 100 soon-to-be sophomore in the program when our current roster consists basically of Cheddar and 11 fold up chairs?
Being the head basketball coach at a major program includes making some political moves. Kicking players off the team because you’re the new coach doesn’t usually sit well with the fan base. Just ask Deion. Regardless, GW3 is top 100 player who showed some potential last year. Furthermore, there are/were 9 open roster spots. Without GW3 you might be scrapping the barrel of the portal to fill those last couple spots. Overall this is a good move.
Talent + development = maybe good
Here is the thing: GWIII was a top 100 recruit coming out of high school. His best attribute was his shooting - over 45% from the 3. That's a skill set that tends to transfer well from HS to college. The fact that he shot something around 20% last year is more likely attributable to the dysfunction of the team and the insanely bad offensive scheme than him suddenly forgetting how to shoot the ball. I would basically memory hold last season and look at it like we got a top 100 recruit coming in next year.
Right. If you shoot that well from 3, you should at least be a guy who can stand in a corner and hit 3s.
If he was coming from another program, we would be over the moon to get him.
People here would have said the same thing with a freshman MAAR, Eli, X/Zavier, etc. Give him time to grow and become the emerging junior on his way to being a team leader his senior season. Plus, as we saw last season, can you have too many guards?
Yep. Eli was horrible as a freshmen. I could not understand how and why JB recruited him. What a mistake....until i saw Brooks junior and senior year!
And Simpsons poor play early on cost him minutes which went to brooks. lol