MAAR is a huge loss for this team. While not an all American, he was extremely solid in almost every facet of the game. Solid scorer, solid shooter, solid ft shooter (way above average for this team), decent rebounder and extremely good at taking care of the ball, solid defender. Add in his experience of playing almost 150 games, nearly 120 of which were starts I think it’s clear he’s leaving a big gap. In my eyes Poole is already as talented from a scoring stand point, maybe even better, but his decision making isn’t anywhere close and neither is the defense. The biggest concern for me being his defense. A lot of people have pointed to it being mental and not thinking that’s an easy fix. I think that it is 100 percent that not the physical part, but that doesn’t make it an easy fix. From my experience defensive principles can be taught and learned but it is a highly instinctual thing. That’s my biggest concern with him.
As for Iggy I really like his ability to finish with either hand at the basket, looks very comfortable doing that. I think his shooting stroke looks like it can be solid. Defensively I see the concern, but I’m not sure if it’s as much of a matter of he can’t as it is he doesn’t seem engaged. He’s not a Charles Matthews athlete but he looks way more aggressive with the ball on offense than when he’s playing defense. I have a feeling he’ll find out quickly how important defense is and hopefully that translates into being at least a decent defender. As far as position, I don’t think the # matters on offense, they’ll find roles for him and other guys but defensively I think he needs to be able to defend the 4 and eventually the 3.
Some guys just have a knack for scoring. Sindarious Thornwell is a guy who isn’t very athletic, but was a great scorer, used his strength in doing so, and is now in the NBA.
That Cumberland dude for Cincy (who we recruited for a bit) is another. Not a great athlete at all, but he can score.
Yeah, I have to agree. I love his offensive skill set, but it’s hard to see him guarding guys consistently along the perimeter. Can’t imagine he plays anything but the 4 during his first season…maybe 3 in a pinch. He just doesn’t seem to have the lateral quickness/hip flexibility to stick with quick guys on the bounce and appears to be a quintessential JB 4.
I have wondered that myself since he is the most athletic of the three. Obviously JB thinks one of them can or he wouldn’t have recruited three 4s and no 3s in consecutive classes.
Ignas Brazdeikis seems about as college-ready as any Michigan recruit in recent memory. He’s a scoring and rebounding machine, is physically built at 6-foot-7, 223 pounds and nearly reclassified to play college basketball last year before opting to play a staunch prep school schedule. Defense and being productive without scoring will be major developments for the top-40 recruit, but his floor is to reliably back up Matthews, and his ceiling is that he commands minutes and shots with a game that gives him an outside shot at becoming Michigan’s first one-and-done draft pic
I really like Iggy. He is going to be a good player but it seems like he is getting overhyped by many. One and done just doesn’t seem realistic, imo. It seems like a crazy prediction, to be honest, even though the prediction was qualified as a ceiling which Iggy has an “outside chance” of reaching…
Agree. You don’t need to be a great athlete to be a great college player, but the same cannot be said about NBA wings (Excluding ridiculous 3 point shooting-gods). I’d be shocked to see him there after one year unless he shows something really unexpected.