Are we missing any of last year's transfers?

Michigan Basketball
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Have we missed or will we miss any of last year’s transfers? I think it’s pretty safe to say little, if at all, with Doyle. Wagner and Donnal have played quite well and Doyle’s play didn’t suggest he’d give us anything more.

Chatman and Dawkins are a little harder. Wilson has been quite good at the 4 but has had some down games and Zak has had to play a lot of time at the four. Chatman may have helped with that - although perhaps he would’ve stunted Wilson’s growth, who knows.

And, perhaps even more importantly, MAAR has been pretty disappointing this year on both ends of the court. You could envision a plausible scenario where, if Dawkins were here, we would’ve seen Irvin at the two nearly full time with Wilson at the 4 and Dawkins and Robinson manning the 3 and back up four minutes. The team is up to 37% 3 pt shooting but has struggled at times. Your answer might depend in part based on your opinion of MAAR.

Overall, I’d say we’re probably not missing any of the transfers to a great degree, but of the three Dawkins is the one that would have had the most potential impact.

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Every time I think that Michigan might be missing Aubrey’s three point shooting I have a flash back to him getting backcut for a layup or losing his man for a three.

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For sure, but (a) maybe Aubrey would’ve benefited from Donlon and the greater emphasis on defense, and (b) MAAR has been pretty lackluster on defense himself. But it’s all just conjecture and, as I said, it’s somewhat doubtful any of the transfers would have had a significant impact on the season so far.

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Also cant forget that Aubrey either would’ve kept us from signing one of Livers/Brooks or removed Bamba as an option. Also leaves the option of Mark coming back which, depending on Teske’s development, I’d prefer. I guess you could say the same for Duncan.

There will be a logjam at the 2-3 spots next year, and Aubrey would’ve added to the clutter. Donlon is a magician, but Aubrey looked down-right hopeless on D.

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All good points. So far, especially with DJ’s emergence, it seems to have worked out pretty well.

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Spike, if healthy…but he would be here if he were healthy.

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Definitely Spike. X is not ready yet and Spike would spell Derrick minutes better then X is at this moment.

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We are missing Spike, but no one knows whose decision(s) lead to him leaving. The other guys are more likely to have been shown the door, IMO

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100% Spike.

And then you could maaaaaaybe talk me into Kam a little bit just as a guy who could guard the 4 off the bench, but probably not.

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I don’t know if we’d be missing spike given his career being pretty much all but over.

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Yep. And the coaches were adamant that they wanted to work Simpson in to the rotation this year to get his feet wet for next season. And I’m not sure Spike would have played much at the 2-guard given the extra attention to defense this year. I like Spike. I’m appreciative for his time in A2. But, turn the page and move on.

Kam is possibly the player from last year who could have helped this year’s team the most. When you look at his athleticism and size with Donlon’s defensive emphasis … add in the lackluster production from MAAR and Robinson thus far and, IMO, Kam might have been a useful option on the wing. Perhaps would have slid Irvin more to the 2-guard? (Wilson-Chatman-Irvin at the 2-3-4 slots would have presented some interesting length on defense)

But I’m not sure any of the transfers would have really changed the tenor of the season much to this point? Maybe flips the score in the VaTech game?

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FWIW, Spike is shooting 3-18 from the field this season, including 2-12 from 3-pt range (and 1-6 from inside the arc). DNP last 3 games for Purdue.

Hard worker, great teammate. But undersized, below average defender who is struggling with his shooting this season? Not sure where that would really make UM better right now?

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He hurt his back in a collision in practice and is out indefinitely. FWIW.

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Thank you for the update. I presumed it was an injury, but didn’t know for sure.

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I imagine if we’d kept him people would be wondering why we wasted a scholarship on an injury risk. Assuming that since we had no open slots we had turned 5* away in that scenario. Hoping his back heals up, he deserves better health.

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