I wonder whether the new landscape of college ball, where so many of the better players plan to jump ship after a year or two, doesn’t suggest spottier year-to-year success for traditional powers, maybe even out the playing field a touch. You almost have to expect that very good schools and coaches are going to have down years, to get walloped now and then.
On an only marginally related note: Beilein comes along in 2007; it takes him a few years to get established. But we’re starting to look at a ten-fifteen year stretch of superior Michigan teams. Pretty soon, I think, you just have to start counting on us as among the five or six best teams in college ball.
Maybe this is more common than I realize, but how often has Izzo rolled out an all-freshman backcourt? Not saying it wouldn’t happen - and desperate times call for desperate measures - just isn’t usually his MO.
Winston, Langford and Bridges all played starters minutes in '17. Who was the last freshman Izzo had that was good enough to start and didn’t start or play serious minutes?
Which is unsurprising. I just really can’t imagine him returning. He got NBA hype after his freshman year, came back and really didn’t improve last year. Entered the draft and came back, only to have an even worse year this year. Caveat there being some of that is USG going up, and he’s been playing a lot better recently (ORTG on the season is 98.5 but in the last 5 games is 108).
But it just doesn’t make sense to me to come back for a senior year, especially since MSU is so bad this year. He’s still getting some end of 2nd round projections in mocks, which is about where he was the last two years. And now he doesn’t have age on his side either. I just can’t imagine the upside of returning to an MSU team that just had an awful season and where you probably won’t improve your stock (based on the past two seasons) outweighs going and getting paid.
Another Freshman of the Week honor for Hunter Dickinson.
If you are keeping track of the standings:
Michigan B1G Freshman of the Week
Trey Burke, 7x (2011-12)
Hunter Dickinson, 6x (2020-21)
Ignas Brazdeikis, 4x (2018-19)
Tim Hardaway, Jr., 4x (2010-11)
Franz Wagner, 3x (2019-20)
Nik Stauksas, 3x (2011-12)
I tend to agree. They also would be 15-6 (10-4) if not for collapses against Maryland (up seven at 3:45) and Minnesota (up six at 3:47). OTOH, they outright stole games against MSU and OSU so maybe it’s evened out.
I don’t think it’s a situation where Izzo refuses to play freshmen… I just think he rarely gets the most out of them, and often plays bad veterans over them unnecessarily. Malik Hall was pretty good as a freshman and was constantly fighting with worse players for time (only about 40% of minutes on the season). Jaren Jackson only played 54% of minutes. Even Cassius only played 51% of minutes as a freshman.
They were just ranked 24th last week, but I’m surprised an 0-1 week with the only loss being by 3 on the road to a Minnesota team in and out of the top 25 all year really knocked them back that much.
Derrick was also a 40% 3 point shooter, which allowed him to play a lot off ball as a freshman while Stauskas and, to a lesser extent, LeVert operated out of ball screens. Akins, while a very good player, is not that kind of shooter, nor does next year’s MSU roster have anyone at the level of a sophomore Nik or Caris to initiate offense.
Hard to say bc he put his name out there last year. He didn’t progress like he had hoped but he has potential. He’s a JR so I think there’s a good chance that he’ll say f this on MSU and declare regardless of his stock.
I know everyone makes Jaren Jackson jokes because of the Syracuse game, but he started every game and played 55% of minutes while fouling constantly. How much more do you expect a freshman big man to play?
Cassius could have played a few more minutes, but he was a huge part of that team and basically no one played crazy minutes on that roster.
Malik Hall?
I just don’t think there should really be any narrative that Christie or Akins won’t play a lot because Izzo doesn’t play freshmen. I just don’t really see that.
JJJ played 54% of the minutes because he fouls a ton. Cassius also turned the ball over a lot as a freshman and Izzo abhorred turnovers.
I know Izzo didn’t have the best reputation for freshmen but if you foul a lot or turn the ball over a lot, you’re not going to see much time on the court.
I’ll be very surprised if Henry comes back next year. How often do players test the waters and come back for two more seasons? He clearly has his eyes on the next level and I have to imagine the way this season has gone has only made him even more likely to leave.
