I am not privy to the whole story here, but I really wish he would’ve gotten minutes over Nunez. Seemed like Cole had a lot to offer and we are going to miss him next year.
2021 freshman class is going to be huge
There’s no one left on this roster
Ugh. There is a giant hole on the roster at the SG/SF positions. They have no depth.
I was hoping Bajema would want to compete for the backup 2/3 minutes next year, but maybe he didn’t think he would be given much of a chance.
Yeesh. Absurd how thin the 2-guard spot is on this roster. Not sure it’s fair to place blame on Juwan yet…but yikes.
Does Bajema leaving really change that perspective? He had basically failed to crack the rotation so he wouldn’t have been the first guy you would expect to break through there.
Not sure we’re ever gonna use 13 scholarships again. Heck I’d take 12 scholarships at this point
I mean, I think all of our visions of a theoretical sophomore-year Bajema is better than Nunez atleast. And that’s before considering that now there is one person instead of two, so in the case of injury there is literally no one.
I mean, I expected Bajema to have a shot to win the battle for backup 2/3 minutes between him, Zeb and Nunez. Also, you’d always rather have options and someone “win” the minutes than to have to play someone by default.
The transfer frequency is killing my love for the sport.
Yeah I think it was everyone’s hope that Bajema eventually beat out Nunez. Maybe that was the fan base’s false belief. But I think it’s not unfair to believe Juwan mishandled this a bit by giving Bajema zero run whatsoever, resulting in a transfer.
Or to put it another way…
To lose DeJulius and Bajema both to transfer and not add a playable SG recruit seems like a major major misstep to me in roster management. I mean, we’re one injury away from needing 30+ minutes from Adrien Nunez. And even without an injury, we’re likely looking at ~20 minutes from Nunez now unless Franz plays out of position or Mike Smith is a 30 minute player.
Yeah, I understand from a numbers perspective but the one guy on the team who didn’t get minutes, who is from the other side of the country and committed to play for a coach who specifically discovered him… during an international pandemic. Seems like one of the least surprising transfers ever.
The pandemic is a good point. Washington state has their s*** together more than most places.
He tried to add several shooting guards and got 2nd to all of them.
A coach that is so different from a previous like Juwan and Beilein is going to bring at least 3 or 4 transfers every single time. I don’t think it was roster mismanagement for either to transfer, but a bummer. The last 2 SG type substances Beilein recruited were Nunez who everyone hates and Bajema who was as physically raw as possible. At least half of any blame should go to JB.
In Bajema’s case, he’s now been at home for 2 months and staying near by seems like a good idea I’m sure.I don’t have any inside info but based on the fact that he’s deciding now would leave me to believe the pandemic has a lot to do with the decision. A couple minutes here or there wouldn’t have changed it. Overall this doesn’t change my scholarship projection for the next class at all because I had him pegged as a likely transfer after 2021 anyway.
It’s a brave new world.
Anybody want to put a number on the amount of transfers Michigan takes in the next two seasons. I’m guessing maybe 5??? 2 this year and 3 next. I’m not counting Mike Smith
Losing guys to transfer that you didn’t recruit is a part of life during a coaching transition. It’s not like Juwan chose for them to transfer.
Just think there were concerns minutes wise at the 2/3 and it wouldn’t really be fair to count on Bajema to be the solution. Obviously more players are better than less players by odds, but Bajema seemed a long shot to pencil in as a solution given his current spot in the pecking order.
I know it shouldn’t be surprising. I don’t typically like to be the “sky is falling” fan. But I’m just having a hard time comprehending the lack of depth between the guard spots at this point.
The team basically has one player (Eli) that you can guarantee 35 good minutes from at either position.
Then you’re hoping for either Mike Smith or Zeb to be a Big Ten starter level guy (which seems optimistic to me). I’d think Smith becomes a 20-minute type player, Zeb 10-15 minutes. That still leaves 10 more minutes left…which now have to go to Nunez.
What happens if god forbid someone gets hurt? Or Smith is Jaaron Simmons. Or Zeb is an unplayable freshmen? This could get ugly quick.
And yeah, transfers with a coaching change are expected. Juwan signed a great class and finished 2nd to a bunch of options at SG. That doesn’t make this hole any smaller - if just one guy between Moody, Burnett, Christopher are here, this isn’t an issue. But now it is.
Why was he a “long shot” to beat out Nunez and a freshman Zeb who isn’t really supposed to be an instant impact guy? Just because a guy doesn’t play much his freshman year, doesn’t mean things can’t change in a hurry… especially when the other players he is competing with haven’t done anything to cement their place. We aren’t exactly talking about competing with DDJ, Christopher and Kier here.
Then you should join me in the “making the tournament at all would be a good season” team