…Huh? I have no clue, I’m not recruiting them. Do you think Howard promised Smith and Jones starting gigs? Do whatever you did with them. If Collins is actually much improved then you can play both solid minutes. Bonus points if the transfer is big and they can share some minutes.
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Yep. And given his FT% you can’t be like “oh well he prob just got unlucky, small sample size”. He has a very constrained path toward being good and it very likely means Zavier-levels of usage unless his D is just off the charts. I want Frankie to be great but a brutally honest picture of his performance this year has him as, like, a MAC level starter? Maybe a bit better than that?
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All I’m saying is we need a ball-handling 2 guard more than we need a point guard. Frankie is good enough if you can pair him up next to a really good 2.
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JMO this question is hard to answer until you know what HD is doing. If he’s back, the volume of things we’ll ask of our PG on offense will be much smaller, but the need for an elite defender at the position will be elevated. I could be convinced that we can roll with Frankie as long as HD is back. If he’s not, my desire for a transfer PG, or at least a backcourt playmaker, will be pretty high.
Overall though, IMO you have to ask the question on both ends of the court. Frankie’s body of work isn’t just CSU where he shined and Tennessee where he fit in by not standing out. He steadily improved on both ends of the ball to the point where he wasn’t a disaster factory on O by February and was quite the defensive plus. So there’s a steady drumbeat getting louder and louder over time there that says something different than just looking at the overall stats for the year and two tournament performances.
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You mean like a combo guard? Exactly what I’ve been saying.
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You guys realize that we likely (hopefully?) won’t have enough scholarships to take like 4-5 transfers right? PG has to be at least third in the pecking order behind a center and a scorer at the 2 or 3. If enough spots open and there are clear upgrades, you can go there, but PG shouldn’t be #1 priority this offseason like it was the last two.
Especially if both freshmen leave, we lose basically all of our scoring and there are no obvious go-to scorers on the team next year. They need a guy who can put the ball in the hoop. And then obviously if HD and Diabate both leave, they badly need another center too. Let’s just say I’m more confident in Frankie and Dug at the 1 than Kobe, Jett and Barnes as the only 2/3s. Hopefully Houstan comes back and I’ll feel a lot better about next year’s roster.
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I think at some point you have to bite the bullet and accept some growing pains playing the underclassmen. There are clear weaknesses in his game that won’t be solved in one off-season. And a few strengths. It will look a lot different and no guarantee the whole thing will work but as a long-term philosophy, I think you have to build around 3-4 year players, and sprinkle in few one-and-ones and transfers here and there.
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Oh don’t get me wrong, I already expressed above that PG is likely need #3 behind a small wing and probably a center.
My point is only that if you are comfortable with only Collins, you have a vastly different level of comfort than me. And that if possible, I would take a PG too.
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Exactly, lower on the pecking order. A taller, longer, 1-2 combo, that can shoot, ideally.
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I mean are we sure that Collins would start over Dug?
I bear Frankie no ill will and readily acknowledge he may be the guy, but it’s hard to have watched this season and conclude he absolutely is. I lived through X’s nail biting FTs to close games as a sophomore…don’t really want to relive it.
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Well that’s because it was a pretty big ask for a freshman who had struggled and not played much to step in and start our first round NCAA Tournament game. And Frankie delivered. It’s something to build on.
Darius Morris, Zavier Simpson, Eli Brooks. All guards that struggled mightily as freshmen. Morris was a stud his sophomore season, Simpson started for a National Runner up his sophomore season, and Brooks became one of our key players his last two years.
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X’s defense was catamount to that 2017/18 run we had. Imagine if we benched him because his FTs made you nervous.
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Well, there won’t only be Collins. Dug will be in the picture also and he can shoot the 3, at a decent %.
There’s a pretty good chance this is right. If Moussa, Hunter, Eli, and Devante are gone, Caleb is the only guy coming back who has given a full season of average B1G starter level play. Building a team around him and Terrance is a real tough ask. It might be the case that you kinda just need a reset to take a lot of shots on developing your talent. Could be ugly next year.
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2018 Michigan had enough firepower elsewhere to make X work at PG. Simpson was also better than Frankie was year 1.
If you get back Houstan and Dickinson, plus add a transfer like Shannon, I think Collins can potentially work. But if they leave and you need scoring from your PG, I’m not sure how Michigan can feel confident with Frankie.
You don’t need to add any run of the mill PG that enters the transfer portal, but there will likely be someone clearly superior to Frankie that will be in the portal. Michigan has to ask themselves if they can make a team with Frankie at the point work next year.
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Zavier Simpson had a good season on the offensive side of the ball his final year. He led the country in assists with his wings being Dejulius, Johns, Brooks, Freshman Franz for a lot of the season.
Yes, we’ll have 2 options at the PG, already on the roster. If Dug can split/take minutes from Frankie, more power to him but you don’t need to bring in another PG-only transfer.
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If Houstan and Hunter leave, PG would be like our 5th biggest priority. We’d need BPA and unless that’s a PG, Frankie will be the least of our worries.
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Yes, my point is that he probably has to be Zavier level good with the ball in his hands not to be a big minus given how dreadful his shooting seems like it could be. He’s not a guy with a lot of development paths that end in a guy you want starting in the B1G.
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Since it seems to be what you interpret my argument to be I’ll just say it here to clear the air: no, I do not think it is impossible for a freshman to improve greatly. Yes, I am aware that several freshmen in Michigan’s past have done so.
Though I’m not sure why Brooks is on here. He wasn’t much better in year two and was a 2 guard mainly when he actually did become a great Big Ten starter. If Collins pulls a Darius Morris or Simpson then cool. I don’t think I ever said it’s out of the realm of possibility. I’m simply not of the opinion that the odds are so high and the potential so vast that you turn down a potential transfer if we have room and that player is a known quantity.
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