I just don’t think guys change that much. Obviously Dug is making fewer mistakes (still makes plenty) but being the guy is going to lead to a lot more coaching, etc.
I thought he showed real flashes early in the year in a way that was encouraging, even if he just threw a half dozen possessions away when he was on the floor.
More often than not, guys who don’t play for whatever reason as freshmen usually have things that hold them back beyond that.
The downside to just having someone play through that by choice is that games like Central Michigan are way more likely to happen.
Kobe Bufkin’s offensive game probably would have come along further earlier last year if he played more but his defense was so unbelievably bad that Michigan probably loses another game and misses the NCAA Tournament.
I just don’t think we know that though RE: Kobe last year impacting the team losing earlier. Especially since the team had to play a different freshman who had been bad all year up to that point in the NCAAT more than they had all season and won the game. But I get why it’s fair to presume that as likely true.
But with this year, up until JL got hurt, even with him struggling, I believe everyone here was still reasserting that JL finding his ceiling was key to the season and that Michigan is a better basketball team with JL, even playing poorly and “not making mistakes” than it would be with Dug McDaniel.
We’re now a month later and that’s not true. Last year was different because Jones and Eli were actually good productive options and there wasn’t a major need to force the freshmen into cutting their roles. I just think in general any top-75 freshmen will look like they have promising futures if they get thrust into 30 minute roles (even if they make mistakes), compared to ones that get 5 minutes off the bench, whether they look good or horrible in those minutes.
I mean we don’t know what is true because Llewellyn got hurt. Llewellyn and Dug were both really bad early in the year. Llewellyn got hurt and Dug has stepped up.
Michigan is better but not exactly good.
It’s very possible that they won’t reach a ceiling maybe they could have reached due to all of that or maybe they find something and catch lightning in a bottle.
If Michigan would have said ahh screw it, I don’t think DeVante’ is good enough when he was struggling in December… The season doesn’t turn around as it did. He was awesome for the last 6-8 weeks of that year in an impactful way that changed Michigan’s season.
The way Dug has improved in the non-flash moments: I.e. making fewer bad decisions, improving defensively are the exciting thing IMO.
I’m just hopeful that if Reed and Tschetter can keep up the level of the past two games we have SOME depth and those “no shot” lineups from earlier in the year don’t need to return. Having either play acceptably at the 4 allows Baker to shift Jett down to the 2, and allow some breathing room for a guard.
I think Jett’s play on ball yesterday was the most encouraging thing to me (even if that one assist was a circus)
Offensively, things obviously work better when we make jumpers, and and I do think we got better shots than we did against MSU (while both teams really went after Hunter, NW really seemed to be gambling in lanes much more which opened some opportunities), but it’s hard to see a huge gap between the two performances other than shots falling.
Dug has been one of my few bright spots this year. Not so much for his current level of play, but because he seems like a player that will be around for 2-3 more years and I could see him being one of the better PGs in the conference as an upperclassman.
I’m slowly rounding into the idea of us being ok if Hunter and Jett go….
I think Reed is a more natural fit offensively for Dug (he can actually finish pick and roll lobs), and while I don’t think he will ever be as good an offensively as Hunter, he can make a decent part of that gap up defensively. The two guards coming back would be a big win. The really obviously thing we’d need to do is find a good two way wing in the portal. Similar to Hunter/Reed, I think the right player can give us more defensively vs Jett than we lose offensively.
I’d still not be positive we have a starting caliber 4, but between Williams, Tschetter, and Kante we could figure it out.
Again, if/when Youssef develops into a good player it won’t mean he should have played if he clearly wasn’t ready to play. He’s 6-9, 195 and arrived late. It is a tough ask to make a meaningful impact on the season.
He also could be a huge factor in wing minutes next year.
I’m excited for the Dug/Reed era. It would suck to lose two incredibly talented and productive players like Hunter and Jett, but there’s so much to look forward to:
-For the first time since Zavier Simpson we’ll have a returning starter at PG, and that should make a difference in the non-con.
-Third-year Kobe is an all-conference player.
-On the wing, Cheddar seems to be playing his way into the rotation, and if we can see him start to make some 3s and harness his effort level, he’ll be a useful player. Yo-yo is exciting too, I agree. Both of those guys are minded to get out there and hustle hard, and that’s great. Barnes and Twill have another crack at improvement as well.
-If JL does indeed come back, well, it feels like the ship has sailed on being starting PG but you could slide Kobe up and put JL at the 2. Or have him as a hopefully steady hand as a 6th man.
-it’s nearly impossible to imagine that the transfer portal could go worse for us this offseason than it did last offseason.
I was captain of the Tschetter off season fan club and was saying that he would be solid in a 10mpg role. That being said, even I am reluctant to count on him being a major rotation guy just yet or someone to count on next year.
I think getting the guards back will be great and having Llewellyn and GW3 around would help too. (Not sure what JL does given his injury timeline and essentially being Wally Pipped). But losing Jett and Hunter is going to be tough as promising as the young guys look.
I guess you could survive with TWill/Tschetter/Kante but without Jett you’re hurting at both forwards so expect a portal quest to find a 3/4.
I’m thinking about it in terms of volume of options. If Cheddar’s not the guy, there are others who will step up and at least take a crack at it. Including whoever they get in the portal. This doesn’t feel like two offseasons ago when there was just so much riding on one player in Caleb Houston to be a distance shooter, for example. It looks to me like even if a few guys don’t hit, as long as others do we’re fine. And in any scenario, the portal has to play a big role.