Uhh Franz would absolutely get drafted. And players do not always do what they “should” when it comes to draft decisions.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but I think he’ll return to U-M next year. Juwan’s pro experience, Camp Sanderson, and his family’s financial stability all point toward U-M being a good life and career move for next season. After next season, if he bulks up a bit and breaks out, yeah, I can see him entering the draft.
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I really do not see how Franz would get drafted if there was a draft next week.
Negative defender, negative shot, and not an elite athlete. He has good basketball IQ and sometimes shows great fluidity in getting to the basket. The latter not nearly consistent enough yet to be drafted given those negatives.
Who was saying Bajema was outperforming Nunez in practice? Obviously he isn’t or he would be playing. My problem though is Nunez obviously isn’t a player when the lights are on for real. He probably shoots great in practice and that is why he gets some PT but at some point you have to go more on live play than practice. We know Nunez can’t produce in games so why not see if Cole can elevate his play with the lights on?
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It seems that Howard is viewing Bajema as a five-year player but rarely do guys stay that long. The obvious fear is that Cole seems himself as being able to contribute and gets frustrated sitting behind a guy who just does not perform in games (Nunez) and a walk-on (Baird), leading to a transfer.
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I don’t think he’d get drafted. I haven’t heard anyone mention him getting drafted this year. I don’t think he came to Michigan with the intention of going to the draft in one year. If that’s what he wanted to do he would’ve stayed in Germany. He came for the American college experience.
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Michigan players have almost always done the right thing—for them, not us–vis-a-vis the draft.
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For everyone talking about Cole being a “5 year player”. His redshirt has already been burned. He played after the cut-off if you wanted to try and fake a medical redshirt (and from what I can tell there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable way we could even try to fake a medical redshirt either). He will be a true sophomore next year no matter what. Him not playing now has to do with him being worse than CJ Baird, nothing to do with preserving a redshirt.
I probably missed something, but Nunez looked fine on defense last night. I’m sure he’s working hard at practice too. Maybe he’s making more progress than Bajema. Cole is making a bigger adjustment as a freshman who didn’t play a high level of competition.
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While I wouldn’t give up on Nunez by any means, it’s getting harder to picture all the talent we may have on the roster next year and Nunez still being here among those guys.
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I’m sure most everyone has thought this, but man how did that Nebraska team beat Purdue and Iowa? Hard to take away a ton about Michigan from that based on opponent, but a road win without your two best players is still impressive.
Nice to see Baird get some run. I always thought he’d be a candidate to grad transfer out to a smaller program and get real playing minutes. Definitely can play at a low DI or high DII program.
Personally I don’t get the big outcry for Bajema minutes just because I haven’t seen anything dictates it and I’d defer to the coaches. I have to believe if they thought he was ready for actual game minutes, at least one or some of the coaches would be in Howard’s ear. I doubt it’s to save his redshirt but who knows.
Also, Dylan tweeted this out and Dakich mentioned it on the broadcast, but absolutely loved Hoiberg’s TO at the end of the first half. Always frustrates me when coaches leave their use-it-or-lose-it TO in their pocket as the clock runs down after a made basket.
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Yes, from a basketball standpoint that was a fantastic move and showed incredible awareness. From a Michigan standpoint, it was frustrating as hell! The matador defense to allow Mack to get all the way to the lane was maddening.
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I feel like I’ve seen a dozen videos showing Eli’s defensive IQ. So good.
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Unfortunately many breakdowns of Michigan’s defense can begin with “Dejuluis gets beat off the dribble…”
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I know he’s not completely there from a production standpoint, but I felt pretty strongly last night that Franz was the best player on the court offensively. Made me feel very good going into the second half knowing we’d weathered his foul trouble and the odd lineups.
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I’m guessing that Coach Howard is saving a red shirt for him. He is super thin. A summer in Camp Sanderson will do him a TON of good. I think offensively he could probably fill a small slot this year, but defensively he probably needs a ton of work. He did not play against great competition in HS. He has CLEAR offensive skills though. I think he should develop into a nice role player next year who could play off guard or small forward and help create some mismatches if he and Wagner are on the floor together.
Yeah, something got screwed up on my phone. I was replying to a different comment about how Wagner needs to get stronger on his takes to the rim.
I will turn this into a question for you Dylan…based on the team shooting only 34% from three on the season (and that being on a steep decline since January) do you think there’s a coaching transition element to that? Meaning, if Beilein were here would he have dedicated time, resources, and technology to addressing the mechanics of the shot for some of the struggling players and Howard is working on bigger picture things in practice? (I remember Mo Wagner going through a rough patch and Beilein talking about how they broke down his release angle and made adjustments…not sure Howard is doing that right now for a variety of legit reasons.)
I have been trying to do that for a reason 
In this play, DeJulius gets beat for what looks like will be a layup or free throws, but Brooks gets to his spot in the lane quickly and Franz recognizes where to rotate on the weak side and gets the steal. There are others in Michigan’s rotation that definitely wouldn’t have made these defensive rotations as early, or at all.
I’m not really sure there’s a great answer for that. Beilein was a great shooting coach, but it wasn’t like guys were immune from going through slumps under Beilein.
Is it fair to say that Michigan emphasizes shooting less under Juwan Howard? Probably, but that’s because Beilein emphasized shooting more than just about any coach in the country.
Not really sure that you can measure the impact though.
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