Lot of stuff from Coach B on the front page:
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More athletic and bigger are the only 2 things I would give Ibi. And those are important things for sure.
But better handle, vision, shooting range, and potential long term all side with Poole in my opinion.
That and Ibi shot 1/18 from three last year and Poole is widely considered one of the top shooting recruits from last yearâs class.
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Off Topic: Is the âFuture Schedulesâ feature no longer on the site?
Should be linked in the hamburger menu on the top left under The Team.
Probably can emphasize its place a bit in the future. Need to do some menu clean up.
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Ibi needs to concentrate on defense and hitting the open shot and improving is handle. Right now Poole is better at two of those three things (shooting/handle) before he had hit campus. Although how much better Ibi is at defense might be debatable. Ibi needs a breakthrough this year or he will be over recruited (44 inch verticle and all) if not already.
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This is all fair and reasonable. I probably am just overly optimistic the Ibi has addressed some of these things with his time at Michigan (e.g. I believe his nerves were a large source of 3pt% and he has settled in at this point). I do think that Poole has the higher upside and will, in time, play a more centralized role in the offense i.e. playmaking. With that said if this isnt Ibiâs year, I am not sure when it will be
Some good stuff on the PG battle here
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Poole and Ibi will have a different path after fighting for minutes at the wing position this year. With little doubt Poole will move to guard in year two. Ibi will stay on the wing, hopefully develop his jump shot beside his jump.
21 days until basketball season.
Which means we are only ~60 days away from the first call for JBâs head by a wacky fan just like we are seeing with Harbaugh
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Thatâs trueâŚyou reach a point of diminishing returns with depth at PG, especially since all three of these guys are pretty much pure point guards, and while itâs not out of the question for Beilein to put two 1âs out there for certain situations, itâs probably not an ideal situation as a default, unless theyâre really killing it from 3 point range (40% or better). And, as noted, it would mean sitting MAAR.
If Simmons, Simpson and Brooks were all looking about as good, would you want to play each of them 12-15 minutes a night as PG? Probably notâŚagain, not an ideal situation. As with QB, you really want a clear #1 guy, someone whoâs going to be running the show for 30-35 minutes out of 40. If we really had three guys who were at an Albrecht level or above (which does ultimately remain to be seen), it might make the coaches sleep better, knowing that an injury would not be too much of a problem, but youâre not likely to rotate three guys through that position on a nightly basis.
I am not sure how you are defining"pure point guard". While I do see Z as primarily a creator for others, I see Brooks and possibly Simmons as players who, in addition to playing point guard, could possibly be real shooting threats in catch and shoot situations at the 2 guard.
Anyway, this is all very speculative, and unlikely for various reasons, one of which is that MAAR is very good in my opinionâŚBut, I really donât think anyone would, or is, trying to advocate for JB to split playing time equally, amongst 3 guys, at the point guard position.
None of Simmons, Simpson or Brooks would fall naturally into the category of big guard/shooting guard, as would Stauskas or Levert, for example. As I said, Beilein could and has played what amounts to two point guards at once, but for that to be anything but a situational move, at least one of those guys needs to be a significantly better than average 3 point shooter, and none of these three has shown that yet.
Agree about MAAR, though. Unless one of Brooks, Simpson or Poole performs far above reasonable expectations, I donât see him losing starterâs minutes of ~30/game at the 2.
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Walton wouldnât âfit comfortablyâ into that mold either, yet they did it when Simpson established that he was worthy of some minutes.
That may have been a depth issue (they didnât have a backup 2), or just a âwe need Walton on the floor as much as possible, but can save his stamina some by not making him take the ball up the floor every possessionâ issue, but they did it.
IF Simmons proves to be a more reliable off-ball option than Poole or Brooks (which, as a fifth year senior versus true freshmen we have to acknowledge as a possibility), Iâm sure Beilein will do it again.
He admittedly lacks ideal size, but this isnât the NBA - lack of ideal size abounds everywhere, and itâs not as if the even shorter Brooks or the reedy Poole solve the issue.
All that being said, Simmons seems to have had the ball in his hands pretty much exclusively for two years.
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