Burke
Stauskas
Simpson (3 years of greatness and he still doesn’t make some lists??)
Moe
Hardaway
(I think if Caris had one more healthy season with team success, he’d be unanimous…he was blossoming into something special)
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Stauskas
Burke
Moe
Walton (senior year)
Mitch McGary
Stauskas
Hardaway Jr.
Caris
Moe
Derrick Walton
Simpson
Burke
Hardaway Jr
Robinson III
McGary/Walton(tie)
X, Trey, Moe, Stauskas, Matthews
Burke, Walton Sr year, Moe Wagner, Stauskas, and
I need a forward…
ok, my forward is Livers… done
Simpson, Burke, stauskas, levert, and Wagner
Moe, Stauskas, Derrick Walton, Iggy, and Rahkman
Morris, Burke, Stauskas, Spike, Mcgary
I probably enjoyed Mo Wagner’s personality the most.
After this year I will probably replace Spike with Franz.
Only started seriously following the squad once I was admitted to UM in 2017, so for me it would be:
- Simpson 2. Matthews 3. Burke 4. MAAR 5. Wagner
My favorite team (achievements aside), interestingly enough, was the 18-19 squad. While I might not be qualified to speak having only been an avid fan back before 2017, I think they have a good argument (especially when looking at KenPom etc…), of being the best Michigan team of Beilein’s tenure. It sucks that they significantly underachieved in those two or three games that mattered. It was so awesome that every one of our five starters (X, JP, Charles, Iggy, Teske), at some point that season, was regarded by certain people as our best player. You never knew which one of them would be the star of the game on any given night. So much attitude and character too, which I happen to love, just wish they backed it up with some hardware.
Quick question: I haven’t seen Zak Irvin mentioned even once. What was the general perception of him during his career, and now?
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Zak was always under appreciated (or over critiqued). The guy was a battler who, much like Novak, played out of position. His “problem” was that he stopped being a complete sniper after his freshman season, and his most potent shot (mid-range) is generally frowned upon in bball.
The Zak-Haters on Game Threads were much more harsh than any of the current subscribers when they talk about current players
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He had a thankless sophomore year, when it was just him out there after Caris and Walton got hurt. Then he had back surgery going into his junior year and his critics rode him the rest of the way, even though he was excellent down the stretch of 2016-2017.
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I just rewatched the full game of Michigan vs #1 Purdue in the 2017 BTT Quarterfinals, and Irvin was excellent in the 4Q and OT. Man did he shoot a ton of pull-up midrange shots, but he could also get to the basket better than anyone on the team. That was one of the many great games of Beilein’s tenure, and happened to be the first game I watched knowing that I was going to be a Wolverine.
It was also really cool to see how different Simpson looked in his freshman year. So much quicker, but not even close to being the ball-handler and facilitator he has become. Man went from being a small feisty pitbull to a built watchdog pitbull lol
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Zak hit a lot of big shots in situations that would lead to even bigger moments of a game (if that makes sense). Zak wasn’t always the hero, but he played great basketball concurrent to D-Walt - who was playing at an even higher level
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The thing I’ll always remember about Irvin was how much stronger and better defensively he became over the course of his career. That’s true of a lot of players, but to watch Irvin go from being a weak freshman to a guy who could effectively defend some 4’s as a senior was fascinating.
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Irvin gets criticism because when the 2017 team hit its nadir - consecutive losses to MSU and OSU, Irvin was in the middle of a six or so game stretch where he just made nothing and was leading the team in shot attempts.
To his credit, he adjusted admirably when Walton took the reigns (Walton’s appearance on BQ and Nick’s pod is interesting on the subject) and was a positive impact in a reduced role.
He was, given his recruiting ranking, expected to be a star - he wasn’t, despite the team often not being good enough his sophomore and junior years to let him not be one.
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Wow, looking at his game log here is really interesting:
In a span of 4 games that season, he had 13 points in 135 minutes, shooting 4/31. Honestly though, seems like he was really good that season outside of those games, especially down the stretch as you’ve mentioned. Despite a “smaller role,” it looks like Beilein actually increased his minutes, even giving him the entire game + overtime vs Purdue.
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I seem to remember him being vital on defense especially down the stretch. He also had that layup against Purdue to send it to overtime. After that rough four-game stretch he finished his career shooting almost 40% from three and 60% from two also.
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BTN has been posting departing players career highlight videos. X’s was a fun watch:
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