So, when is it over? Obviously not working. Tons of turnovers, no ability to beat his man off the dribble and get into the lane, turns his back immediately after crossing half court because he can’t handle ball pressure.
I’m sure he’s a good kid who was hoping for more, but at this point Howard would be crazy not to give Collins more run. This team isn’t gonna make the Tourney without turning the reins over to Collins and Diabate in the starting lineup.
Free Frankie.
We still need Devante to spell Eli for 5 minutes a game.
Still havent seen anything to suggest the ceiling is definitely higher with Frankie than Devante. I think the bigger issue is Johns and Twill (and Nunez??) getting minutes over Bufkin. Twill and Johns have brought basically nothing to the table since Buffalo. Bufkin clearly has the higher ceiling and unlocks a different type of lineup than Diabate at the 4 (Moussa should def be starting btw)
I just think Devante looks very uncomfortable in the PG role. Perhaps comfort will come with more experience in the role, but his handle is loose and he has no explosiveness. He simply doesn’t seem physically suited to the role.
Who knows whether Frankie is part of the solution, but I did like the way things moved with him on the floor in the 1st half tonight. The offence seemed to have a bit more pace to it.
Diabate is getting plenty of minutes not starting and gives us the flexibility of using him at the 4 or 5. I think he got 25 vs Johns 15 tonight.
I strongly second this opinion. No reason Johns and Williams play 30 minutes and provide a net negative or net neutral impact while we have an 18 year old McDonalds All-American guard riding the bench. That experience and growth would be great for before the tourney in March
Yeah I wonder how many more games this goes on. If he can’t turn the corner soon, you have to give Collins more run and live with the mistakes. At least you know he’s going to improve. Jones is who he is to a point.
I think the fact that DeVante’ played 20 second half minutes in a competitive game despite playing poorly should be pretty telling about how long the “experiment” goes on.
DeVante’s transition hasn’t been smooth, I don’t think it is time to jump ship at all, though.
Yeah I just don’t see the point of giving up so early. Sure it’s been rockier than we expected but it’s very early and a lot of people saw great things in Devante. Gotta give it some time and see how it plays out. I guess playing Frankie some and letting him make progress is a good idea but Devante is still the lead PG and will be for a while.
I agree that Frankie should get more run. But trying to remember what other options were available in and around the signing of DeVante? Were we in any serious talks with any other transfer options?
Dig in.
I’m not generally an impulsive, jump-ship, hot-take kind of “fan”, but when it comes to Devante I guess I’m just a bit at a loss already. Regardless of the “transition” (which the freshmen are no doubt ALSO going through), you would hope that a 5th year senior that went to the NBA G League Elite camp and dominated his previous conference could at the very least give you glimpses of something against the likes of Tartelton St, Buffalo, Prairieview, etc…because if he can’t find a way to dominate portions of those games, what chance does he have in the B1G? Instead, all he’s mostly shown is his ability to foul and find himself on the pine. And even the full 20 minutes of the second half of last night’s game when he finally stopped fouling long enough to play, what did he actually provide the team? Other than possessions where he’d dribble just past half court and then pick his dribble up when faced with pressure?
This concludes my hot take 
Jacob Young 
I though Frankie clearly out-played Devante. When the 2nd half started I was shocked to see Devante on the floor.
Young has been disastrous this year at Oregon. He wouldn’t have been the answer.
One question in regards to Jones and maybe it was by design (I can’t imagine it should be though.) What was with Johns dribbling the ball up from the backcourt yesterday repeatedly in the 2nd half?? Jones is already in the frontcourt but Johns is not sure what to do and by the time he gets the ball up the court they have 22 left on the clock. Is Jones not capable of getting them into their offense quicker?? Not to mention Jones stopping his dribble near the timeline or turning his back to his defenders.
I am so used to seeing Michigan with a decent point guard that it is jarring to see Devante Jones struggle in the role so far. He is clearly having difficulty adjusting to the speed and size of the opposing teams. It probably doesn’t help that so many of his teammates are also adjusting, not always in position and not playing at their best.
I believe many of the poor decisions and turnovers are correctable. For example, don’t pick up the dribble at the top of the key if you do not know already where you are going to pass the ball. Know better where you are on the court and avoid stepping on the sideline when being harassed by a defender (Brooks did it too).
A few practices focused on passing fundamentals would help the entire team. It doesn’t help anyone to throw a passes at the knees, feet or behind the other player.
Finally, I thought the Hunter Dickinson we saw in the last five minutes of last night’s game was needed through the rest of the game. That would have had a hugely positive impact on Devante and the rest of the team, allowing them to have more confidence and play through mistakes. Even while triple teamed and not looking to score, I thought Hunter could have showed a lot more more energy and aggressiveness. Hunter may be Michigan’s best player, but he is not playing like it consistently enough.
You’ll never convince me that he wouldn’t have been every single thing that Michigan needed Dylan! He would have shot 40% from three on high volume. He would have had a 10/1 assist to turnover. He would have taught Johns some self confidence. He was the answer.
I think the issue with Dickinson is going to be an issue for a bit. We even saw it last year it was extremely tough in situations to get good angle to give Hunter the ball. This year these guards have been terrible at post entry passes. I don’t like Dickinson pouting but it must be hard to have guys leaning on him all the time and the guards aren’t getting him the ball.
The issue for me is the main issues I see with Jones aren’t the type that are likely to be corrected by more time on the court. He’s very slow with really bad handles. He has to do that turn your back move to dribble across half court half the time and doesn’t have the ability to beat anyone off the dribble and open things up for the offense. How’s that going to look when we’re playing Jamari Wheeler or Trent Frazier and we can’t even initiate our offense?