Author: Drew Montag

The (#6) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one (exhibition) game this past week, and they won it.  On Friday (11/05/2021), they beat Wayne State 87-54.  The game was played in Wayne State’s brand new fieldhouse, as the inaugural game.  Since it was only an exhibition, Michigan’s record is still 0-0.

What Happened?

As I mentioned last week, it is rare for Michigan to play an exhibition game on the road, but this game was arranged as a courtesy to Wayne State so they could have a big-name opponent for the grand opening of their new fieldhouse, called, amazingly enough, Wayne State Fieldhouse.

The game itself was pretty much what you’d expect from a matchup between the defending Big Ten Champions and a Division II team.  After a brief choppy period in the first 3 minutes, Michigan went ahead for good, 7-6, at the 17:00 mark.  They didn’t pull very far ahead for the next 11 minutes, only leading by 8 (27-19) with 5:39 left in the half.  That’s when they broke the game open, going on a 21-0 run to put the game out of reach, 48-19.  WSU finally broke the UM scoring run with a basket with 16 seconds left in the half, to make it 48-21 at halftime.

WSU scored the first 4 points of the 2^nd half, to get within 23 points (48-25) with 18:13 to go, but that was as close as they got.  Michigan pushed the lead as high as 37 points, and coasted to a 33-point win.

Stats

The game stats were predictably good.  Michigan shot well overall (31-for-59 = 52.5%), they shot 3-pointers well (9-for-21 = 42.9%), and they shot free throws decently (16-for-24 = 66.7%).  They won the rebounding battle handily (51-39), but they lost the turnover battle (17-13).  They won this game with good shooting, solid rebounding, and good defense (WSU shot 28.8%, 23-for-80).

Who Started?

The starters were Eli Brooks, Hunter Dickinson, Caleb Houstan, Brandon Johns, Jr., and DeVante’ Jones.

Who Looked Good?

Dickinson was tied for high scorer for Michigan, with 14 points, and he almost had a double-double, with 9 rebounds.  He only played 23 minutes, so he could have easily had several more points and rebounds.  With the game firmly in hand, Coach Howard rested him, and gave other players a chance to play.

Brooks had 12 points, going 4-for-4 from 3-point range.  Of course, he missed his 3 shots inside the arc, to finish 4-for-7.  He played mostly shooting guard, with a few minutes running the point.

Jones hit double figures, with 10 points on decent shooting (3-for-6 overall, 1-for-2 from 3-point range).  He did a nice job running the offense, with 7 assists, although he did have 4 turnovers.

Houstan also hit double figures, with 10 points.  He didn’t have a great night shooting (3-for-7 overall, 1-for-4 from 3-point range), but he did haul down 5 rebounds.

Johns almost hit double figures, with 8 points.

Moussa Diabate was the only sub to hit double figures, with 14 points, which tied him for high scorer for Michigan.  He was the first player to sub in, and he did a nice job, shooting 6-for-9 and collecting 5 rebounds.

Terrance Williams II almost hit double figures, with 8 points on decent shooting (3-for-5 overall, 1-for-3 from 3-point range).

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Nobody looked not-so-good.

Who Else Played?

Kobe Bufkin played for 17 minutes, mostly at shooting guard, with a couple minutes at point guard.  He scored 3 points, shooting 1-for-4 overall, 1-for-3 from 3-point range.

Adrien Nuñez played for 13 minutes, and scored 3 points, shooting 1-for-3, all 3-pointers.

Brandon Wade played for 5 minutes, and scored 2 points, making his only shot attempt inside the arc and missing his only 3-point attempt.

Will Tschetter played for 5 minutes, and scored 2 points, making his only shot attempt.

Isaiah Barnes played for 6 minutes, and went 1-for-2 from the free throw line for 1 point.

Jace Howard played for 5 minutes, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Ian Burns is on the scout team, so he’s a lower priority for minutes.

Frankie Collins is the only scholarship freshman who didn’t play.  He has a groin injury.

Jaron Faulds is on the scout team, so he’s a lower priority for minutes.

Zeb Jackson has an unspecified illness.

What Does It Mean?

What can we learn from an exhibition game against an overmatched opponent?  Not much.  It was nice to see the new players in an actual game, even if it was just an exhibition.  Coach Howard got to try some lineup combinations, but it was too early to see if he has anything interesting in mind.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan plays two games.  On Wednesday (11/10/2021, 6:30 p.m., BTN) they play Buffalo in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (11/13/2021, 8:00 p.m., BTN) they play Prairie View A&M in Washington, DC.

Buffalo was 16-9 last season, 12-5 in the MAC.  They didn’t have any impressive wins, and they lost in the 1^st round of the NIT.  They don’t have any superstar players on their roster, but they do have decent height, with 6’10” and 6’11” centers.  This should be a decent test for Michigan, but one they can pass if they stay focused.

Prairie View A&M was 16-5 last season, 13-0 in the SWAC.  They didn’t have any impressive wins, and they lost in their conference tournament, so they didn’t go on to postseason play.  They don’t have any superstar players, and they don’t have much height.  This is a game Michigan should win handily.

So, why is Michigan playing Prairie View A&M in Washington, DC?  This game is part of a project called “Coaches vs. Racism”, which will match up Big 10 schools against HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in basketball.  The first game in the series is this one between Michigan and Prairie View A&M.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

Yeah, it’s time for college basketball again.  We’re still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, but at least there will be fans in the seats in Crisler Arena again this season, after a full season of playing in empty arenas.  That means I’ll be ushering again, in Sections 209-210.  Drop by to say hi when you’re in Crisler.

Here’s my traditional standard description of this weekly column:

Yeah, it’s time for University of Michigan men’s basketball, and this is the place to read all about it: “Nothing But ‘Net” on UMGoBlue.com.  Check back every Monday morning between now and the end of the season for a quick, concise wrap-up of the previous week, and a look ahead at the upcoming week, all in one easy-to-read article.

As always here at UMGoBlue.com, the perspective is “by fans, for fans”.  I’m a fan (since 1974), and I go to all the home games, and watch/listen to all the away games.  I don’t have any special access (other than being an usher in Sections 209-210), I don’t go to the press conferences, and I don’t interview high school recruits.   I see the same things you do, and write about them as a fan.

Once again, it was a very busy off-season, with lots of surprises and changes.  Let’s get to it.

Executive Summary

The big question: how good is Michigan going to be this season?

The big answer: very good.  Final Four good.  National Championship contender good.

What’s New?

There are lots of changes to the roster from last season:

• 7 graduating seniors
• 1 player departure
• 7 incoming freshmen
• 1 incoming transfer player

Graduating Seniors

Graduating seniors are a natural part of the college sports experience.  In the current environment of players leaving early for the NBA, or transferring to other schools, it is getting to be a rare event when a player stays all 4 years at the same school and graduates.  While it is sad to see players leave after having watched them for 4 years, it is really something to be celebrated and appreciated.  Michigan had a large senior class last season, 8 players in all.  They all graduated, and 7 of them moved on, but one of them took advantage of the “free year” that the NCAA allowed due to COVID-19.  The 7 that moved on are:

• C.J. Baird – C.J. was mostly a scout team player, although he did get a little more playing time and scored a few more points than your average scout team player.

• Chaundee Brown – Chaundee was a one-year player at Michigan, having used the “grad transfer” rule to transfer from Wake Forest.  He was the “6^th man” on the team, and he played pretty well.  He will be missed.

• Austin Davis – Austin was a rare redshirt senior last season.  He was a regular contributor, and an occasional starter.  He will be missed.

• Isaiah Livers – Isaiah was a 4-year starter, and arguably the most valuable player on the team for 2-3 seasons.  He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft (42nd pick overall).  He will definitely be missed.

• Rico Ozuna-Harrison – Rico was a scout team player who didn’t get to play much.

• Mike Smith – Mike was a one-year player at Michigan, having used the “grad transfer” rule to transfer from Columbia.  He was the starter all season at point guard, and he had a great year.  He will be missed.

• Luke Wilson – Luke was a scout team player who didn’t get to play much.

I wish that Chaundee Brown, Austin Davis, Isaiah Livers, and Mike Smith had taken advantage of the one-time “free year” COVID-19 policy by the NCAA to come back for one more year, but we still wish them well, along with the other 3 seniors.

The one player who chose to come back for the “free year” is Eli Brooks, profiled below.

Player Departures

The only player to leave the Michigan program with remaining eligibility was Franz Wagner, who was drafted by the Orlando Magic is the 1^st round (8^th pick overall).  He will definitely be missed.

Incoming Freshmen

This is the big story this season: Michigan has the #2 (was #1 until Memphis grabbed a couple reclassified players) recruiting class in the nation.  There are 7 incoming freshman players this season, 6 of them on scholarship:

• Isaiah Barnes #11 (6’7”, 185 pounds, G/F) – Isaiah is a 4-star small forward, and the #25 small forward in his class.  He’s listed as a “guard/forward” on the official roster, but we unofficially call him a “wing”.  He’s got the shooting ability of a guard, with the size and strength of a forward.

• Kobe Bufkin #2 (6’4”, 175 pounds, G) – Kobe is a 4-star combo guard, and the #4 combo guard in his class.

• Ian Burns #13 (6’6”, 200 pounds, G) – Ian is the only non-scholarship freshman this season.  He’ll be on the scout team.

• Frankie Collins #10 (6’1”, 185 pounds, G) – Frankie is a 4-star point guard, and the #10 point guard in his class.

• Moussa Diabate #14 (6’11”, 210 pounds, F) – Moussa is a 5-star power forward, and the #6 power forward in his class.

• Caleb Houstan #22 (6’8”, 205 pounds, G/F) – Caleb is a 5-star power forward, the #3 power forward in his class, and the highest ranked of the incoming freshmen.

• Will Tschetter #42 (6’8”, 230 pounds, F) – Will is a 3-star power forward.

Once again, this is the #1 recruiting class in the Big Ten this season.  The only question is, can Coach Howard combine all the elements into a cohesive team.

Incoming Transfer Players

Last season, Coach Howard went to the transfer portal and picked up two very talented players who played for one season at Michigan: Chaundee Brown and Mike Smith.  This season, he’s going to the well again, looking for another one-year player to be the main point guard:

• DeVante’ Jones #12 (6’1”, 200 pounds, G) – DeVante’ is a transfer from Coastal Carolina.  He will be the main point guard this season.  He’ll have senior eligibility, with one season left to play.

Who’s Coming Back?

Michigan is a very young team this season, with a lot of new faces.  However, there is a solid core of returning players.

Let’s look at the returning players on the team:

Sophomore Eligibility

• Hunter Dickinson #1 (7’1”, 260 pounds, C) – Hunter was the heart of the team last season.  He led the team in scoring (14.1 points/game), rebounding (7.4 rebounds/game), and blocked shots (40).  He was 2^nd on the team in shooting percentage (59.8%).  He played in all 28 games, and started the last 23.  He scored in double figures in 23 games, and broke 20 points in 5 of them, including 26 and 28 points.  On the “minus” side, he did lead the team in turnovers (64) and fouls (71), and he went 0-for-4 for the season from 3-point range.  Still, he was the undisputed MVP, and he earned 2^nd team All America honors on all four of the major teams.

• Jace Howard #25 (6’7”, 225 pounds, G) – Jace is on scholarship, but he wasn’t part of the main rotation of players last season.  He played in 11 games, for a total of about 32 minutes, and scored 12 points.  It’s not clear if he will play much more this season.

• Zeb Jackson #3 (6’5”, 190 pounds, G) – Zeb is on scholarship, but he wasn’t part of the main rotation of players last season.  He played in 16 games, for a total of about 86 minutes, and scored 16 points.  He’ll get his chance at point guard this season.

• Terrance Williams II #5 (6’7”, 230 pounds, F) – Terrance is on scholarship, but he wasn’t part of the main rotation of players last season.  He played in 21 games, for a total of about 159 minutes, and scored 40 points.  He looked good in some of the non-conference games (7 points vs. Oakland, 10 points vs. Central Florida), but he had way too many 0-point games.  He’ll get his chance at small forward this season.

Junior Eligibility

• Brandon Wade #4 (6’1”, 190 pounds, G) – Brandon is a preferred walk-on.  Last season, he played in 3 games, for a total of about 3 minutes, but didn’t take any shots.  He’s part of the scout team.

Senior Eligibility

• Eli Brooks #55 (6’1”, 185 pounds, G) – Eli is actually a “super senior”, with a rare fifth year of eligibility due to COVID-19 rules.  Last season, Eli mostly played shooting guard, with occasional stints at point guard.  He was 4^th on the team in scoring (9.5 points/game), 1^st on the team in free throw percentage (90.9%), 2^nd on the team in steals (29), and he hustled when he was in there.  He’s a very good defender, and he’s what’s known as a “glue guy”.

• Jaron Faulds #44 (6’10”, 240 pounds, F) – Jaron is a preferred walk-on.  Last season, he played in 10 games, for a total of about 29 minutes, and scored 4 points.  He’s part of the scout team.

• Brandon Johns, Jr. #23 (6’8”, 240 pounds, F) – Last season, Brandon played a lot at center when Michigan played “small ball”, and the results were uneven.  He didn’t score much (4.9 points/game), and he didn’t rebound as well as he did before (2.3 rebounds/game).

• Adrien Nuñez #0 (6’6”, 220 pounds, G) – Adrien is on scholarship, but he wasn’t part of the main rotation of players last season.  He played in 10 games, for a total of about 32 minutes, and scored 6 points.  He’s part of the scout team.

Starting Lineup/Depth Chart

This is really tricky this season, with all the new players.  My guess:

Point guard: Jones (backups: Collins, Jackson, and Brooks)
Shooting guard: Brooks (backups: Bufkin, Collins, and Jackson)
Small forward: Johns (backups: Barnes, Houstan, Williams, and Tschetter)
Power forward: Houstan (backups: Diabate, Johns, Tschetter, and Williams)
Center: Dickinson (backups: Diabate and Johns)

Last Season

From last season’s Wrap-Up article:

Preseason expectations were mixed for Michigan.  Most of the experts picked Michigan to finish 5^th or 6^th in the Big Ten, although a few picked Michigan as a “dark horse” contender for the title.  Here are the results.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season started about three weeks later than usual, and the schedule was smaller than usual.  The last few years, teams were allowed to play 31 games, but this year most teams played 25-27 games.  Michigan played five non-conference games, along with 20 Big Ten games.  Michigan started the season ranked #25 in the polls, but quickly dropped out after a couple underwhelming victories over outmatched opponents, including an overtime win over Oakland.  Still, they were victories, as Michigan tried to develop team chemistry on the fly.  The only interesting non-conference game was going to be against North Carolina State, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19 issues on the NC State team.  Fortunately, Michigan managed to hustle up a last-minute replacement (Toledo), and they got in all five non-conference games, and won them all.

UM started the Big Ten schedule with six straight wins, including three 19+ point victories in a row over Top 25 teams: (#19) Northwestern, (#16) Minnesota, and (#9) Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin game in particular was a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping, probably the best game of the season.  By this time, Michigan had climbed to #7 in the polls, with an 11-0 (6-0 in Big Ten) record.  Despite having crushed Minnesota in Ann Arbor (82-57), Michigan lost the rematch in Minneapolis badly, 75-57, for their first loss.  This was easily the worst game and the low point of the season.  They won their next two games, to raise their record to 13-1 (8-1 in Big Ten), and then … the whole UM athletic department shut down for two weeks, even the teams with no COVID-19 problems, like the basketball team.  That forced them to postpone five games, including one that had already been postponed once before.  They ended up rescheduling two of these five games, so they only played 17 of their 20 Big Ten games, which became an issue later.  Read on.

When UM finally returned from their two-week shutdown, they won their next five games, which gave them a new seven-game winning streak, and pushed them up to #2 in the polls.  At this point, the Big Ten realized that a few of the Big Ten teams, including Michigan, weren’t going to be able to play all 20 games, so they announced that the regular season champion would be decided by winning percentage.  Based on the standings at that point, it meant that Michigan had to win just one of their three remaining games to win the regular season championship outright.  The good news is that Michigan did win one of the games.  The bad news is that they lost the other two games.  One of the losses was a 23-point beatdown by the 2^nd place team, (#4) Illinois.  The other loss was a heartbreaker on Michigan State’s Senior Night.  Sandwiched in between was a 19-point thrashing of MSU in Ann Arbor.

Michigan stumbled into the Big Ten Tournament with 2 losses in their last 3 games, and didn’t do very well in the tournament, beating the #8 seed (Maryland) and losing to the #5 seed (Ohio State).

On to the NCAA Tournament.  Michigan was the #1 seed in the East Region, and they won 3 games (16-seed Texas Southern, 8-seed LSU, and 4-seed Florida State) before losing to the 11-seed UCLA.

So, what was the issue mentioned above?  The final Big Ten standings showed:

Michigan 14-3 (0.824)
Illinois 16-4 (0.800)

The Illinois team, fanbase, and even athletic director got it into their heads that they were the regular season champions, since they beat Michigan head-to-head and won more games.  They didn’t seem to understand the concept of “winning percentage”.  As it happened, Illinois won the Big Ten Tournament, so they got their championship, but not the regular season crown.

Karma is a b*tch.  Illinois went into the NCAA Tournament convinced that they were going to beat up everyone, but they were upset in the 2^nd round by Loyola-Chicago.  Actually, other than Michigan, the Big Ten laid an egg in the Big Dance.  All of the other Big Ten teams in the field were eliminated in the first week (first two rounds):

• Michigan State (11-seed) lost to UCLA (11-seed) in a “First Four” game on Thursday
• Ohio State (2-seed) lost to Oral Roberts (15-seed) in a 1^st round game on Friday
• Purdue (4-seed) lost to North Texas (13-seed) in a 1^st round game on Friday
• Illinois (1-seed) lost to Loyola-Chicago (8-seed) in a 2^nd round game on Sunday
• Wisconsin (9-seed) lost to Baylor (1-seed) in a 2^nd round game on Sunday
• Rutgers (10-seed) lost to Houston (2-seed) in a 2^nd round game on Sunday
• Iowa (2-seed) lost to Oregon (7-seed) in a 2^nd round game on Monday
• Maryland (10-seed) lost to Alabama (2-seed) in a 2^nd round game on Monday

Of those eight losses by the Big Ten teams, one of them was a “toss up” (MSU), three of them were expected (Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Maryland), and four of them were upsets (OSU, Purdue, Illinois, and Iowa).

Even though they did the best of the Big Ten teams, Michigan still was eliminated earlier than their #1 seed suggested.  They really should have beaten UCLA in the Elite Eight and gone on to the Final Four.

This Season

After the weird schedule last season (only 25 games [5 non-conference and 20 Big Ten], with no exhibition games and no holiday tournament), Michigan has a normal schedule again.

Let’s look at Michigan’s schedule for this season:

Some comments on the schedule:

• It’s very unusual for Michigan to play an exhibition game on the road.  It’s even more unusual for Michigan to play an away non-conference game against a much smaller opponent.  However, it all makes sense when you realize that Michigan is helping Wayne State inaugurate a brand new arena, which is still unnamed, but tentatively called “Wayne State Arena”.  This 3,000 seat arena will be used by Wayne State and the Pistons NBA G-League team, the Motor City Cruise.
• Michigan is playing in four special events close together, involving five games, four of those games away from Crisler:
  • The Coaches vs. Racism game (Prairie View A&M) in Washington, DC
  • The Gavitt Tipoff game (Seton Hall) in Crisler
  • The Roman Main Event (UNLV, Arizona/Wichita State) in Las Vegas
  • The ACC/Big Ten Challenge (North Carolina) in Chapel Hill, NC
• The ACC/Big Ten Challenge game vs. North Carolina is going to be very challenging.
• The six “generic” non-conference games (Buffalo, Tarleton State, San Diego State, Southern Utah, Purdue – Fort Wayne, and Central Florida) are all winnable, and will be good preparation for the Big Ten schedule.
• Once again, it’s very unusual for Michigan to play an away non-conference game against a smaller school, but Michigan is playing Central Florida (UCF) away on 12/30/2021.
• The two December Big Ten games (at Nebraska, home vs. Minnesota) are both very winnable.
• There are a couple particularly tough stretches in the schedule:
  • The first six Big Ten games in 2022 are all against teams that are either ranked or “getting votes” in the AP preseason poll.
  • The five games starting with the away Purdue game (02/05/2022) through the away Wisconsin game (02/20/2022) have the Wolverines playing four out of five games on the road.
• Each Big Ten team plays 6 teams once (3 home/3 away) and 7 teams twice, for a total of 20 games.  This season, Michigan plays:
  • Once: Minnesota (home), Maryland (home), Indiana (away), Northwestern (home), Penn State (away), Wisconsin (away).
  • Twice: Nebraska, Rutgers, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa.

Expectations

I like to divide the games up into 3 categories (“Should Win”, “Should Lose”, and “Toss Up”):

• Should Win (18) – Buffalo, Prairie View A&M, Seton Hall, UNLV, Arizona/Wichita State, Tarleton State, San Diego State, Nebraska (twice), Minnesota, Southern Utah, Purdue-Fort Wayne, Central Florida, Rutgers (twice), Northwestern, Penn State, Iowa (home).
• Should Lose (5) – North Carolina, Illinois (away), Michigan State (away), Purdue (away), Ohio State (away).
• Toss Up (8) – Michigan State (home), Purdue (home), Maryland, Indiana, Ohio State (home), Iowa (away), Wisconsin, Illinois (home).

If UM can win all 18 of the “Should Win” games, and half (4) of the 8 “Toss Up” games, that would give them a record of 22-9 (12-8 in the Big Ten).  That should be good enough to get UM into the NCAA Tournament with a decent seed.  They’ll need to win more like 6 of the 8 “Toss Up” games and 2 of the “Should Lose” games to contend for the Big Ten title.

The Big Ten

The Big Ten looks very tough again this season, with 5 teams in the Top-25 of the AP Preseason Poll:

(6) Michigan
(7) Purdue
(11) Illinois
(17) Ohio State
(21) Maryland

In addition, 2 teams (Michigan State and Indiana) were in the “Also Receiving Votes” list (#26 and #27, respectively).

Here is the predicted order of finish for the Big Ten, according to various sites:

This Week

This week, Michigan only plays one game.  On Friday (11/05/2021, 7:00 p.m., No TV) they play at Wayne State, in their only exhibition game.

Wayne State was 12-7 (12-5 in the GLIAC) last season.  They are a Division II team, and they didn’t play any Division I schools last season.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, and they don’t have much height.  This should be an easy exhibition game.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!