MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[lineygoblue]

Final NC 72
..M 51

Welp, .. I guess maybe they're not so good this year. I had a lot of hope for these guys, but they're having a lot of problems right now. NC gets a bit of revenge for the pasting they took last year at Crisler.

Howard has his job cut out for him this year. The talent is there, the chemistry is not.

[Hannibal]

Howard has a shit ton of work to do. The team isn't even NIT caliber at this point.

[Cody_Russell]

Disappointing so far.
Jones is the most wrong I’ve been about a player since Dylan McCaffrey. What happened to the guy that did NBA workouts? Coastal Carolina competition is THAT bad?

M has the raw talent and coaching staff to turn it around, but there’s a lot of work to do. Time to hurt some players feelings by benching them if needed.
Remember the recent Beilein team that flipped the script starting in February? Hopefully that happens….

[Niffla]

Looks like it's going to be a long, long year unfortunately.

I think so many of us (myself included) we're completely blinded by the great recruiting class. Now I'm not here to make excuses -- but I kind of will anyway. They're starting two true freshman now. Three are in the rotation. 7 of the guys who actually see the floor are underclassmen. Another starter is a transfer from the Sun Belt Conference.

Many of us severely underestimated how much of an impact losing Franz Wagner, Isaiah Livers (the senior captain and undisputed leader of last season's team), Chaundee Brown, and Mike Smith would have. Heck you can throw Austin Davis in there too. Three of those guys are on NBA rosters right now. They lost three starters and their sixth man, who was arguably the best sixth man in the Big Ten, Looking back now, it was pretty foolish on my part to think that losing that much from last year's team wouldn't have a significant impact because we got a bunch of new shiny McDonald's All-Americans and top 100 recruits.

This is going to take time, and yeah it could be a lost season. I mean if they want to even make the tournament they better get a lot better, and fast. Brandon Johns, who many of us thought that this would FINALLY be his year -- has regressed. Badly regressed. Jones is looking like a poor fit, and I should've seen this on paper. He's a scorer. I mean the guy averaged twice as many rebounds as assists (and he's a PG!!). last year. He's not a floor general, but we're asking him to be one. The early returns on that have been borderline disastrous. I think Houstan will eventually be elite, but right now in hindsight the fact that he was named to the preseason all-conference team was a bit absurd. For the most part he looks like what he is, which is a true freshman still trying to find his way.

Right now, watching this team is not fun. At all. The last three games -- blown out by Arizona, a fight to the death with Tarleton State, and then blown out again by North Carolina. Both Arizona and North Carolina games I turned off midway through the second halves.

I hope things get better quickly with this team but there really hasn't been any indication that that's going to happen anytime soon.

[Hannibal]

It might be time to pump the brakes on the Howard hype. The team ssuuuucks this year. Worst team probably since the '09-'10 turdburger.

[lineygoblue]

I don't think Howard is the problem.

[WM Wolverine]

Opposing players can penetrate at will, the wing defense is very bad across the board. Night and day difference defensively from Livers, Wagner, Smith and Brown who were excellent defensively... Those guys could knock down clutch triples too... Too bad Livers got injured, that squad had a legit chance for the NT, this squad will struggle to get an NIT invite...

Graduated a ton, the incoming talent isn't near what just left. Maybe the young players will develop a bit in-season and they'll be a much better squad come February but I think were looking at a .500 squad as B1G looks elite as usual.

[WM Wolverine]

After Eli Brooks, this squad is terribly young. It's a transition year.

[Whitley]

When your point is struggling to score and keep people in front of him it makes the defense look a lot worse. Have to wonder how much longer jones gets to start before Frankie Collins gets some starts here. At least Collins provides a spark and makes things happen (and sometimes those are good things).

[WM Wolverine]

Jones is one problem of many, I know he's the fan bases favorite target but there are quite a few other issues on this team.

[Cody_Russell]

Yup.

M was poor at FG %, 3 point %, and the turnover margin when compared to Minnesota. I still think it's a highly talented M team, but they have so many holes in the fundamentals areas. Questionable if they can patch all of it up come February or March. Might be too late.

I would bench Jones for Collins now with the cupcakes coming up.

[Hannibal]

After Eli Brooks, this squad is terribly young. It's a transition year.

This needed to be a "win now" year. What does next year's team look like? No Brooks, Dickinson, Johns, or Diabate for sure. I don't know about Houstan. Is he thoguht of as a one-and-done?

[WM Wolverine]

Hannibal decides every season is a win now season.

[Hannibal]

No really. But a lot of seasons have evolved that way as guys have played themselves into the draft. I expected this to be a "win now" year. Not many programs can survive the attrition that is to be expected at the end of this season. We aren't Duke or Kentucky, so we really need to hit home runs on our one-and-dones.

[lineygoblue]

Next season will definitely be a transition year. If everyone leaves that CAN leave, the cupboards will be pretty bare. I'd like to see at least one of either Diabate or Houstan stay.