The Wolverines refused to quit today while battling back from a 15-point deficit against one of the top teams in the country. This team showed heart, grit, and talent that have been sorely lacking in the Michigan basketball program for a long, long time. Even though the run is done, everyone should be looking forward to what could be a huge step forward for this program in 2011-2012. Before we completely shut the door on 2010-2011, I wanted to take some time to cover what we learned about our young Wolverines over the course of this season. Here are 5 quick things we learned about the Michigan basketball team this year:
1. Darius Morris has turned into a tremendous point guard.
- Morris, after having little impact as a highly touted freshman last year, showed tremendous improvement over the course of this season. He morphed from a timid freshman into a sophomore who had complete control over his team. Morris actually led Michigan in scoring (15 ppg) and even led the entire Big Ten with 6.7 assists per game. Morris has developed an extremely versatile game that allows him to be both a distributor and scorer depending on what the moment calls for. He has excellent body control that allows him to get shots over shorter guards once he gets in the lane. The only thing standing between Morris and being a first round NBA draft selection might be his ability to develop a three point shot (25% this season). If Morris can dedicate his game this summer to developing a perimeter jump shot, Michigan’s offense could morph into one of the better units in the league next year.
2. Tim Hardaway Jr. is a future star.
- The Miami native had a tough time getting his shots to fall early in the season but over the last two months we have watched Hardaway Jr. develop into an efficient scorer who has that unique ability to take over a game at any time. Today, for example, Tim struggled over the course of the entire game but then put together a huge 7-point stretch in about two minutes that totally changed the complexity of the game. Hardaway Jr. is a tremendous shooter who has very solid size and length for the small forward position. He has gotten better about getting to the hoop as the year has gone on while making sure that he is getting quality looks for both himself and his teammates. Hardaway needs to develop better handles to truly take his game to the next level. If his dad could teach him the old “Texas Two-Step” this summer along with a few more moves off the dribble, we could be looking at a potential front-runner for Big Ten player of the year next year.
3. The post position is in much better shape than people think.
- Most people’s biggest fear heading into this season was the complete lack of experience that Michigan had at both the power forward and center spots. The depth still isn’t tremendous but Michigan has definitely found plenty of talent to hold down the fort at these spots for the next few seasons. Jordan Morgan, Evan Smotrycz, and John Horford form a solid core that will all return next season.
Morgan is a great fit in John Beilein’s motion offense and has firmly grasped the pick and roll system. Morgan will continue to develop his post moves this off-season in order to become a more proficient scorer.
As we saw today, Evan Smotrycz has the ability to become a lethal scorer at the power forward spot in this system. There is no doubt that Evan can shoot the rock, but if he continues to develop his post game and his dribble drive game, similar to what he was able to do against Duke today, then he will become a huge matchup problem for opponents in the years to come.
Lastly, and perhaps the key to next season, is the rapidly developing John Horford. Horford has already put on 30 pounds since coming to Michigan and will probably attempt to add another 15-20 before the start of the upcoming season. Horford’s athleticism and shot-blocking ability would be a big boost to the Wolverines defensive and rebounding efforts.
4. Michigan no longer lives and dies by the three.
In John Beilein’s first few seasons it seemed that Michigan had no shot to win a game if they did not hit 8-10 shots from beyond the arc. Today was a perfect example of a game where Michigan did not have tremendous success beyond the arc but they were still able to battle to the end with one of the top teams in the country. All the credit in the world has to go to Beilein and his coaching staff for developing a hybrid type offense that takes advantage of the unique abilities that are present on this team. The system has given players like Morris and Morgan the ability to run the pick and roll while still allowing shooters like Novak and Douglass to spot up and hit that timely three from the wing. The offense is so tough to defend because of the high volume of picks and back cuts that constantly keep defenders heads’ on a swivel. Beilein will continue to add new wrinkles and tricks that will make this a difficult team to guard. Everyone thought that Duke had the coaching advantage going into this game but I think anyone that watched the game today would be hard-pressed to argue that John Beilein outcoached Coach K today after watching Beilein’s patented 1-3-1 give K’s squad all sorts of fits down the stretch.
5. Basketball is back at the University of Michigan.
- Much has been made about the dark days that Michigan basketball has endured since the Fab 5 sanctions decimated the program. It finally seems that those dark clouds are parting and Michigan basketball might be returning to national relevance. John Beilein and every player on the roster will return in 2011-2012 and judging by national media reactions following the game this team is a sure-fire lock to be a Top-25 team to open the season. With what other teams in the conference are losing, I would fully expect Michigan to be considered one of the preseason favorites to win the conference title next year.
To go along with a rapidly improving on the floor product, the facilities at Michigan will finally be improved to a level that is appropriate for a Division 1 basketball power. The new player development center that will be finished this fall will be a major recruiting tool, as it should provide one of the best practice spaces in the Big Ten. Crisler Arena will also be getting a bit of a face-lift this off-season as Phase I of a 50 million dollar renovation project gets underway.
The future is extremely bright and each and every single one of us should be looking forward to watching this program continue to ascend towards mountain-top under the watchful eye of an excellent coach in John Beilein.
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