Michigan suffered a gutting loss to Texas Tech, where nothing could seem like it was going right. Their offense was shut down, the second half saw multiple defensive lapses, and it was a rough way to end the season. However, the Wolverines still finished the season with thirty wins for the second-straight season and have become just one of three teams to make three straight Sweet Sixteens in the last three seasons. What happened and where does Michigan go from here? I talk about all that here?
Sweet Sixteen -- Texas Tech:
It took Michigan two-and-a-half minutes for their first bucket. Jordan Poole made a lay-up on a nice find from Jon Teske. Michigan would then score in two possessions from then thanks to Charles Matthews' lay-up at the 16:48 mark. The offense would then disappear. It took Michigan until 11:52 to find the bottom of the net thanks to another two from Matthews, but remarkably it was still 6-6. The defensive battle was the theme of the night and would indeed continue. Neither team would be able to score on back-to-back possessions until Texas Tech pushed the lead to 11-6 with two buckets that included a Davide Moretti three. Michigan could counter, but it wasn't until Ignas Brazdeikis got his first bucket of the night that Michigan was in double figures on the game, it would be 13-10 at the 5:34 mark. Michigan continued to keep it close, but four points in the last minute meant Texas Tech could push the lead out to 24-16 at the half. For the defense of Texas Tech, eight points seemed insurmountable. And it was.
TTU started the second half on a quick 5-0 run, featuring another three from Moretti. Moretti would then hit another three to continue the run out to 10-2 and force a Michigan timeout down 34-18 just three minutes into the half. Michigan would get doubled-up and it was the 15:32 mark when Poole gave Michigan their first field goal of the half. Brazdeikis seemed to give Michigan a bit of life with an and-one to make it 43-27 with 11:34 to play, but Jarrett Culver, the star of the Red Raiders, responded with one of his own. That was the bell tolling. If that was the first sign, though, Matt Mooney hitting a three with eight minutes left to stretch the lead to 25 was the fat lady singing. It was time to go home for Michigan. Michigan continued to fight back, but the inability to hit open threes would be their downfall throughout the night. C.J. Baird cut the lead to 63-44 with Michigan's first, and only, three of the night with 24 seconds on the clock, and the game would end like last season's Sweet Sixteen encounter with a team from Texas, a Baird three. This one ended far more painfully for the team.
The problem for Michigan was two-fold: bad offense and great Texas Tech defense. The TTU defense was making things tough for the Wolverines all night, but if open shots are not falling, then that makes things even harder on yourself. Michigan was zero-for-eighteen from three before Baird's shot in the last thirty seconds of the game. That is a 5.3% mark from distance. Michigan had an off night, and their inability to get necessary makes even when open killed them in the end. Of course, Tech's defense was outstanding in its own right. The complete and utter shutdown of Zavier Simpson (zero points, zero-for-five shooting, one assist, four turnovers) meant Michigan simply could not get anything going in the half court offense. Which made the open misses that much more gut-wrenching. At the end of the day, Michigan's downfall was one that combined many of the worries from the start of the season: a lack of shooting on the team combined with a team that can switch one-through-five on the Wolverines. This is not at all a disappointing seasonal performance, but after a 17-0 start with blowout wins over Villanova, North Carolina, and Purdue, expectations simply got higher. This, in hindsight, seems to be a team that peaked earlier in the season and stagnated late, unlike the teams from the past two seasons.
What's Next for Michigan:
Michigan now has the 2019-20 season to look forward to. With that comes important roster decisions, primarily from two underclassmen starters. The thought is that Charles Matthews, while still holding a year of eligibility despite technically being a senior, is almost assuredly going to be playing professional basketball next season. That, then, turns the question towards Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis. Poole has been just a 30.4% three point shooter in the calendar year of 2019, yet his ability to shoot and create cannot be understated. His stock is assuredly rather high still given his capabilities plus his youth (he would not turn twenty until after the NBA Draft) makes him an interesting prospect. Brazdeikis, on the other hand, is already a twenty-year-old and having been a freshman this past season, that makes him a candidate to declare and leave as well. He shot 39.2% from three this season, that was even at a 41.6% mark in 2019 heading into the NCAA Tournament, and can finish with both hands at the rim. He is still a bit raw when it comes to dimensions of his game, with limited shot-creating ability shown from three, but he is a serious prospect. Both players will likely be gone by the end of the 19/20 season at the latest, but at least one would figure to be a likely absence from the roster by the start of next season.
What about incoming players? There are two categories of player that Michigan is looking at: incoming freshmen, and grad transfers. Starting with freshmen, Michigan are indeed circling the wagon around a handful of 2019 recruits. The most interesting of which is Franz Wagner. Moritz Wagner's younger brother is playing for the same youth team Moe once did (Alba Berlin) and when talking about colleges, he has listed three: Stanford, for academics, Butler, because Michigan coaching connections, and of course, Michigan. One would figure that if the seventeen-year-old Franz wanted to play college basketball in the States and there was a spot open, Michigan would take him in a heartbeat. Other intriguing options include Lester Quinones, one of the top shooters in the 2019 class. A 6'5", top-80 prospect, Quinones has Michigan in a final seven (or eight) but has been talked as a heavy Memphis lean. Michigan also continues to keep an eye on former Southfield Christian and current Montverde star Harlond Beverly, and John Beilein was just out to Florida to see him in action. With offers from Kansas, Virginia, Michigan State, most recently Alabama, and plenty more schools, and not one from Michigan, though, it is tough to see a path to Ann Arbor for Beverly. Finally, David Skogman is a 6'10" center from Wisconsin that Michigan has gone out to see a handful of times, but Wisconsin has hosted (unofficially) twice in the new year. Freshman options seem rather limited, but could be worth watching if Franz Wagner makes a decision on his future.
This, then, leaves the grad transfer market open. Michigan has been confirmed to be in touch with a pair of players highly in demand already. Justin Pierce, a 6'7" wing from William and Mary was the first confirmed recipient of contact. Pierce averaged almost fifteen points in both of his last two seasons with W&M while snagging 8.6 rebounds as a sophomore and 8.9 as a junior. His shooting stroke is alluring, but his sophomore stats are far more impressive than those of this past season (41.6% from three, 79% at the line, vs. 32.4% from three, 59% from the line). He would be a perfect fit as a stretch four for Michigan with the ability to shoot and rebound, but with plenty of teams hot on his trail, plus the concern over the drop in form, the question is how heavily will Michigan pursue him. The other interesting option would be Rayjon Tucket, a shooting guard standing 6'5" from Little Rock. Originally a transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, Tucker made an immediate impact after sitting a year in Little Rock. He averaged 20.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a do-everything guard. He shot 41.1% from three and 77.7% from the free throw line while playing 36.6 minutes per game, missing just one game over the season. He is a high-impact transfer and if Pierce would be a direct swap for Brazdeikis if he were to go pro, surely Tucker is Poole's.
Final Thoughts:
It was a tough end to a season that looked incredibly promising to start the season. A myriad of bad match-ups with Michigan State and an even-worse game against Texas Tech likely make this one that will be looked back upon without much fondness, but one cannot forget the highs of the year as well. A third straight Sweet Sixteen, a stretch of games that saw Michigan lead every single game in their first seventeen wins by double figures, and a good-plenty of games by the end of the season that saw big wins as well. This was a year full of highlights, not just three losses to Michigan State and a brutal NCAA Tournament loss. Thirty wins is always impressive, and Michigan will hope to build upon this foundation next season as well. They will hope to do so with largely the same roster.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more Michigan basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
Sweet Sixteen -- Texas Tech:
It took Michigan two-and-a-half minutes for their first bucket. Jordan Poole made a lay-up on a nice find from Jon Teske. Michigan would then score in two possessions from then thanks to Charles Matthews' lay-up at the 16:48 mark. The offense would then disappear. It took Michigan until 11:52 to find the bottom of the net thanks to another two from Matthews, but remarkably it was still 6-6. The defensive battle was the theme of the night and would indeed continue. Neither team would be able to score on back-to-back possessions until Texas Tech pushed the lead to 11-6 with two buckets that included a Davide Moretti three. Michigan could counter, but it wasn't until Ignas Brazdeikis got his first bucket of the night that Michigan was in double figures on the game, it would be 13-10 at the 5:34 mark. Michigan continued to keep it close, but four points in the last minute meant Texas Tech could push the lead out to 24-16 at the half. For the defense of Texas Tech, eight points seemed insurmountable. And it was.
TTU started the second half on a quick 5-0 run, featuring another three from Moretti. Moretti would then hit another three to continue the run out to 10-2 and force a Michigan timeout down 34-18 just three minutes into the half. Michigan would get doubled-up and it was the 15:32 mark when Poole gave Michigan their first field goal of the half. Brazdeikis seemed to give Michigan a bit of life with an and-one to make it 43-27 with 11:34 to play, but Jarrett Culver, the star of the Red Raiders, responded with one of his own. That was the bell tolling. If that was the first sign, though, Matt Mooney hitting a three with eight minutes left to stretch the lead to 25 was the fat lady singing. It was time to go home for Michigan. Michigan continued to fight back, but the inability to hit open threes would be their downfall throughout the night. C.J. Baird cut the lead to 63-44 with Michigan's first, and only, three of the night with 24 seconds on the clock, and the game would end like last season's Sweet Sixteen encounter with a team from Texas, a Baird three. This one ended far more painfully for the team.
The problem for Michigan was two-fold: bad offense and great Texas Tech defense. The TTU defense was making things tough for the Wolverines all night, but if open shots are not falling, then that makes things even harder on yourself. Michigan was zero-for-eighteen from three before Baird's shot in the last thirty seconds of the game. That is a 5.3% mark from distance. Michigan had an off night, and their inability to get necessary makes even when open killed them in the end. Of course, Tech's defense was outstanding in its own right. The complete and utter shutdown of Zavier Simpson (zero points, zero-for-five shooting, one assist, four turnovers) meant Michigan simply could not get anything going in the half court offense. Which made the open misses that much more gut-wrenching. At the end of the day, Michigan's downfall was one that combined many of the worries from the start of the season: a lack of shooting on the team combined with a team that can switch one-through-five on the Wolverines. This is not at all a disappointing seasonal performance, but after a 17-0 start with blowout wins over Villanova, North Carolina, and Purdue, expectations simply got higher. This, in hindsight, seems to be a team that peaked earlier in the season and stagnated late, unlike the teams from the past two seasons.
What's Next for Michigan:
Michigan now has the 2019-20 season to look forward to. With that comes important roster decisions, primarily from two underclassmen starters. The thought is that Charles Matthews, while still holding a year of eligibility despite technically being a senior, is almost assuredly going to be playing professional basketball next season. That, then, turns the question towards Jordan Poole and Ignas Brazdeikis. Poole has been just a 30.4% three point shooter in the calendar year of 2019, yet his ability to shoot and create cannot be understated. His stock is assuredly rather high still given his capabilities plus his youth (he would not turn twenty until after the NBA Draft) makes him an interesting prospect. Brazdeikis, on the other hand, is already a twenty-year-old and having been a freshman this past season, that makes him a candidate to declare and leave as well. He shot 39.2% from three this season, that was even at a 41.6% mark in 2019 heading into the NCAA Tournament, and can finish with both hands at the rim. He is still a bit raw when it comes to dimensions of his game, with limited shot-creating ability shown from three, but he is a serious prospect. Both players will likely be gone by the end of the 19/20 season at the latest, but at least one would figure to be a likely absence from the roster by the start of next season.
What about incoming players? There are two categories of player that Michigan is looking at: incoming freshmen, and grad transfers. Starting with freshmen, Michigan are indeed circling the wagon around a handful of 2019 recruits. The most interesting of which is Franz Wagner. Moritz Wagner's younger brother is playing for the same youth team Moe once did (Alba Berlin) and when talking about colleges, he has listed three: Stanford, for academics, Butler, because Michigan coaching connections, and of course, Michigan. One would figure that if the seventeen-year-old Franz wanted to play college basketball in the States and there was a spot open, Michigan would take him in a heartbeat. Other intriguing options include Lester Quinones, one of the top shooters in the 2019 class. A 6'5", top-80 prospect, Quinones has Michigan in a final seven (or eight) but has been talked as a heavy Memphis lean. Michigan also continues to keep an eye on former Southfield Christian and current Montverde star Harlond Beverly, and John Beilein was just out to Florida to see him in action. With offers from Kansas, Virginia, Michigan State, most recently Alabama, and plenty more schools, and not one from Michigan, though, it is tough to see a path to Ann Arbor for Beverly. Finally, David Skogman is a 6'10" center from Wisconsin that Michigan has gone out to see a handful of times, but Wisconsin has hosted (unofficially) twice in the new year. Freshman options seem rather limited, but could be worth watching if Franz Wagner makes a decision on his future.
This, then, leaves the grad transfer market open. Michigan has been confirmed to be in touch with a pair of players highly in demand already. Justin Pierce, a 6'7" wing from William and Mary was the first confirmed recipient of contact. Pierce averaged almost fifteen points in both of his last two seasons with W&M while snagging 8.6 rebounds as a sophomore and 8.9 as a junior. His shooting stroke is alluring, but his sophomore stats are far more impressive than those of this past season (41.6% from three, 79% at the line, vs. 32.4% from three, 59% from the line). He would be a perfect fit as a stretch four for Michigan with the ability to shoot and rebound, but with plenty of teams hot on his trail, plus the concern over the drop in form, the question is how heavily will Michigan pursue him. The other interesting option would be Rayjon Tucket, a shooting guard standing 6'5" from Little Rock. Originally a transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, Tucker made an immediate impact after sitting a year in Little Rock. He averaged 20.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a do-everything guard. He shot 41.1% from three and 77.7% from the free throw line while playing 36.6 minutes per game, missing just one game over the season. He is a high-impact transfer and if Pierce would be a direct swap for Brazdeikis if he were to go pro, surely Tucker is Poole's.
Final Thoughts:
It was a tough end to a season that looked incredibly promising to start the season. A myriad of bad match-ups with Michigan State and an even-worse game against Texas Tech likely make this one that will be looked back upon without much fondness, but one cannot forget the highs of the year as well. A third straight Sweet Sixteen, a stretch of games that saw Michigan lead every single game in their first seventeen wins by double figures, and a good-plenty of games by the end of the season that saw big wins as well. This was a year full of highlights, not just three losses to Michigan State and a brutal NCAA Tournament loss. Thirty wins is always impressive, and Michigan will hope to build upon this foundation next season as well. They will hope to do so with largely the same roster.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more Michigan basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
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