MICHIGAN'S MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2015-2016

[Kstat]

He'd pretty much have to hate it to leave. His draft stock couldn't get any lower next year. He's still not a guarenteed first rounder.

[Cody_Russell]

LeVert has been quite about it, but if his draft stock stays where it is... I'll be very surprised if he doesn't leave.

Latest projections have him from late lottery - early 20's at latest.

[Kstat]

Yeah....no.

GRIII had a more NBA ready body and he was a 2nd rounder. Don't get me started on Darius Morris, either.

LaVert has a list of concerns a mile long. Nice upside but these projections you read are mostly a result of expected natural progression. He'll drop off the map after March.

[WM Wolverine]

My 'probably' on LeVert is based entirely on mock drafts having him as a top 12-20 pick (seems high). I think it's a coin flip that he returns, wouldn't bet for or against.

[hack]

LeVert has been quite about it, but if his draft stock stays where it is... I'll be very surprised if he doesn't leave.

Latest projections have him from late lottery - early 20's at latest.

If it's strictly business I think he's gotta leave, even if his heart's here for another year. Scouts will note his 3-point shooting, his age and his handle, and it's all over from there.

[whodean]

Getting blown out by MSU.

They have been pretty obviously a step above UM this year.

[hack]

With less talent, to boot. Fuck Beilein.

(And by that I mean that this hasn't exactly been his best coaching job year-in/year-out, and I'm sure he'll do better next year, but yikes. I was hoping to watch this tonight but my brother spoiled it for me on email, so I guess I'll take a pass. Time to watch other B1G teams for the rest of the year. Want to see good basketball.)

[Hannibal]

Spike, Dawkins, MAAR, Doyle, Bielfeldt? That's talent? You can give him some shit about not getting much out of Irvin, I guess. And Chatman -- I dunno. The rest of those guys were crap recruits.

This is crap recruiting and player retention finally coming home to roost. Or rather -- coming home to roost again.

[hack]

They played like shit before too when they had the full roster, but I've pointed that out before and don't want to go around in circles. But, either way, at least you want to see them playing hard and on both ends. Otherwise there's other B1G basketball that's a quality viewing opportunity.

[Hannibal]

One of the guys who is injured was a 3* recruit that we took from Ohio when the coach left. His "talent" is "upside". I don't necessarily blame the coach for not being able to get a guy like that to play up to that "upside", but I also don't let the guy off the hook for having to constantly need guys like that to blow up in order to win. This is the story of Beilein, other than one awesome player (Burke) and one legitimately awesome recruiting class (2012).

[hack]

Might very well turn out that way. We'll see. Some pretty compelling evidence both ways, and hey -- Izzo's got his lesser-talented roster on the NCAA bubble and ready to compete, whereas ours rolled over and is now probably on the NIT bubble. There's more talent this year than results. The bottom line for me personally is that each version of this year's team has turned in some serious stinkers in which effort was a prime problem. It happened with LeVert and Walton, with Walton, and without both. And the offense-first/physically passive approach is a system that invites precisely those sorts of risks. In the past four years in which I've been a close observer the team hasn't succumbed to that more than a very small handful of times. @MSU in '13, i.e., and the end of the Ohio U game in the tourney in '12. OSU in the tourney that same year, although arguably Burke was just out of gas after a heavy-use freshman season. Most of the time it's been a very resilient and tough team, even if not one to win with hustle points. For me what's certain so far is that under Beilein those qualities will have to come from a player, not the coach. In recruiting they need to start making that a priority. Put a cap on the skilled but soft technicians, and make sure you have some grit and swagger in the mix.

[WM Wolverine]

M is missing almost their entire starting five from last season (3 in the NBA, Derrick Walton playing on a bad wheel and underrated Jordan Morgan) plus Trey Burke who left after his sophomore season.

[WM Wolverine]

When you have that much attrition at the CBB level, it's going to affect the w/l record on the court, unless maybe you're Duke or Kentucky and play basketball in the SEC.

[hack]

Michigan was ranked in the top 25 for the first four weeks of the season and as high as #17, so there's an indication of what reasonable expectations might have been. Certainly a tournament bid was more than reasonable, as opposed to being on the friggin NIT bubble with two more losses to come. And before the injuries excuse is used again please recall that NJIT and EMU came with a full squad on the floor, plus SMU. Michigan's collapsed before conference play (at the first sign of adversity basically), and only then did the injuries hit.

[Cody_Russell]

Michigan has a good chance to win 2 of 3 to finish the regular season.

I think NIT is likely... which I think is good considering where this team is at.