U of M MEN'S BASKETBALL: 2018-2019

[hack]

Iggy would be great to have and would help save Big Ten pundits from foolishly predicting MSU dominance next year. They lose McQuaid and need 2 of Henry, Brown and Langford to pull a Goins from 3 or else Izzo will be reliant on a freshman, and we all know how that goes in EL, or teams will really pack the paint. But I disagree that Iggy is needed in order to field a Sweet 16 team that can get even further.

Increasingly it looks like Wagner will be huge if he comes. Derrick Walton is on the same team, Alba Berlin, and Franz at age 17 gets more minutes and plays a bigger role on that team. He's playing against men now and is an elite shooter. Very strong chance he'll be an instant contributor here. Apparently at this stage Mo had never cracked the rotation.

[BlueBlazer05]

I know some of this is social media based (grain of salt and all), but it came across like Poole (and people in his camp) was disenchanted with the coaching, his role, and the growing criticism of his game. Doesn't seem like a good foundation for leaving early, but oh well, good luck to him I suppose.

[hack]

They were pretty direct about it. Not angrily or aggressively, but the fit wasn't right. Poole probabably would be a better player and prospect though had his dad told him to shut up and listen to his coach. Today's umhoops lays out the numbers, and it looks pretty bad for the Poole camp.

Either way, onward. A coachable Poole would have been great to have on the team next year, but I don't sense that was an option.

[Niffla]

Another year of development could have done him wonders. But instead he's entering the professional level as

- a volume shooter/scorer who is not an elite shooter
- a guard who doesn't pass
- a wing who doesn't rebound
- a guy who's not a plus defender
- a 6'4" SG who looks like he spends about 10 minutes a month on the weights
- a player who reportedly didn't see eye to eye with his coach
- a player who reportedly didn't like the fact that Brazdeikis got as big of a slice of the offensive pie as he got

And he's going to make it now on the highest level of basketball on the planet?

Let's just say I have my doubts

[WM Wolverine]

^

Poole has NBA talent but needs the year of development. I saw him as a good defender (at the college level) but only when he wanted to be. Other times he'd be a lazy defender or try to play the steal, both of which would lead to an easy basket. This happened both in close games and comfortable leads...

I will regard Poole as a M player as one of the worst decision making, least coachable players I've seen at M. JB has attempted to mold him but his massive ego appears to get in the way. Fix the 2-5 really bad possessions on both sides of the court and he's an all B1G first teamer.

-

Iggy got as big of a slice because when he received the ball, he'd find a way to get to the basket or at least get to the FT line. Poole got more touches but was far less efficient, this was especially true in the bigger games vs Sparty, TT, et. when Poole's was more liability than effective.

[hack]

Seems to me Poole is either going to listen to his dad or he's going to listen to his coach. If the latter, he's going to be a valuable NBA player. I agree he was one of the least coachable players in recent memory.

Iggy, on the other hand -- man, I wish we'd go back to him and make the case. If he comes back he's going to get a lot more respect from the refs going to the basket, and can prove he can dish. There's a real easy path to improvement, and he'll have a very good chance to shine deep in the tournament. It would be really wonderful to have him back.

[WM Wolverine]

His dad is telling him what he wants to hear and JB is telling him what he needs to hear... JB's track record with guys like Hardaway Jr., Caris Lavert, etc. tells me who he should be listening to.

[hack]

No argument here. Apple didn't fall far from the tree, it appears. A real shame.

[*JD*]

We'll see. This could still pay off for Poole. I am guessing he got an invite to the combine. With a good showing, he could shoot up in the eyes of GM's.