Michigan Basketball Still Flourishing Under John Beilien
Michigan basketball head coach John Beilien has been under fire recently. But in spite of the criticism, Beilien still has the Wolverines headed in the right direction.
Many Michigan basketball fans are up in arms over the recent transfers and departures from the program, but those that are upset, are losing sight of the bigger picture.
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Despite the fact that the Wolverines just lost four players (Spike Albrecht, Aubrey Dawkins, Ricky Doyle and Kameron Chatman), Michigan basketball is in a good spot for next season.
All five starters (at least the starters at the end of the season) are coming back from a team that played in the NCAA tournament and even won a game, albeit a first-four game.
With Zak Irvin, Duncan Robinson and Mark Donnal in the front court, as well as Derrick Walton and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman manning the guard spots, the Wolverines have a talented starting five.
Then with Moritz Wagner, D.J. White and Andrew Dakich, the Wolverines have some experience to turn to off the bench. And if freshman like guard Xavier Simpson or forward/center Joe Teske can make an impact, Michigan will have all the depth it needs.
Sure, losing Spike Albrecht to Purdue stings a little bit. But, when Spike originally made the decision, it didn’t look like there would be a scholarship for him. And originally, he “retired” from basketball. So you can’t really blame him leaving on Beilien.
Dawkins also chose to go to Central Florida because his father, Johnny Dawkins, just became the head coach there. Yes, it’s disappointing, but again, how is that the fault of Beilien?
And frankly, when it comes to Doyle and Chatman — I say good riddance. Yes, Chatman hit the game-winner against Indiana, but that was a total fluke. Walton is even on record saying he didn’t mean to pass the ball to Chatman. Probably because he was a terrible shooter.
Doyle also was nothing but average. Wagner was likely going to take his minutes next season anyway and I think even D.J. White can contribute more than he did. So with those two, no harm, no foul.
Suddenly, Beilien has two scholarships that he needs to fill and yes he does need to find some depth on the wing to fill the void left by Dawkins and to a much-lesser extent, Chatman, but overall, the roster is in good shape.
Really the key for the 2016-17 Michigan basketball team is going to be the development of the players currently on the roster such as Irvin, Robinson, Walton, Donnal and Rahkman. All of those players have flashed big-time potential at one time or another and if they can all collectively deliver in some way next season, this team could be formidable.
Certainly, Beilien needs to bring in more NBA-caliber talent like he did with Trey Burke, Mitch McGary, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Nik Stauskas. But let’s not forget, Beilien has led Michigan basketball to five of the last six NCAA tournaments and two years ago, won an outright Big Ten championship.
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The man can coach. If Michigan misses the tournament next season, with the roster he has returning, then legitimate questions may arise. But, I fully expect this Wolverines team to go dancing next season and Beilien, is one of the biggest reasons why.