Michigan Basketball: 5 potential replacements for Ignas Brazdeikis

Castleton could slide into the four spot

Colin Castleton certainly came to the Michigan basketball program with plenty of upside. He was ranked out the top 100 in the 247 rankings coming out of high school but was a top-20 center and next season, he will see minutes at both forward and center for UM.

Of course, if Castleton were to start at the four, it would give Michigan a really big lineup and one that could be prone to mismatches and so there would be a lot of moving parts. Livers would be the three in that scenario.

It remains to be seen if Castleton is athletic enough to play alongside Jon Teske, at least for extended periods of time. In some case, that could make things really tough on opponents to score about the rim but you can see how it could be exploited too by big that can shoot. But he could be a really good pick-and-pop player. He shoots the ball and can finish rolling back to the basket too.

Castleton is also a rim protector like Teske and he averaged 0.2 blocks in 3.5 minutes last season, which is about one block per 15 minutes of game action. His defensive plus/minus was also 3.8, meaning he was a productive defender as a freshman.

Castleton’s role next season most likely going to be backing up Teske and playing spot minutes at the four in certain situations. If he shows a lot of growth, especially on the offensive end, plus adds some strength he could fight for a starting job, but it’s more likely he replaces Teske as the Wolverines center in 2020-21.