Michigan Basketball: Could Adrien Nunez be the next shooting guard?

Adrien Nunez path to Michigan basketball isn’t typical and has led him to a potential starting role under new head coach Juwan Howard.

When Adrien Nunez came to Ann Arbor, he did it knowing he would have to work his tail off to get an ounce of playing time. He wasn’t the top recruit, in fact, he was the lowest-ranked prospect to commit to Michigan basketball in 2018.

Ignas Brazdeikis was the leader of the class followed by Brandon Johns Jr., David DeJulis, Colin Castleton, and then Nunez – the only three-star out of the bunch.

While Adrien did receive mop-up duties in a couple of games, his game has never really been observed outside of high school. And even in high school, he wasn’t highly recruited. Adrien wasn’t on Michigan’s radar prior to his final year of AAU ball when he had a great game against UM target Tyrese Maxey at a Las Vegas tournament.

Prior to that game, Nunez held only one offer from a Division II school as he was the backup at his high school in Brooklyn. But after that game, the offers started rolling in. Still, the offers didn’t raise his stars and he was treated at other DI schools like any other three-star.

That is until he came to Michigan.

Nunez showed up early to practice and found himself picking the brain of Moritz Wagner and later Duncan Robinson.

“He took me to the side, he was explaining the whole thing at Michigan and how he really likes my game and how it fits the whole system,” Nunez recollected. “Duncan had actually watched a bunch of my videos on YouTube and it was like, you could just tell how engulfed these guys were in the whole Michigan basketball program.”

His game didn’t fit in well enough during his inaugural campaign as Adrien was the freshman who saw the least amount of action, but with the departure of John Beilein, Nunez has the opportunity to make a second first impression.

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“I think it’s a clean slate, for real,” Nunez said. “I think it’s a better situation where I get to redo my freshman year over again, basically. A whole new staff, basically, besides Saddi and that will be really fun for me. If I could’ve done things differently last year, I would’ve like to start my freshman year the way I ended it in terms of my experience. I think that’ll definitely be a big help to me.

“I didn’t know a lot about basketball just from being so young. Now, I get to rewrite that story, basically. I’m happy about that.”

The major problem is that no one knows what system Juwan Howard will employ during his first year as a head coach so Nunez cannot tell how he will fit in. The good news for Adrien is that no matter what system is used it’s going to have to adjust to the present personnel, meaning Juwan is going to have to build his system around the players and not the other way around.

Despite all the technical questions, Howard has been welcomed by his players, especially Nunez who really likes the idea of having a coach who had been through what they are going through.

“That’s the biggest thing,” Nunez said. “To have a coach who actually played is huge. You trust what he says because he’s been in your shoes, in this university. He’s been a part of a championship culture at the NBA level and a championship level at the college level. He has two sons that are players so you know he’s definitely for the players. He said it up there, it’s about the players and it’s not about him. That’s a really good sign. I’m really excited about it.”

Whether Adrien plays or not will be entirely up to him and his progress over the summer. In 39 minutes of playing time last year, Nunez shot 1-13 all from beyond the 3-point line. Those stats are not favorably for added playing time, however, he’s never had to take a shot that mattered at the collegiate level. He could get that shot this year as the starting shooting guard for Michigan next season.

“We’re all going to have blow-up years,” Nunez said. “It’s so important that we went through that last year. It just makes us stronger this year and it all made us work harder in the offseason. We’ve all been working hard in the spring. All of us stayed in the spring and we’ve been on campus ever since the regular school year ended.”

Adrien’s main competition is going to consist of smaller point guard types and an incoming freshman who fits better as a wing. With all things considered, it’s Adrien’s position to lose.