It’s Christmas time and for Michigan basketball, new head coach Juwan Howard has been a gift that keeps on giving.
When John Beilein first announced that he was leaving Michigan basketball for the NBA, there was a panic. Wolverines fans were rightly worried that the levels reached by Beilein wouldn’t be maintained.
Those fears were justified. After all, Beilein may be the best coach in the history of Michigan basketball. On top of all the wins, he led the Wolverines to regular-season Big Ten titles in 2012 and 2014, as well as tournament titles in 2017 and 2018.
That doesn’t even touch upon the success he had in the NCAA tournament. Beilein led Michigan to the NCAA title game in 2013 and 2018, to go along with three other trips to the Sweet 16.
The standard that Beilein established with Michigan basketball was going to be hard to follow. But thankfully, the timing was perfect and instead of taking an NBA head-coaching job, Juwan Howard agreed to be the Wolverines next head coach and from day one, it’s been a perfect fit.
Howard transitioned well to the college game, thanks to building a really good coaching staff and hiring Phil Martelli to be his assistant head coach. That was a brilliant move and early on, it was apparent that Howard wouldn’t have any problems recruiting.
Zeb Jackson, the lone commit in 2020 from Beilein’s class, re-affirmed his pledge basically from day one and signed with U-M during the early signing period. Howard also got Franz Wagner to join the program, as well as commitments from five-star Isaiah Todd and four-star Hunter Dickinson.
Right now, Michigan’s 2020 recruiting class ranks first in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation, which is the best the Wolverines have ranked in the history of 247 sports recruiting rankings. The class could easily be the best since Howard and the Fab Five back in the day.
Not only that, Howard has shown he can coach and develop players. The former NBA big man has helped showcase big man Jon Teske, while also helping Brandon Johns, Colin Castleton and Isaiah Livers take the next step in their games.
Guards like Eli Brooks and David DeJulius have also taken huge leaps this season, which isn’t all because of Howard. Beilein deserves credit for finding players and developing their talent, but Howard has molded this team perfectly.
Most expected the Wolverines to compete for an NCAA tournament berth, but few thoughy U-M would beat ranked teams like Gonzaga, which is now No. 1 or North Carolina. Winning the Battle 4 Atlantis was a significant achievement and proved Howard can win at this level.
Obviously, we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but as far as replacing Beilein, Michigan basketball couldn’t have done better than Juwan Howard, who might just be the man to bring a national title back to Ann Arbor.