Michigan Basketball: Previewing the starting 5 for Wolverines

Point guard

No one knows how well an Ivy League star will do when thrown into the lion’s den that is the Big Ten. The players have more talent, the defense is much more imposing, and everything is upgraded.

We know Mike Smith can score; he did so efficiently and en masse throughout his four years at Columbia. In his final season, he averaged 22.8 points, 4.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds. Over his time, Smith accounted for over 1,600 total points and nearly 400 assists.

Considering there really isn’t another option at shooting guard aside from Eli Brooks, Mike will be the starter.

Behind Smith will be incoming freshman Zeb Jackson. Zeb wasn’t challenged enough at Maumee Valley High School in Ohio where he averaged 24.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 3.1 steals per game in the 2018-19 season, so he flew to Florida to attend the prestigious Montverde Academy for his final season before flying and moving again back to the Midwest. He initially committed to play for U-M’s former head coach and Zeb quickly reaffirmed his commitment to Juwan once he took over.

Competing with Jackson and Smith is the underdog Brandon Wade, who always wanted to attend U-M, but he wasn’t a heralded recruit playing for his dad at Skyline High School and the AAU team 1Nation.

Wade spent his first season at Duquesne before transferring to U-M and sitting out a year due to transfer rules, and a complicated academic issue that stemmed from the delay of Wade’s walk-on status. You can read all about that in an interview with his dad here.