Michigan Basketball: Predicting UM’s starting five for 2020-21 season

Despite losing starters Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, Michigan basketball still brings back a ton of experience and returns three starters from last year’s squad.

There’s no question about it, losing your starting senior point guard and center is tough. It would be a tough blow to any team and Michigan basketball is no exception. The Wolverines also lost their backup PG and instant offense off the bench threat in David DeJulius.

But Michigan did its absolute best to help mitigate those losses by bringing in a top 15 recruiting class, and key transfers Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown. Mike Smith ranked 6th in the country last year in scoring for Columbia at 22.8 PPG.

Chaundee Brown was the third leading scorer for Wake Forest last year at 12.1 PPG and is a former top-100 recruit. The 2020 class for Michigan also features three top-100 recruits in Hunter Dickinson, Zeb Jackson, and Terrance Williams. So there is plenty of talent coming in.

Here is the production that Michigan basketball is losing when you combine the stats from Simpson, Teske, and DeJulius. 31.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 10.5 assists per game.

That’s no easy task replacing that production. But luckily for the Wolverines, they return both of their scoring wings with Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner, and they have a group of guys who are ready to break out and make an impact.

Throughout this article, I will be predicting the starting five for Michigan position by position. I will also break down who will be the backups at each position.

Michigan is still waiting on a decision from the NCAA on if Chaundee Brown will get his waiver to play next season. Since the general feeling from pretty much everyone is that he will be eligible, in this article I will assume that he will be playing next season.

Let’s start with the point guard position.