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

Starter: Eli Brooks

This is the second toss-up position for Michigan basketball as far as the starter goes. I have gone back and forth between Eli Brooks and transfer Chaundee Brown here, but I’m going with Brooks to start at the SG spot yet again for Michigan this season.

You can make a case for either guy here, and you probably wouldn’t be wrong. For me, the decision came down to three things. First, Brooks started 30 games at SG last year and did a nice job. I don’t see a guy who averaged 30+ minutes per game and is now a senior losing his spot.

Secondly, I think Chaundee Brown will fit a bit better as a versatile 6th man off the bench. Brown can come in and play the two or the three and bring energy and defensive intensity off the bench. Third, I think Eli Brooks’ game will complement Smith’s game a bit better.

It would give Michigan another ball-handler to help take some pressure off of Smith especially early on in the season.  I think the minutes will fall in place where it basically looks like Michigan has six starters. This happened a couple of years ago between Isaiah Livers and Duncan Robinson.

Michigan absolutely has six guys worthy of a starting spot. Someone will be the odd man out. Juwan Howard will have a difficult task balancing out the minutes but with veteran and team-oriented guys like Smith, Brooks, and Brown, I don’t see that being an issue.

Even if Brown is the 6th man this season, expect him to play a lot and to have a big role on the team. Freshman Jace Howard raved about Brown in a recent interview with The Michigan Insider: 

"“Chaundee is that dude,” Howard said. “He’s every bit of 225, 230, he’s a strong and solid dude. His jump shot is pure, it’s water. He gets to the rim real easy. He’s a smart player as well. His defensive IQ and offensive IQ is through the roof. He’s something that you want to watch out for, especially when we’re playing in practice a little bit with the time we were allowed. He was doing his thing. Competing hard on both ends and teaching us young guys because, you know, he’s on the older side. Teaching us his tricks and his view of the game is huge for us because it’s a big jump. Chaundee, he’s been killing. He’s looking like LeBron out there.”"

After reading quotes like that, it’s easy to see why the SG spot is a coin flip and it wouldn’t shock me if either Brown or Brooks started. Behind them, expect Adrien Nunez to snag a few minutes a game at the two spot.

This is a big season for Nunez. It’s time to find out if he can be a Big Ten contributor or not. It will all come down to if he can knock down threes. If he can, I expect him to flirt with as many as ten minutes per game. If he’s not knocking down shots, it’s hard to imagine him having any role on this team.