Michigan Basketball: Starting lineup predictions for season opener
Believe it or not, Michigan basketball is returning to the court next week and here are projections for the starting lineup against Bowling Green.
The long wait for Michigan basketball is about to come to an end next week as the Wolverines will open their season Nov. 25 against MAC opponent Bowling Green.
There is still much we don’t know about the Michigan basketball schedule, because the Big Ten still hasn’t released its conference slate, but we do know that Michigan will also host Central Florida, North Carolina State and Oakland.
Regardless of the opponent, it will just be exciting to watch this team for the first time since last March and for the first time since the NCAA tournament was canceled, robbing the 2019-20 Michigan basketball team of another run at a Sweet 16.
Now, that feels like years ago, instead of months. The roster has seen quite a bit of turnover too with Jon Teske and Xavier Simpson graduated, as well as David DeJulius, Colin Castleton and Cole Bajema all leaving via the transfer portal.
At the same time, Michigan added Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown, who was recently declared eligible for this season, along with recruits such as Hunter Dickinson, Zeb Jackson, Terrance Williams and Jace Howard.
So there is a lot for Juwan and his assistants to work with this season and looking ahead to next week’s matchup against Bowling Green, here’s a prediction of the starting lineup.
Point guard: Mike Smith
Ever since Michigan nabbed Smith in the transfer market, I have been going back and forth on whether or not he would be the starting point guard. Smith is going to see minutes this year and he will be part of a top-8 rotation that is going to be really strong.
Last year, Smith averaged 22.8 points per game at Columbia and has averaged 18 for his career. He can score the basketball and shoots the heck out of it. He connected on 33 percent of his 3-pointers last year but was a high-volume shooter and had 4.5 assists per game.
The issue is that Smith is only 5-foot-11 and you have to wonder how he will defend in the Big Ten. Eli Brooks was another option here and he originally came to Michigan basketball as a point guard, plus started a game there last year for Simpson.
He will see time at the point, as will freshman Zeb Jackson. He’s not getting talked about a ton, but he should see some meaningful minutes off the bench this season. But to start games and the season, Smith and his ability to create with ball screens, feels like the best option.