Grading each Michigan Basketball player against Ball State

Michigan basketball had a solid outing Wednesday night and defeated Ball State with relative ease and here are the grades for the Wolverines.

Just by looking at the final score, it was easy to see that Michigan basketball played much better Wednesday night against Ball State than it did against Oakland.

The Wolverines started fast offensively in each half and that turned out to be a key factor in the game. Mike Smith was in control and the offense was much smoother. There were still probably too many turnovers but it was still an improvement.

There are still a lot of things we don’t know about this Michigan basketball team and one thing we don’t know is how Hunter Dickinson fits in with all the other pieces on the roster because he hasn’t played a ton with the starters.

The competition ramps up Sunday against Central Florida and after another solid performance, Dickinson needs to start.

Yet, he wasn’t the only guy who played well Wednesday and here’s a look at the grades for each Wolverine that played significant minutes.

Let’s start with the point guards:

Guards

Mike Smith: A-

Smith wasn’t a superstar by any means against Ball State but he didn’t need to be. He needed to run the offense and he did that. He also did a good job of picking his spots and being efficient when he got chances to score. If there is one thing we know after three games, Smith is as good as we thought he could be out of ball screens and he showed that again Wednesday. He should continue to log heavy minutes after a 10-point, three-assist outing that featured just one turnover.

Eli Brooks: B+

Brooks was really close to getting and A and if this was just based on his defensive effort, that’s what his grade would be. However, his offense wasn’t quite there and the number that stands out is 1-of-5 from 3-point range as well as 3-of-7 overall. Still, he had three assists and only one turnover. He’s also far and away the Wolverines best perimeter defender.

Zeb Jackson: C- 

You can’t grade Zeb Jackson too harshly. Part of it is trying to weigh expectations. Point guards generally take a little longer to assimilate to the college game and that’s no different with Jackson who didn’t score a bucket (0-of-3) or come up with an assist in 10 minutes. It’s a process. But at least he didn’t have any turnovers and you can tell he has skills to be good plus elite athleticism.