Michigan Basketball: Takeaways, grades from loss to Arizona

Michigan has a point guard problem

There’s an inherent risk to getting players from the transfer portal. They aren’t always going to fit into your system as well as Brown and Smith did last season.

A lot of it depends on the role players are being asked to play and so far, DeVante Jones hasn’t worked out so well for the Wolverines.

For starters, he was supposed to be a defensive improvement. And while he does defend better than Mike Smith and create more steals and impact plays, his fouling is a huge issue. Many of these fouls seem like mental mistakes like the one early in the second half.

His play needs to be cleaned up and while Eli Brooks can play more on the ball, Jones is still a better shot creator and he can score with that floater. Like Houstan, he needs to get it figured out and it’s probably why we saw Frankie Collins so early.

Collins showed some potential but doesn’t look poised enough to run the team against Big Ten opponents. Jones doesn’t either right now and hopefully, that is something the coaching staff can figure in the next month or so.