Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned in loss to North Carolina

3. What role does Hunter Dickinson play in this rotation?

I think we can all pretty much agree who the best five players are on the team, and it’s not that close. Dickinson, Houstan, Brooks, Diabate, and Devante are the best five on the team, but it’s such a big lineup that Juwan will struggle to run it.

We saw that lineup have success early against UNC, but four quick fouls resulted in Dickinson riding the pine for most of the game while UNC continued to attack Michigan’s big men and draw fouls. It seems that Hunter is struggling to find where he fits in the lineup.

Juwan for whatever reason refuses to go down low to Dickinson when he’s on a mismatch or when he is just simply better than the defender down low, resulting in Dickinson trying to create space for shooters which ultimately takes him out of the play.

We’ve seen his numbers decrease, not cause he’s shooting worse, but fouls and turnovers continue to be a problem for the consensus 1st Team All American. We’re left with many unanswered questions about Dickinson’s role in the lineup and where we go from here, but don’t let that neglect the fact that Hunter Dickinson has a very bright future in Ann Arbor.

While he may be struggling to find his place now, he truly is once in a generation talent that is ready to take over College Basketball, we just need to give Dickinson time to figure out how he fits with this new team and how to take advantage of it.