Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned in loss to Rutgers

The talent is there but the execution is not

Circling back to Juwan Howard’s coaching ability, the talent on this team is absolutely nuts. There are three McDonald All-Americans on this roster, two of which come off the bench because of how much depth we have as well as a consensus 1st team All-American in Hunter Dickinson.

We can’t forget the bucket getter Eli Brooks, who is the veteran of this team and the true leader of the squad. In his 5 seasons at Michigan, he’s made the National Championship, Elite 8 Twice, and the Sweet 16 three times which is very impressive.

So what gives? Michigan clearly has such an abundance of talent that it’s unfathomable that this team is so bad. Well, a great team to compare Michigan to is Memphis. A team with an immaculate amount of talent and a roster full of NBA lottery picks, sit in a situation slightly better than Michigan but in the same boat of underperformance.

It all comes down to the fundamentals with this team. They’re not flashy, they’re not in your face but they are a “fundamental team” which is ironic because they lack those fundamentals. At one point in the Rutgers game, Michigan was 13/22 on layups… Yes, you read that correctly. The only two people who seem to be reliable shooters are Dickinson and Brooks which was expected, but the dropoff after that is completely astonishing.