Projecting what Michigan Basketball’s rotation will look like in 2022-23

Filling out the rest of the rotation

This is a big year for Kobe Bufkin. His production will go a long way toward determining what Michigan’s ceiling ultimately is.

You can make the case for the SF position, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but I think Jett Howard’s game translates faster to the college game than Kobe’s did last year. They do play different positions after all (although Jett can be flexed as a guard in certain sets).

The jump from Year 1 to Year 2 is always the biggest leap for college basketball players. They have a full off-season to build muscle, get stronger, and work on their craft.

Hunter Dickinson, Keegan Murray, Johnny Davis, and Zach Edey all took huge leaps forward in their sophomore seasons. Hopefully, Kobe can follow the pattern.

The cool thing is, this year Michigan basketball travels to Europe, and they will get to play a few games overseas against good European competition, so this should definitely help Kobe and the rest of the roster build chemistry and find some strengths and weaknesses.

6th man: Terrance Williams

7th man: Tarris Reed

8th man: Joey Baker

9th man: Dug McDaniel

10th man: Will Tschetter/Isaiah Barnes/Jace Howard

Michigan basketball has a lot of different potential combinations it could throw at its opponents. It’ll be exciting to watch Juwan fool around with different lineups at the beginning of the year before ultimately settling on one or two main ones.

Terrance Williams off the bench as the sixth man will be a major x-factor for Michigan. He’s a junkyard dog that does all the dirty work, bringing energy, shooting, defense, and rebounding.

If he doesn’t start if Youssef comes, Terrance will be a major weapon off the bench for Michigan.

Next is Tarris Reed, who can play the PF position or backup Dickinson at the center position. Depending on if Khayat comes, this would relegate Tarris mainly to the backup five, but he can run as a stretch four too.

Tarris is everything Moussa isn’t and can flex as a stretch-four or stretch-five. Hopefully, we don’t see many sets with Tarris and Hunter sharing the paint at the same time.

We don’t need spacing issues like last year, where it was way too clogged at times with twin towers Moussa and Hunter occupying the same general area.

Tarris can get his own shot though, so even if we see this lineup at times, at least we know that Tarris has the ability to shoot.

Next is Joey Baker, the Duke transfer. When he committed, not a lot of people were too enthusiastic about his commitment. Would you rather have had a potential problem in Emoni Bates, or a guy willing to play team basketball? Joey was a co-captain last year for Duke for a reason, even though he didn’t play a lot of minutes. That’s very impressive.

I expect Joey to play his role, which will be doing what he does best: shooting and making threes. While he won’t have as big of an impact as Jaelin Llewellyn or potentially Youssef Khayat (yes, I’m trying to will his commitment into existence I’m not ashamed to admit it), he’ll still play an important role, as a potential Duncan Robinson/Chaundee Brown-esque sparkplug off the bench.

This will also allow Terrance Williams to shoulder less of a burden, because last year, he was the only Michigan player off the bench that had an impact. Brandon Johns very rarely did anything noteworthy, so it was up to Terrance to shoulder the burden.

So, now, Michigan has two potential shooters coming off the bench in Terrance and Baker, and it allows Terrance to focus on fewer things, therefore making him even more effective when he’s out on the floor.

Dug McDaniel is the next guy up, and to be honest, he won’t be expected to do too much in Year 1. Yes, he will backup Jaelin, but will only get significant playing time if Jaelin gets hurt (God forbid) or Jaelin gets in foul trouble.

When Dug comes in, he just needs to keep the ship afloat and not let it sink. He needs to play scrappy defense, find the open man, and work on his shot, because he is an inefficient shooter, just like Frankie Collins was for Michigan. Hold the fort down and Year 1 will be a success for Dug.

The rest of the rotation is just guys looking to make an impact after redshirting and learning what it’s like to sit back and observe the majority of the time, instead of playing lots of minutes.

Will Tschetter and Isaiah Barnes both said they learned a lot last year sitting and watching how the veterans did things, so it is possible one, or both of them get a minutes increase this upcoming season. Both will have a full offseason to grow, get stronger, and work on their craft.

Jace Howard will sub in sometimes for foul trouble from some guys, and just because Juwan trusts his son to play quality minutes in a pinch. So, regardless of what Will and Isaiah do, Jace will get some minutes in certain games. Maybe not a lot, but here and there.

So, all in all, the roster looks really good, with, or without the addition of Youssef Khayat.

If Youssef transfers in, the rotation probably looks like this:

PG: Jaelin Llewellyn

SG: Kobe Bufkin

SF: Jett Howard

PF: Youssef Khayat

C: Hunter Dickinson

6th man: Terrance Williams, PF

7th man: Tarris Reed, PF/C

8th man: Joey Baker, SF

9th man: Dug McDaniel, PG

10th man: Jace/Will/Isaiah, SF/PF

If Youssef Khayat doesn’t transfer in, no big deal, as the rotation will probably look like this:

PG: Jaelin Llewellyn

SG: Kobe Bufkin

SF: Jett Howard

PF: Tarris Reed

C: Hunter Dickinson

6th man: Terrance Williams, PF

7th man: Joey Baker, SG/SF

8th man: Dug McDaniel, PG

9th man: Jace Howard, SF,/C

10th man: Will Tschetter/Isaiah Barnes, SF/SG/PF