Michigan Basketball: Two Wolverines who have really improved

We only got a small sample of Michigan basketball during its trip to Europe but there were two players that stood out to me with their improvement. 

When you look at the Michigan basketball roster for the 2022-23 season it’s clear that some young players are going to have to step up.

Some newcomers need to do the same. Jett Howard looks ready to play the part. We’ll see about Youssef Khayat and other freshmen such as Dug McDaniel and Tarris Reed.

Yet, the Wolverines are also going to need some of the holdovers to improve. We’ve seen that time and time again in college basketball and Juwan Howard has talked about that leap from year one to year two.

It’s very real. It would have been nice to see what Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate could do in their second year. But look at Hunter Dickinson and Franz Wagner. There have been a number of players that have taken a leap over the years and this roster has plenty of candidates.

Kobe Bufkin is one. He didn’t shoot the ball well in Europe but he handed out some assists and it was just a small sample as we said. But he’ll need to prove he can shoot the ball and play defense without fouling to be the starting two-guard.

More guys are starting to emerge and as Dylan Burkhardt of UM Hoops pointed out, Michigan basketball seems ready to play with a point guard, a center, and three wing types that can shoot or at least be interchangeable. Here’s part of what he wrote:

"“The reality is that Michigan has a handful of interchangeable players who are 6-foot-4 or taller and are primarily going to play off the catch-and-attack closeouts once a ball screen or post-up collapses the defense. On this trip, that group included Terrance Williams, Jace Howard, Kobe Bufkin, Isaiah Barnes and Jett Howard (with Youssef Khayat and Joey Baker still to come) to battle for 120 minutes per game (with Youssef Khayat and Joey Baker still to come) and that’s before including bigger options (Tarris Reed or Will Tschetter) or smaller options (both point guards).”"

Two new options emerge

The Wolverines have seemed a little thin in terms of options at the two. But there was talk about how Isaiah Barnes had really improved and he showed it on the court in Europe. He was 4-for-5 in the two full games from 3-point range and has always had potential on defense with his length.

If he can be a consistent 3-point shooter, it would be huge and he’ll get regular minutes. Phil Martelli praised him at the end of the last season for his offensive improvement in practice and this offseason, he went through Camp Sanderson which appears to have paid off.

Another guy that impressed me was Jace Howard. Opponents talked about how well he played defensively and although he’ll probably never be a scoring machine, he’s a glue guy and he could be an asset on the defensive end of the floor this season.

At the very least, if Bufkin doesn’t take the step forward we all hope, there are some other options for Michigan at the “two.”