5 thoughts on Michigan Basketball and Big Ten Media Days

Expectations are high and players are buying in

Michigan basketball was picked third in the Big Ten preseason poll and that’s because this team should be contending for the league championship this season. The Wolverines talked about wanting to avoid the bubble this year and this team should.

Hunter Dickinson could be a Player of the Year candidate, not just in the Big Ten but nationally. He was so good down the stretch last season and I look for him to take a step forward offensively with his shot and his post-up game which is a scary thought for Big Ten defenders.

Llewellyn is an underrated addition. He was a top-100 recruit and he’s exactly what Dickinson needs in a point guard. The reports about Dug McDaniel are really promising. Juwan said he’s earned time which also relieves the pressure for Isaiah Barnes or Kobe Bufkin to emerge.

They do need to, but Llewellyn provides a little more depth as a two-guard, as does Jace Howard, at least in terms of defensive-minded options. Joey Baker is a 3-point machine and Youssef Khayat will make an impact this season, especially with his defense.

The potential is there for this team and Dickinson knows it. He also compared it to the team he played on as a freshman.

"“I feel like people think we have a lot of question marks around our team,” Dickinson said. “We have some transfers and some freshmen that are going to come in and play a lot of minutes. I definitely feel like we’re being underrated, but I think that’s fine for us. I think it’ll be fun for us this year. I think we’ll catch a lot of people by surprise like we did my freshman year.”"

If this season is like the 2020-21 campaign, I’m all for it. The Wolverines are capable and in a few weeks, we’ll start to find out just how good they can be.