Michigan Basketball: Top 3 Christmas wishlist for Wolverines

Michigan basketball is off to a rough start so far in the 2022-23 season and here are three Christmas wishes for the Wolverines.

The Michigan basketball team has one non-conference game to play next week before hitting the heart of the Big Ten schedule and so far this season has been a disappointment.

Michigan has barely escaped a few times at home against teams ranked outside the top-100 of the Kenpom rankings while also losing close games to Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Each offered an opportunity to get a marquee win and bolster an NCAA tournament resume that is clearly lacking. The Wolverines are down their former starting point guard too and the lack of experienced guard play has been an issue.

We’ll see if Michigan basketball can overcome all of this but here are three items on the Christmas wishlist that could really help.

Youngsters grow up quickly

Dug McDaniel is going to have to grow up quickly if Michigan basketball is going to have a successful season this year. You can’t win games in the Big Ten unless your point guard plays well.

Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin can help handle the ball but that puts them out of position. The best lineup and some of the best basketball the Wolverines have played this season came against Minnesota when McDaniel had his best game.

He’s not always going to make three 3-pointers. But if find some consistency with his shot and more with his playmaking ability, it will be huge for the Wolverines. If Tarris Reed, Will Tschetter, and Youssef Khayat can grow up quickly too and provide some depth, that would be huge too.

A consistently good Kobe

We are really starting to see Kobe Bufkin make that second-year transition. He started the season a little slow but is showing the ability that made him a McDonald’s All-American.

Bufkin has scored 22 points in back-to-back games and has connected on six of eight 3-pointers. Over the last four games, Bufkin is 8-for-11 from 3-point range. He’s actually reached double figures in six straight games, although he shot under 50 percent in a few of those.

Bufkin has started to become more assertive as a scorer and with Jett Howard and him averaging in double figures every night, this team should be able to win a lot of games in the Big Ten.

Hunter Dickinson’s dominant self

Hunter Dickinson has been great this year but at times, he’s left a lot of meat on the bone. Bufkin and Howard scored 39 points in the loss to North Carolina. If Dickinson was in single digits and if he played anything close to a good game, Michigan wins.

Dickinson needs to do a better job on the boards, a better job on the defensive end, and needs to be a better leader — he could have been tossed against the Tar Heels with multiple technicals and lost his cool a few times against Armando Bacot who out-played him all night.

Some of the pieces are starting to come together and while this will never be a great defensive team, it should be one of the best offensive teams in college basketball, and if Dickinson dominates down the stretch like he did last season, it will be.

It will also make the NCAA tournament which is far from a guarantee at this point.