Michigan Basketball: Scenarios for the starting five next season
By Nick Popio
It’s been over a month since the season ended and the back-breaking news of Hunter Dickinson transferring came to fruition. Now the program is looking for answers to get back into instant championship contention.
There is a little more clarity to how the starting five is going to suit up for Juwan Howard’s lineup in the winter of 2023. It did reel in a big fish from the transfer portal in Caleb Love. He’ll lock down the spot left by Kobe Bufkin for certain. In the meantime Michigan basketball prepares for the departure of Dickinson and newcomers to fill out the missing holes on the roster.
Worse Case Scenario
Jaelin Llewellyn returns and if he somehow takes over the point guard slot for an emerging Dug McDaniel then that appears to be a bad look for Howard. Terrance Williams and Will Tschetter shouldn’t even sniff the top five anymore. Plus anyone starting over Caleb Love and Tarris Reed is asking for failure.
Not adding anymore transfers is not likely, but Michigan basketball is running out of scholarships. They also lost a critical depth piece in Papa Kante. They are currently without a starting three or four, but have guys who can step in for whomever those individuals end up being. Howard has got to upgrade over the likes of Jace Howard, Youssef Khayat, Williams and Tschetter and only use them sparingly.
Nimari Burnett and Tray Jackson are not starting material, but if used in the right gameplan can be effective. Getting Reed a sub is also a dire problem to have. In reality Michigan basketball has to figure out how to fill about three roles with a thin amount of scholarships to hand out.
Deciphering who will be the next to up their game is anybody’s guess, but guys like George Washington and at least one unknown will have to make a meteoric rise to starting fame if there’s no one else to depend upon.