John Beilein: Michigan 'playing with something really special,' Dug McDaniel in the mold of former U-M point guards

Michigan Wolverines basketball has been impressive to start the season, with three victories in as many games, including Monday night’s 89-73 road victory over St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.

The Wolverines have scored 85-plus points in three straight outings since a four-game stretch in 2012-13. Former Michigan and NBA head coach John Beilein, now a Big Ten Network analyst, joined The HUGE Show Tuesday and said U-M’s offense has left an impression on him.

“It’s really fabulous the way they’re scoring points,” Beilein noted.

“It’s really hard to score in college basketball, and they’re just making it look easy right now. Great tempo. And, of course, you can’t have great offense if you don’t have great defense, because you’ve gotta get stops and fast breaks.

“I don’t think St. John’s is … everybody’s new, it’s a hard roster to do. I just think that St. John’s is probably a little overrated — [first-year head coach] Rick [Pitino]’s gotta coach ‘em up first — but Michigan was fabulous.”

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Sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel has been the straw that stirs the drink. He poured in 26 points and added 7 assists and 6 rebounds against the Red Storm, completely controlling the game with his quickness and improved awareness.

“We had point guards, with Darius Morris passing on to Trey Burke, who then passed it on to Derrick Walton, who passed it on to Zavier Simpson. And it looks like Dug McDaniel is very much along that pass-first point guard who can shoot, he can score,” Beilein said. “It’s amazing when you pass first, how many points you score, because the ball comes back to you.

“That was really impressive last night, the way he’s taking care of the ball, he’s getting to the foul line. But also, [Michigan graduate guard Nimari] Burnett’s first-half performance [with 21 points] was great. He didn’t score in the game before, and he didn’t score in the last half last night, so a little concerned about that.”

Michigan has an experienced team filled with upperclassmen. Beilein long has harped on getting old and staying old, knowing that possessing talented seniors is a key to success.

“They have an old team,” Beilein said. “They really have an old team with a lot of guys that have played at a lot of different schools, but they’re in their fourth or their fifth year. That makes a big difference.”

Michigan has a pretty tight rotation early on this season, with eight guys seeing signifiant playing time. That could be extended once graduate Jaelin Llewellyn returns from injury. While lack of depth could be seen as a concern, Beilein sees the positives in having just enough players seeing time on a consistent basis.

“This team is just playing with something really special,” Beilein said. “One thing that will probably shock you — they don’t have too many players. They have just enough. When you have a rotation where Dug knows he’s going for 38 [minutes] every night, like Derrick Walton or Zavier or Trey Burke did, it makes you a really good team. You’re not worried about keeping people happy. They’ve got good chemistry, that’s my early sense.

“We’ve talked about this with the NBA, is that was the most difficult part for me, how do you make your rotation bigger?

“I remember we lost to Jay Wright’s Villanova team, the championship team, in ‘18. Then, we played them again in ‘19 at their place, opened up that building. Jay called me afterward, ‘What the hell happened?’ We won like 70-40, and it was like, ‘Jay, you have too many players — you have too many good players! You’re going to have to try to keep everyone happy.’ I said, ‘We’ve just got enough guys who are stars in their roles.’ You may be looking at that right now with Michigan.”

The Wolverines are 3-0 with associate head coach Phil Martelli leading the way in head man Juwan Howard‘s absence as he works back from a Sept. 15 heart procedure. Howard has been more and more involved in recent days and weeks, but Martelli has been the main man on the sidelines so far.

“If you look at Phil’s history — tremendous experience coaching,” Beilein said. “An Elite Eight team with Jameer Nelson back in the day, and Delonte West [in 2004]. He knows how to coach. If there’s a guy you want as a guy to take the reigns when you’re not there, this is the guy.

“Frankly, he should be coaching either at St. Joe’s or some other place in a high-level conference right now. But Michigan is lucky to have him. I’m sure he and Juwan have collaborated a lot. They’ve been together four years, so they are going to think a lot [alike].”

Michigan’s next test is a Friday night home game against Long Beach State, which has begun the year 1-1.