Michigan basketball: More time coming for forward Will Tschetter?
Michigan sophomore Will Tschetter isn’t the most talented guy on this year’s U-M team. He’s not the best defender, and he picks up too many fouls in practice, which sometimes carries over into games (like Sunday vs. Northwestern, when he had 4 in limited action).
What he does, though, is help his team win. Several times this year, the Wolverines have been better when he was on the floor. Whether it was hustle plays, an offensive rebound, or directing traffic — he wasn’t hesitant to get after frosh Tarris Reed when he was in the wrong place recently — he’s proving to be a winner.
That’s allowed him to earn head coach Juwan Howard’s trust, and it could — maybe should — lead to more playing time in the near future.
“The game is slowing down for him,” assistant coach Phil Martelli said Wednesday. “I’m surprised how vocal he is defensively. Offensively, it’s starting to get slower. His stroke is pure. His three going in at Iowa … that lifted it.
“He still has to slow down, but it’s all due to work. He puts in work and work and work. It’s not just his shot, but he looks at the offensive patterns, and he understands the scouting report. The future is bright for him.”
This summer, Martelli told us there were too many times Tschetter got ahead of himself with the ball on offense. On defense, he was still reaching too much and picking up too many fouls.
Again — he’s still working on it. But he’s Michigan’s best communicator on defense, Martelli said, and that’s one of the reasons he’s earning more time.
Martelli went on the say Tschetter is the team’s best communicator on defense, with a few other returning players improving in that department. He contributed 7 points in 12 minutes at Iowa, too, and 4 points and 2 rebounds in only 10 minutes in the win over Northwestern, but his play went far beyond the box score.
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“He’s the loudest,” Martelli said. “Jace Howard is very good at communicating; Kobe Bufkin is advancing in that area. Tarris Reed started that way in the summer and early workouts, but Tarris and Hunter have to quarterback the defense because they can see everything from the basket out.
“Will, Jace, and Kobe are at the top of the list.”
They’ll need all of them to continue their run to an NCAA Tournament berth. The quest continues Thursday night at Maryland, a team Michigan thumped just weeks ago and that stands 2-4 in conference play, in desperate need of a win.
The evolving ‘4’ spot with Tschetter and Reed could help the Wolverines reach their goal.
“It’s game by game. It’s, what’s the right matchup?” Martelli said of the power forward rotation. “And then, what are the right sets that we can run? So, we’re spending a lot of time continuing to build the playbook and to say okay, if Tarris and Hunter are playing together, what can we run? What can’t we run? And what are we comfortable with? What are the players comfortable running?
“I would say our depth is still evolving. Our lineups are still evolving, and they will be really predicated on game by game matchups. You get into this situation with Maryland and we have to have a plan. If they put Donta Scott at the ‘5,’ what is our plan? And that’s what we work on every single day.”
Tschetter, though, has put himself in position to help, and that’s a huge plus for a team seeking added depth.
