Michigan basketball will have a 'totally different offense' next season

Michigan Wolverines basketball won’t just be without center Hunter Dickinson (transfer to Kansas) and guards Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard (NBA Draft) next season. The Maize and Blue will play a different style of basketball due to the roster taking a different form (that roster isn’t even complete yet, with two scholarship spots still remaining).

“Part of the reason why I wanted to stay is it’s going to be different this year,” senior forward Terrance Williams II said on the Defend The Block podcast. “Our offense is going to look totally different, maybe our defense is going to look different, but it’s going to be a different look.

“I just can’t wait to see what [head] Coach [Juwan] Howard and his staff have planned, but I feel like it’s going to be great and we’re going to be doing more stuff than what we did in the past — and I’m ready for it.”

RELATED

• Michigan basketball: Terrance Williams II focused on four areas this offseason

• Michigan basketball scholarship chart, breakdown following Olivier Nkamhoua commitment

It’s not that Howard won’t run some of his same offensive actions and defensive sets that he has in the past — but the frequency of which ones he goes to will change.

The biggest difference is that Michigan likely won’t play out of the post as much as it did with Dickinson down low. The Wolverines ran 15 post-up possessions (including passes) per game last season, tied for the 11th-most in the country according to Synergy. Only Purdue (21.4) and Wisconsin (18.1) had more per outing in the Big Ten.

Sophomore Tarris Reed Jr. is expected to step into the starting center role. While his game will grow and he will continue to evolve, his post play was lacking a year ago. He generated only 0.490 points per play (including passes) in that setting, ranking in the fifth percentile nationally.

The 6-10, 260-pounder was much better, however, at attacking the offensive glass (31 of his 116 points came on put-backs) and is athletic enough to be a weapon as a ball-screen roll man and cutter, as long as he improves his catching ability.

Michigan will likely play bigger in the front court than it did during the majority of last season. Tennessee transfer Olivier Nkamhoua (6-foot-9) is expected to join Reed down low. While he made 18 threes last season and can stretch the floor, he’s more of a post-up player than any of the Wolverines’ options at the ‘4’ last season. He was productive last season with 0.953 points per post-up (including passes).

The options behind him — including Williams and Seton Hall transfer Tray Jackson — are better suited playing on the perimeter. The Wolverines, if nothing else, will have different options in how they’ll play.

At this point in his career, Reed’s strength is his defense. He led the team with a 7.3-percent block rate (31 blocks) and is switchable. He was a game-changer in multiple games down the stretch, including in a huge February road win at Rutgers.

“He’s one of those people that can switch 1-5, and that’s going to help our defense more this year, being able to switch with him, because he can stay in front of a guard and guard a big man,” Williams said of his Michigan teammate. “And that’s something special about him that will hopefully take him to the next level, is his defensive instincts he has, as well as blocking shots. He’s a great shot blocker. I don’t know how many blocked shots he had last year, but I feel like it was a lot, and there were a lot of crucial blocks he had, as well. 

“T-Reed can defend. I feel like he’s going to keep improving that part of his game, and he’s going to be an unstoppable defender. People aren’t going to be able to score on him very soon.”

Only Howard and his staff have an idea of what the plans are for their system on each end of the floor this coming season. And even then, they’re tasked with filling out the roster and letting things take shape throughout the offseason.

Howard and Co. have made adjustments based on personnel in the past, of course, too. For example, in 2019-20, Zavier Simpson was a ball-dominant point guard who ran ball screens and spread the ball around to shooters. The next year, though, Michigan won the Big Ten by largely playing through its wings, Franz Wagner and Isaiah Livers, and in the pick-and-roll game with Mike Smith, while Dickinson also fed in the post.

Terrance Williams discusses Dug McDaniel, Jaelin Llewellyn

Williams discussed the progression of Michigan sophomore guard Dug McDaniel and graduate guard Jaelin Llewellyn. Here’s what he said…

• On McDaniel becoming Michigan’s starting point guard last season: “I was so proud of Dug, the way he came in and played last season as a freshman. He was thrown into that starting role once Jaelin went down with the ACL. I feel like he handled himself very well as a freshman.

“He’s going to improve in more areas this year, and that just comes with time, but I feel like he did a great job of leading us. He was good on the court, getting us in our spots, looking out for us [with] passing, knowing when to score, I feel like it was the best of both worlds. And he was able to defend. He’ll get much better with defending, but as a freshman I feel like he held his own, but I’m proud of him.”

• On Llewellyn recovering from his injury and returning for this season: “I was just so inspired by Jaelin — the ups and downs he had. Not even just the tear he had, but he had a prior injury that was bad, as well, and he came back from that. I’m not even going to doubt Jaelin, because I know he’s going to come back stronger than he did before.

“He’s getting better each day, we’re going to use him during the season, for sure. We’re going to need him because he’s a vet and he’s seen a lot of college games. I’m definitely ready for him to come back.

“He’s going to help us with veteran leadership and the poise he brings to the game. When he was playing early in the season, I feel like he was going to continue to bring that back. He’s going to be back stronger after that ACL injury.”