Gonzaga seems to be the team to be defeated this year, Baylor is in second place and the third hottest college basketball team is … Michigan?
It is true.
The Wolverines are now 11-0 after destroying No. 9 Wisconsin on Tuesday night, 77-54. Wisconsin was a fierce opponent, having lost just two games before. They won No. 12 Michigan State on Christmas Day by double digits and won two consecutive top 10 games against No. 7 Michigan. But it never closed on Tuesday. The Wolverines led by 40 at one point and had a 43-6 run between the first and second half. Four players finished in double digits, and it is the first time in college basketball history that a team has beaten three consecutive opponents by at least 19 points.
“They were committed to making everything difficult for the opponent and it is not easy.” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said after the game. “It is the purchase of drilling in practice, watching the film and putting the work into practice when it is uncomfortable.”
In two short seasons, Howard managed to make the Michigan show his own.
Prior to taking over as his alma mater coach, Howard was one of the nicest coaches in the NBA and was building a beautiful career as an assistant to the Miami Heat. When Howard took over from Michigan, former coach John Beilein had just taken over as NBA coach in Cleveland after a 12-season stint at Ann Arbor.
There have been former NBA players who have taken on college programs in the past, but no one has been as successful as Juwan Howard so quickly. Avery Johnson was Alabama’s head coach for four years and had little success; Penny Hardaway has had some victories in recruiting in Memphis with James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa, but has only had one team qualified once in three seasons.
Michigan made an initial statement in the 2019-20 season, starting with 7-0 and defeating Gonzaga to win the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Howard managed to do this with a team he inherited from Beilein, full of players he didn’t recruit. The Big Ten was the most difficult college basketball conference last season and the Wolverines still managed to finish with a 19-12 record. Howard wasted no time in the off-season and brought in some high-profile high school talent, including four-star recruits Hunter Dickinson, Zeb Jackson, Terrence Williams and also Howard’s son, Jace.
The Wolverines lost only two veterans and returned important players, like veteran Isaiah Livers, sophomore Franz Wagner and graduate students Austin Davis and Mike Smith. Michigan was ranked No. 25 at the start of the season and it took five weeks and a 6-0 record before Howard’s team started steadily rising in the rankings.
“Everyone is inside. Everyone joined the culture in two years and I still think there is another step for us, ”said Isaiah Livers after the victory in Wisconsin. “It’s similar to my second year, that 17-0 start, but I think this team is much deeper.”
This is a Michigan team that lives and dies for its defense.
“To play on coach Howard’s team, you have to play defense,” Livers said. “We just said, ‘Why not try to stop all teams from carrying out their attack?’ And that just led to this culture of being disturbing and blocking shots, stealing space, talking, just flying around. We want to play as if there were six players in defense. “
Michigan had nine blocks against Wisconsin and has a lot of depth and height on the front court with 2.10-meter freshman Dickinson, 1.80-meter second-year Wagner and Brandon Johns Jr.
Wagner, the younger brother of the former Michigan player and current Washington Wizards striker Moe Wagner, is the most outstanding player on the Wolverines team and was the best player on the court on Tuesday night. Wagner arrived in his first year at just 205 pounds and trained with his brother in DC during the extended quarantine period and is now playing at 226 pounds.
“He just trained his ass all spring,” Michigan strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson told Athletic’s Brendan Quinn. “I mean, he pushed. It wasn’t perfect. He didn’t have a real weight room, but he made the most of that three-month period and returned to campus determined to be physically different. “
Wagner scored in double figures in the last five games and ended with a double double on Tuesday night, including 15 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and a block. Because of the added weight, he is no longer pushed on the track and is finding different ways to score.
Michigan has no recruits five stars and completed on the team. All the players in the squad bought early as Howard wants Michigan basketball to be. Other elite high school players want to be a part of this and learn from a coach like Howard, and it has helped tremendously in the recruitment process. Michigan has recruiting class # 1 going into next season, led by five star winger Caleb Houstan.
“We work hard to identify high-profile players and the pieces that will help our program,” said Howard. “We want to make sure that we have quality young people, from quality families who can come and represent Block ‘M’ and this university with dignity and grace.”
Shaka Smart took six seasons in Texas to finally gain some strength and what Howard did in two years in Michigan is nothing short of remarkable. There are so many moving parts at the university level, from recruiting to game preparation, hiring the right technical team and building a winning culture that everyone buys. Gonzaga may receive all the fanfare as the main team this season, but Michigan is hidden in the shadows and has all the tools to be there as one of the Final Four teams in Indianapolis.
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