Michigan will be better next year.

Burke is gone, no doubt.

I think that if Hardaway and GRIII both stay, Michigan will be better than they are this year. Why?

-Darius Morris was an average freshman and became an above average sophomore.
-Trey Burke was a good freshman and became an elite sophomore.
-We have 5 true freshmen that get a lot of minutes, GRIII, Stauskas, McGary, LeVert, Albrecht. I'd expect them all to progress a little bit, but think one of them takes it to the next level.
-We have two top 50 recruits and one is a PG, so that should help deal with the loss of Burke.

A lineup of:
PG Walton (Fr.) / Albrecht (So.)
SG Stauskas (So.) / LeVert (So.)
SF Hardaway Jr. (Sr.) / Irvin (Fr.)
PF GRIII (So.) / Bielfeldt (So.)
C Morgan (Sr.) / McGary (So.) / Horford (Jr.)

Michigan would go from being one the least experienced teams in the nation to a pretty decent amount of experience.

So if only Burke leaves, I see Michigan as a top 5 team next year. I think Hardaway Jr. has a 50/50 chance of going/staying and GRIII has a 25/75 chance of going/staying. If either one of them leave, too, I'd put Michigan around 15-20. If they both leave, Michigan won't finish the season ranked.

So to sum it up
minus Burke Top 5.
minus Burke + Hardaway Jr. or GRIII 15-20.
minus Burke + Hardaway Jr. and GRIII 30-40.

Does Donnal get any time on the court? He's listed as a C but UM is deep there. He's 6'9".

I would bet my life that he red shirts. There just won't be minutes there with GRIII/Morgan/McGary/Horford/Bielfeldt all at the PF/C positions.

How crazy is it that our weakness this year might be a strong point next year?

I think Donnal redshirts for sure next year too. And just to nitpick a little, I don't think Center has been a week point when we've had a healthy Morgan. I think he's an underrated player.

As for next year, it all depends on Walton, IMO. He's got some huge shoes to fill. We all thought we were in trouble when Morris left early, but shockingly Burke turned out to be even better. It's hard to imagine that happening again. Also, it's a big "if" whether Hardaway and GRIII come back next year. Hardaways a junior, he might decide it's time to go, and you just never know with GRIII. He's actually rated higher by scouts than Burke was last year, although I personally believe a lot of that is based on his Dad and not him. He's good, but I don't see him as being a first rounder yet.

Actually, I was worried going into Morris' sophomore year because we lost Harris and Sims. Darius came out of nowhere, really. He went from 4.4 points, 2.6 assists, 1.8 rebounds to 15.0 points, 6.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds.

Then when he left, Burke came in and hit the ground running.

What is great is that we have Albrecht to lesson the load a little bit. Darius and Trey didn't have that. They had Stu Douglass as their backup PG.

So as unsure as I am about the PG position, I am more positive I was the past two times we were about to rely on a new PG. That is what makes me so optimistic.

Regarding GRIII, I don't think his dad has much influence on his rating. THJ was a Rivals 3-Star. It's hard to believe, but statistically, GRIII is having a season on par with Tim Hardaway Jr., who is on Seth Davis' 1st team All Big Ten. Very comparable season to Burke's freshman season, too.

source:
http://statsheet.com/mcb/statrank/players/8?class=

Yeah, I had forgotten that we were actually expected to be bad going in to Morris's sophomore season. He had shown signs towards the end of his freshman season, but he really took off as a sophomore. Maybe we've finally reached a point as a program that we won't miss one player that much, if it's just one player.