2014 Assesment

It's early but I am curious to get everyone's Assesment so far of this team. What has impressed you? What has been a dissappoinment? 7 games gives us enough to assess where this team is and evaluate some players.

Here is my take-

Irvin is the most NBA ready IMO at this point. He has taken that Beilein jump we are all accustomed to. I am amazed at his development. He is explosive and fast when he wants to drive. Last year I wondered if he could dunk at all most of the season. This year I think he has had at least 6-8. He can dunk now from standing under the basket (vs. having to run and jump).

Caris-Stock down. To me he has been a dissappoinment in the sense he was expected to be the guy. He is one of our oldest players and has improved every year. So far, I don't see another marked improvement. He is still good no doubt. He has made some important shots for us when we needed it. He can get a steal at any time it seems. I just do not see him as a first team B1G player-YET. Still plenty of time.

Walton-Ok start but not great. Is it fair to compare him to Burkes sophomore season? Probably not. Still I do not feel he can take over a game like Burke could. He has explosiveness to drive to the basket when he needs to. His outside shot is inconsistent. Good player no doubt. Curious to see if you guys see a noticeable improvement in his game. I can't say I have. I know he has a broken toe and that may be slowing him down.

Doyle- Whi isn't this kid starting yet? I stand by my early Assesment of him being a poor mans Mitch McGary. Great energy. This team will feed off of him like they used to when Mitch played. Much smarter and stronger with the ball in the post than Donnell. Donnell is too timid for me. Both are young and will improve. I just think Doyle is a step or two above Donnell right now.

Hopefully no one takes this as a negative post. It's still very early. At this point I am very happy with this team. I give a ton of credit for the improvement of the Bigs since the Villanova game. I though Syracuse's post players would have us in could trouble all night. Our guys were much more disciplined on defense then when we played Nova.

My assessment is. That it is still very early . The team has had some good test and has played well Villanova gave them some confidence. Irvin is the key his shooting % is okay but he take a lot of shots, Lavert seems to be the floor general, something I thought Walton would do. Walton is a good guard good first step and a lot of explosion to the basket, Donnal is young and still get the flow if the college game I think Doyle is coming along nicely, pretty soon he'll be a beast still needs some muscle. Chatman is Lavert his freshmen year needs to add pounds and confidence. Albrieght is the spark plug can score when needed calms things down and a very good assist guy.

I forgot about Spike. I do think he is an important piece this year. I hope you can be consistent with his outside shot.

MgoBlue wrote:

It's early but I am curious to get everyone's Assesment so far of this team.  What has impressed you?  What has been a dissappoinment?  7 games gives us enough to assess where this team is and evaluate some players.

Here is my take-

Irvin is the most NBA ready IMO at this point.  He has taken that Beilein jump we are all accustomed to.  I am amazed at his development.  He is explosive and fast when he wants to drive.  Last year I wondered if he could dunk at all most of the season.  This year I think he has had at least 6-8.  He can dunk now from standing under the basket (vs. having to run and jump).

Caris-Stock down.  To me he has been a dissappoinment in the sense he was expected to be the guy.  He is one of our oldest players and has improved every year.  So far, I don't see another marked improvement.  He is still good no doubt.  He has made some important shots for us when we needed it.  He can get a steal at any time it seems.  I just do not see him as a first team B1G player-YET.  Still plenty of time.

Walton-Ok start but not great.  Is it fair to compare him to Burkes sophomore season?  Probably not.  Still I do not feel he can take over a game like Burke could.  He has explosiveness to drive to the basket when he needs to.  His outside shot is inconsistent.  Good player no doubt.  Curious to see if you guys see a noticeable improvement in his game.  I can't say I have.  I know he has a broken toe and that may be slowing him down.

Doyle- Whi isn't this kid starting yet?  I stand by my early Assesment of him being a poor mans Mitch McGary.  Great energy.  This team will feed off of him like they used to when Mitch played.  Much smarter and stronger with the ball in the post than Donnell.  Donnell is too timid for me.  Both are young and will improve.  I just think Doyle is a step or two above Donnell right now.

Hopefully no one takes this as a negative post.  It's still very early.  At this point I am very happy with this team.  I give a ton of credit for the improvement of the Bigs since the Villanova game.  I though Syracuse's post players would have us in could trouble all night.  Our guys were much more disciplined on defense then when we played Nova.  

Irvin - I agree. I'm very impressed with his development. He was recruited as an elite scorer and is showing us why. I think he is our 2nd best player right now.

LeVert - He'd be the first, IMO. He literally does everything on the court. 16.7 points, 5.6 rebounds (leads the team), 4.7 assists (leads the team), 2.0 steals (leads the team) is an extremely impressive stat line.

Walton - He didn't take a Burke-level jump, but that's fine. Most kids don't. Walton's two biggest areas of improvement have been his speed and his strength. He is lightning quick in transition and that is a real nice weapon to have. Strength wise, he uses his body especially in the rebounding game.

Doyle - I see him starting sooner rather than later.


One thing that can't be overlooked is that one of Michigan's biggest weaknesses is rebounding. LeVert and Walton have been rebounding at an elite level (relative to their position) and that is something Michigan desperately needs.

Given he degree of improvement that Beilein coaching brings to UM players, it is sort of hard to make a valid assessment of where this team will go in the coming weeks. You can't argue much with a 6-1 start. What I've seen from Doyle is very encouraging, Spike has been awesome (especially last night), and Walton has shown a lot of growth in the past year, with no reason to believe that will not continue to be the case. I am happy with where the team is now, and anxious to see where they will be after four or five B1G games. After all, they are just babies, tons of potential and a coach who can get them there!

hailtoyourvictor wrote:

Irvin - I agree. I'm very impressed with his development. He was recruited as an elite scorer and is showing us why. I think he is our 2nd best player right now.

LeVert - He'd be the first, IMO. He literally does everything on the court. 16.7 points, 5.6 rebounds (leads the team), 4.7 assists (leads the team), 2.0 steals (leads the team) is an extremely impressive stat line.

Walton - He didn't take a Burke-level jump, but that's fine. Most kids don't. Walton's two biggest areas of improvement have been his speed and his strength. He is lightning quick in transition and that is a real nice weapon to have. Strength wise, he uses his body especially in the rebounding game.

Doyle - I see him starting sooner rather than later.


One thing that can't be overlooked is that one of Michigan's biggest weaknesses is rebounding. LeVert and Walton have been rebounding at an elite level (relative to their position) and that is something Michigan desperately needs.

I agree with all of this.

I'd also like to add that I think that even though Caris isn't the man every single night (like last night) he is still hands down the best player on the team. I'm more than happy with what I've seen from him so far.

I can't say that he's exceeded my expectations but he's at least hit them and my expectations for him were pretty high coming into the season.

There is no doubt in my mind that Caris will be so ready for the NBA at the end of this year. I mean, you don't get on the Wooden Watch for nothing.

Good numbers on LeVert.

I hope some how this team can stay intact. Even if LeVert makes the jump it would be great to have Walton and Irvin one more year. There really is a void in elite talent after this guys Chapman aside. I know we are in a lot 2016 guys but still they will only be true freshmen.

MgoBlue wrote:

Good numbers on LeVert.  

I hope some how this team can stay intact.  Even if LeVert makes the jump it would be great to have Walton and Irvin one more year.  There really is a void in elite talent after this guys Chapman aside.  I know we are in a lot 2016 guys but still they will only be true freshmen.

I agree 100%. I have no reason to doubt Beilein, but it's frustrating to see how much middle-tier talent is in this class. Michigan is going to have 7 sophomore players with only 1 (Chatman) having reasonable NBA potential. There is so much riding on the Jaylen Brown decision. If he comes to Michigan, I think that we can afford to lose 2 of the 3 big three (LeVert, Irvin, Walton) and still be a contender next year. If he doesn't, I think Michigan can only afford to lose one to remain a contender.

It's going to be a very interesting transition. It's almost impossible to predict, to be honest. Before the start of last season, GRIII and McGary were suppose to be the keys to our season. Our best players ended up being Stauskas and LeVert. When they were recruited, who could have predicted that LeVert and Albrecht would be this crucial to the team? By 2016 our trio of Doyle / Donnal / Wilson might be the best frontcourt in the Big Ten. Who knows.

Hail: O ye of little faith! It's December 3. Beilein is the best coach in the country at developing talent! Why, oh, why are you so ready to write off most all of the freshmen on this team, assuming none will get better by the middle of March (or beginning of April!), let alone another six months before the 15-16 season begins?

dwoody wrote:

Hail: O ye of little faith! It's December 3. Beilein is the best coach in the country at developing talent! Why, oh, why are you so ready to write off most all of the freshmen on this team, assuming none will get better by the middle of March (or beginning of April!), let alone another six months before the 15-16 season begins?

Holy strawman. I never said any of that.

Well, you did refer to "middle-tier talent", so I guess I got confused. I'm old!

Beilein is fantastic at developing players no one is questioning that. Still it is good to have some studs with huge upside on the roster.

dwoody wrote:

Well, you did refer to "middle-tier talent", so I guess I got confused. I'm old!

You don't have to read to many of my posts to realize how high I am on Beilein's ability to develop talent. That doesn't change that, as of now, Chatman is the only current NBA prospect in the 2014 and 2015 classes combined. Michigan swung and missed on a handful of their top targets in both classes (Blackmon, Booker, Coleman, Kennard, Dozier, etc.).


Again, that's not saying that I don't expect any of our young guys to develop. That would be asinine, considering Beilein's track record. It's simply stating that the 2014 class was average and the 2015 class is Beilein's worst since being at Michigan.