The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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42 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2020 2020-21 BASKETBALL PREVIEW THE THREE BEST BACKCOURTS MICHIGAN WILL FACE 1. Illinois J u n i o r g u a r d A y o Dosunmu is the head- liner here, with the 6-5, 200-pounder deciding to put the NBA on hold after he averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 as- sists per game last year. The Chicago native earned first-team All-Big Ten hon- ors from the media at sea- son's end. It's not a one-man show in the Illini backcourt, how- ever, with senior guard Trent Frazier providing a punch of his own. He tal- lied 9.1 points per outing in 2019-20 and served as a defensive menace by lead- ing the club with 29 steals. Illinois will also be get- ting a major boost with its incoming freshmen, wel- coming two top-40 pros- pects in point guard Andre Curbelo and shooting guard Adam Miller. The latter finished just three spots shy of five-star status. 2. Iowa Senior center Luka Garza gets the majority of the attention when the Hawkeyes are discussed, but the team's backcourt is just as deadly as its frontcourt. Junior guard/forward Joe Wies- kamp leads the way once again after averaging 14.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last year. He is joined by productive red- shirt sophomore guard C.J. Fredrick, who earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team after posting 10.2 points per game and shooting 46.1 percent from three. Iowa will also get a boost from the return of fifth-year senior point guard Jordan Bohannon, who was limited to just 10 games last season due to injury. Head coach Fran McCaffery will also add four-star freshman point guard Ahron Ulis into the mix. 3. Wisconsin The Badgers' backcourt isn't deep, but what it has is proven and experienced. Fifth-year senior D'Mitrik Trice and senior Brad Davi- son are the two top dogs, with the duo having averaged 9.8 and 9.9 points, respectively, last year. Trice has 77 career starts under his belt and Davison 93, with the guard tandem playing key roles in the Badgers' run to the Big Ten regular-season title last season. Fifth-year senior guard Trevor Anderson will also be expected to contribute after averaging 12.3 minutes off the bench last winter. Wisconsin will be a veteran team as a whole in 2020-21 — four fifth-year seniors and two seniors will be a part of the rotation — while four-star freshman guard Jonathan Davis should be a youthful contributor. THE THREE BEST FRONTCOURTS MICHIGAN WILL FACE 1. Iowa The talk surrounding the Hawkeyes' frontcourt begins and ends with senior center Luka Garza. After averaging 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds last year, the Washington, D.C., native took home the league's Player of the Year award and earned first-team As- sociated Press All-America honors. Garza then surprised people around the basketball world when he decided to return to Iowa City for his senior year. Redshirt junior forward Jack Nunge and redshirt freshman forward Patrick McCaffery will be the other two primary contribu- tors. The latter missed all but two games last year with injury after arriving as a four-star, top-100 prospect. Nunge, meanwhile, started the first five contests of 2019-20 be- fore suffering an ACL injury and missing the rest of the campaign. He was second on the team with 25 blocks and fifth with 5.7 points per game in the 2017-18 season, before redshirting in 2018-19. Both players will return to give Garza a boost down low. 2. Illinois Like Garza for Iowa, one man headlines the Illinois frontcourt as well — sophomore center Kofi Cockburn. Outstanding players putting the NBA Draft on hold was a theme in the Big Ten this off- season, and Cockburn followed that trend. The 7-0, 285-pounder averaged 13.3 points and 8.8 rebounds last season, and took home the league's Freshman of the Year award from both the coaches and media. Junior forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili is a key component to Il- linois' frontcourt as well. His statistics dropped significantly from his freshman to sophomore year (averaged 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in 2018-19, and 6.8 points and 4.8 boards last season), but that was likely a product of Cockburn's arrival. 3. Wisconsin Experience is the name of the game in the Badgers' frontcourt, with three fifth-year senior forwards expected to start in Aleem Ford, Nathan Reuvers and Micah Potter. Reuvers led the team in scoring by averaging 13.1 points per game in 2019-20, while Potter paced the club in rebounding with 6.2 boards per outing. The latter also connected on 45.1 percent of his three-pointers. Sophomore forward Tyler Wahl gained valuable experience as a freshman last year, playing 15.4 minutes per game. He'll take on a bigger role this time around. Head coach Greg Gard will also welcome in four-star freshman forward Ben Carlson, who was the highest-rated prospect in the Badgers' 2020 recruiting class (No. 105 overall). Illinois junior guard Ayo Dosunmu averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last year en route to All-Big Ten first-team honors from the media. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Illinois center Kofi Cockburn was the consensus choice for Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season, after he logged 13.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL