The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1482097
NOVEMBER 2022 THE WOLVERINE 45 2022-23 BASKETBALL PREVIEW BY THE NUMBERS My role has definitely changed a lot over my three years. I came in as a freshman who just wanted to be a sponge and try to soak up all the information from my older teammates, because we were a really experienced team my freshman year. We had a lot of great leaders — Isaiah Livers, Eli Brooks, Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown, Austin Davis. I felt like the whole team was seniors. "Now that I'm a junior, now that I'm that leader for the team and somebody that the other younger guys look to for advice, thankfully I've got me, Jace and T-Will, guys that have been here for three years that also know the system … but I've also got guys like [Princeton transfer point guard] Jaelin [Llewellyn] and [Duke transfer forward] Joey [Baker] that are super old and I feel like are like 30. They bring great experience and leadership as well. Jaelin and Joey have played a lot of college games, so they bring a lot of great experience that the younger guys will be able to look forward to and ask for help." – Junior center Hunter Dickinson on his role changing through his three seasons at Michigan BY CLAYTON SAYFIE 21st Nationally is where Michigan's 2022 recruiting class ranked per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. That was the second-best haul in the Big Ten behind Indiana (16th) and slotted two spots ahead of Illinois (23rd). It marked Michigan's third straight top-25 class. The Wolverines added four-star guard Dug McDaniel, four-star guard Jett Howard, four- star center TARRIS REED JR., four-star forward Gregg Glenn III and unranked Lebanon native Youssef Khayat. 74th 74th In the country in Kenpom.com's ad- justed defensive efficiency was where Michigan finished last season, the pro- gram's lowest ranking in that category since 2015-16 (92nd). The Wolverines were 28th and fourth in head coach Juwan Howard's first two campaigns, respectively. 4 Leading Big Ten scorers are gone from last season, leav- ing Michigan junior center Hunter Dickinson as the league's returning leader in points per game (18.6). He's also the conference's returning leader with 8.3 rebounds per out- ing. Dickinson was picked by the media as a unanimous selection for preseason first-team All-Big Ten. 21 Makes from 3-point range for Dickinson a year ago, the most of any player that still resides on the Michigan roster. Junior forward Terrance Williams II is second with 20 triples and had the best percentage from deep out of the returning Wolverines (38.5). 5 Straight Sweet 16 appearances for Michigan basketball, a Big Ten re- cord. Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina are the only other teams to have accomplished the feat since the NCAA Tournament field ex- panded to 64 teams and six rounds in 1985. 391 Of Michigan's 416 pick-and- rolls from last season were run by players who are no longer on the roster. Sophomore guard KOBE BUFKIN is the team's returning leader with 15 ball- screens, generating 1.13 points per pos- session in those situations, per Synergy. Llewellyn was a pick-and-roll ball handler on 100 possessions with Princeton last season, putting up 0.87 points per play. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS