The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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BASKETBALL14-15 Doyle responded well, hauling in 14, eight and 10 rebounds in his next three games. He's still learning to rebound outside his area, but the ba‑ sics come first, Alexander noted — boxing out, creating space within his own rebounding area and then, as conditioning levels improve, grab‑ bing the tougher ones. Doyle was hindered by soreness in his foot in early practices, limit‑ ing his reps. He showed plenty in Italy, though, after arriving in March to work on his conditioning with strength coach Jon Sanderson, in‑ cluding improved stamina. He's always had great touch around the basket, an ability to fin‑ ish with both hands and pop out to hit the jumper. "He made really big gains [in con‑ ditioning]," Alexander said. "What we saw over in Italy and probably won't see as much in the preseason due to those reps he's gotten is letting his hands do the work his feet should be doing on defense. In short, often the bigs like to try to guide offensive players with their hands rather than using their chest and moving their feet. He picked up some fouls early, and we chalk a lot of that up to just being fatigued. "But he does a phenomenal job of finishing with both hands, knows how to use his width to create space inside for himself. One of the at‑ tributes that's really attractive and exciting is he's really good in small spaces." Donnal has improved in that area too, and he's the lightning to Doyle's thunder. Doyle is more the contact seeker while Donnal is a skill guy who can pass out of the post, make short jumpers and stretch his range to three‑point range, occasionally, when he has time. Making that transition from high school to college is often a challenge for young big guys, Alexander noted, since the pace of play is so much faster. What Donnal discovered in his redshirt year was the importance of having a consistent motor. "What we're seeing now is he's playing as hard as he can, as long as he can," Alexander said. "It's devel‑ oping. It's going to be a season‑long development, I think, for a guy like Mark who has been accustomed to being the tallest person on the floor with an offense working through him in high school, whereas now he's just another piece of the puzzle and has to maintain the pace the guards set for him." They're also anxious to see how he shoots the ball when it matters. "A lot of times we talk about the speed and accuracy tradeoff between practice and game shots, and a lot of times when you're forced to do something a little quicker, the accu‑ racy rates go down," Alexander said. "We're trying to duplicate his repeti‑ tions in practice at a level where he's getting a feel for game speed and the intensity he has to have consistently to be a reliable shooter. For now it's still an area of growth." FRESHMEN WILL SEE TIME AT THE FOUR Two more freshmen, Wilson and