The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/432566
MICHIGAN BASKETBALL "It's a maturity model, for us as coaches to move the team along with a sense of urgency, as they learn what it takes, night-in and night-out, to be successful at this level." The Wolverine: What do you like about this team in the early going? Alexander: "Dating back to our time in Italy, it's been very, very enjoyable to watch the chemis- try. The chemistry is with all of the newcomers we have in our program, and with the veterans returning who are shifting into dif- ferent roles. There's been a non- territorial approach among our players, with regards to winning. "The ball movement, the player movement, the cohesion on de- fense, the bench decorum, in terms of our reserves and our scout team guys … we're look- ing at a group that's highly con- nected." The Wolverine: Is this group of freshmen one that may take a little longer to get settled in, compared to some of the really high-performing headliners of the past couple of seasons? Alexander: "I think with this group, we're learning that a lot of our incoming freshmen had different experiences coming in the door. When you look at a guy like [freshman forward] Kameron Chatman, who had bounced around in his high school experience, now is the first opportunity for him to have a sense of normalcy in terms of his development as a player. "He was in a situation where he probably didn't have a true high school career. [Freshman forward] D.J. Wilson is a young man who was injured throughout the entirety of his junior season. Again, that's another fragmented high school career. "[Freshman guard] Muhammad- [Ali Abdur-] Rahkman is one guy who has expe- rienced a full high school career. However, when you examine further on him, he had coaching changes during his high school career. Alexander said of U-M's young squad this sea- son, "With this particular team, I think it's criti- cal that we use every night out as a learning opportunity." PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN