The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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52 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2017 2017-18 BASKETBALL PREVIEW With college basketball season ap- proaching, preseason magazines have begun to hit the shelves. Online pub- lications are also making their predic- tions, but the outlets have varying opinions on what Michigan's outlook is for the 2017-18 season. Some have the Wolverines — who won last year's Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 — finishing in the conference's upper half, while others have them as a middle-of-the- pack team. Lindy's is the most optimistic of the bunch. The publication has the Maize and Blue just outside of the top 25 at No. 30 nationally, to go along with a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten — it has national No. 1 Michigan State, No. 15 Northwestern, No. 22 Minnesota and No. 26 Purdue finishing ahead of them (in that order). Lindy's writes that although Michigan had success to close out last season, it worries about the departures of point guard Derrick Walton Jr. and forward Zak Irvin. " The Wolverines were one missed jump shot away from an Elite Eight ap- pearance, and possibly more, last sea- son," it wrote. "But after two key seniors graduated and a third starter [forward D.J. Wilson] elected to jump to the NBA, John Beilein again finds himself restocking the shelves. It's a practice he is familiar with in recent years. In doing so again, Beilein will fall back on what past experience has taught him. "But as tried and true as Beilein's for- mula has been, what remains to be seen is who emerges as the primetime performer in the important minutes going forward." Lindy's had high praise for several Wolverines, including Kentucky trans- fer and redshirt sophomore guard Charles Matthews, tabbing him as the team's top newcomer. "After demonstrating his potential in practice while sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules, the Kentucky transfer has a lot of upside for a team needing to re- place a lot," the publication explained. Despite referring to the Chicago native as Michigan's top newcomer, Lindy's pegged Ohio graduate transfer point guard Jaaron Simmons as a third- team All-Big Ten player and left Mat- thews off the all-conference list. It also placed junior forward Moritz Wagner on the second-team All-Big Ten squad and named him the 23rd- best power forward in the country. "Beilein envisions a lot of potential with this group, but whether that's enough to get the Wolverines back to the NCAA Tournament will be deter- mined over time," Lindy's concluded. The magazine answers its own ques- tion, though, projecting the Maize and Blue to make it to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Athlon also projected the Wolverines to finish fifth in the Big Ten and win a game in The Big Dance, entering as an eight seed and beating ninth-seeded Auburn before falling to top-seeded Arizona in the West region. The preseason annual listed Mat- thews as one of 10 transfers to watch, while Simmons was deemed one of seven graduate transfers to watch. "With the loss of some key person- nel, transfers will tell the story for John Beilein," Athlon wrote. "… Simmons could very quietly be one of the big- gest additions in the country. He aver- aged 15.9 points and 6.5 assists at Ohio in 2016-17. In his two seasons with the Bobcats, Simmons scored 20 or more points in 20 games and handed out seven or more assists in 40 games." The magazine concluded that this year's Michigan squad could look dif- ferent than previous years "with much of the offense running through the 5 [center] position and Matthews enter- ing the fold as an athletic slasher." They continued by noting: "Michigan has talent on the court and Beilein on the sideline, typically a formidable combination — and that should be enough for another trip to the NCAA Tournament." Wagner was tabbed as the No. 37 player in the land, a first-team All-Big Ten choice and a bench addition on the "International Dream Team." Street & Smith's (formerly Spor ting News) did not have as positive of an outlook, though. It did not give a pre- diction on whether or not it thinks Michigan will make the NCAA Tourna- ment, but pegs the Wolverines eighth in the Big Ten and well outside of the top 25. The magazine is especially wor- ried about the lack of experience at key spots. "Though holdovers Moritz Wagner, [senior guard] Muhammad-Ali Abdur- Rahkman and [fifth-year senior guard/ Preseason Projections Differ On U-M Outlook, But Most Have Wolverines Dancing Again Junior forward Moritz Wagner was listed as one of the nation's top 40 players by ESPN.com (No. 22) and Athlon (No. 37). PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL