Where do Juwan Howard and Michigan basketball go after a season to forget?
ANN Arbor, Mich. If nothing else, the fact that it felt unthinkable at one point should have made it a larger concern. Earlier last week, the whole Fab Five, free of any personal grudges or senseless NCAA separation penalties, were back together. Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, and Jalen Rose were all at Ann Arbor for the rivalry game between Michigan and Ohio State, sitting across from the Michigan bench. They supported Juwan Howard’s squad together.
They gave current U-M players high fives and gave each other the kind of old-man hug after a Wolverine victory. After playing their last game at Ann Arbor thirty years earlier, it was the first time all five had been back in the same building.
The entire scene would have been honored in a more expansive cultural setting not too long ago. No group has had a greater influence on collegiate basketball than the Fab Five.
The reunion, however, merely sort of happened on Monday.
First of all, it was overshadowed by what came right before it. After Michigan football’s national victory, the institution experienced a collective catharsis that everyone is still getting used to. However, it was quickly followed by uncertainty over Jim Harbaugh’s potential coaching position for the following season.
However, the homecoming was also lost to something considerably more sinister: the situation of Michigan basketball at the moment and growing doubts about Howard’s future.
What is the current situation? With 14 games left in the regular season, the next two months will probably influence the program’s near- and long-term trajectory, but maybe not in the way that many have assumed.
Let’s do a quick vibe check first. Situation:
appalling. The Wolverines are 2-4 in the Big Ten and 7-10 overall. They are ranked 10th among conference teams as of Wednesday, ranking 72nd overall in KenPom’s efficiency ratings. They have trouble finishing games and aren’t very good either offensively or defensively. The roster is poorly designed, a result of a variety of factors, including early NBA exits and shoddy transfer-portal recruiting. Fans seem to be either annoyed or disinterested. The main topic of discussion surrounding the program is what has happened to it after it enjoyed a run of 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 postseasons (excluding the 2020 COVID-19 tournament cancellation) and had, until a few years ago, appeared to have transitioned from John Beilein to Juwan Howard with grace. Rarely is the news positive. Rather, it’s a practice match between starting point guard Dug McDaniel, who is serving an odd academic suspension for just away games, and longstanding strength coach Jon Sanderson.
When you add it all up, every Michigan defeat becomes a criticism of the team and the head coach.
That is how the responses from two weeks ago come about
Assistant coach Phil Martelli was notified by head coach Howard that he would be leading the Wolverines as head coach for the game in his hometown of Philadelphia on Saturday morning at the Palestra against Penn State. In a more normal era, the gesture would have been a well-earned honor and a nice, fuzzy taste of memories. At least, that’s how people in Philadelphia perceived it and how the Big Ten Network attempted to portray it. However, are you still in Michigan? And among the plethora of spectators in college hoops? The move was unsuccessful. In his ten games as head coach this season, Martelli has already guided Michigan while Howard recovered from heart surgery. While it was a commendable gesture, Martelli’s abrupt and haphazard return to the head coaching position simply contributed to the disarray and fueled the increasing belief that the program is incapable of functioning as a cohesive unit for longer than five minutes.
When things go wrong, this is what takes place. Sentimentality is irrelevant to anyone.
The five-game losing streak for Michigan, the program’s longest in nine years, began with that matchup against Penn State. With the victory over Ohio State, the spiral came to a stop. Next week, they will visit No. 2 Purdue while playing at home against No. 14 Illinois on Thursday.
It looks like Michigan will have its first losing season since 2009-2010 this season. In Ann Arbor, it was Beilein’s third season. The former Michigan coach, who was 57 years old at the time, was very much in the firing line. The end seemed inevitable when the Wolverines started their fourth season with a 1-6 record in Big Ten play. As things turned out, Beilein left the school nine years later as the all-time leader in wins, and the Michigan team salvaged their season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
As Howard enters his fifth season at Michigan, there appears to be a rising sense of impending change. Some members of the fan base and the media refer to the end as though it were inevitable. Diminishing returns are cited. They mention issues with behavior.
However, they fail to mention reality. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that Howard will go anywhere until he makes the decision to depart on his own.
As Michigan’s athletic director for eight years, Warde Manuel has endured voices demanding change that are far louder than those he hears today. He refused to let Harbaugh leave after 2020, when the Michigan football coach’s career came to an apparent conclusion with a 2-4 record in a season cut short by a pandemic. Additionally, Manuel lasted longer than anyone might have imagined until firing hockey coach Mel Pearson in 2022 as a result of an inquiry into a purportedly hostile program culture. Actually, the board of regents had just as much say in that discharge as Manuel did.
But that doesn’t mean Manuel hasn’t let any head coaches go. In addition to firing the men’s and women’s lacrosse coaches in 2017, he also fired the women’s soccer, water polo, and volleyball coaches in 2022. During his tenure as Connecticut AD in 2014, he famously sacked head football coach Paul Pasqualoni following a 0–4 start.
However, Manuel’s approach has always been evident. He prefers to observe and wait rather than take action and respond. Howard is probably in the same boat, which puts an end to all of the current speculation.
It is much more likely that Howard will be given the chance to revive the show after this season. How might that appear? Who knows, but Harbaugh managed to pull it off after 2020. It’s likely that Howard will get his shot at a reset. Employee alterations. reorganizing the roster. a fresh approach to hiring in the transfer portal and at the high school level. An alternative strategy for producing NIL skills. It is necessary to have a plan and to carry it out.
But before Howard can make such a shift, he must survive to get there. He will probably have the chance if Michigan can make it through the rest of the season without completely losing control and prevent more needless humiliation, which is reportedly harder than one would think.
Yes, the current squad is not perfect, but it still plays. Though that notion might be tested, rallying for an NCAA Tournament berth doesn’t seem realistic, nor does a horrifying 3-17 or 4-16 conference finish.
Following Ohio State’s victory, senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua remarked, I think we are a bunch of guys that want to see each other win and a bunch of guys that understand that we’re going to have our challenges.
There are some good players on the current squad despite those difficulties. They’ve just never worked well together. The squad as it stands now seems to be made up of players who could be excellent third- or fourth-choice options for a top club. The issue is that it doesn’t seem like there are any No. 1s or No. 2s. That is the result of a strange pairing.
Despite recent program declines, four underclassmen NBA Draft selections—Moussa Diabaté, Caleb Houstan, Kobe Bufkin, and Jett Howard—were selected in the last two offseasons. All but Diabaté were selected in the first round. Together, the other thirteen Big Ten universities produced nine selections for the early draft.
It seems, on the one hand, like a conspicuous failure to take advantage of skill. These NBA draft prospects not only lined up with All-America center Hunter Dickinson, but they also played in Ann Arbor.
However, during a period when the epidemic changed college basketball into a game dominated by older guys, all of the aforementioned players received significant playing time as freshmen. Despite their talent, none of them was prepared to lead a collegiate program. It is the program’s problem that it doesn’t function; it is not their fault.
In his second season with Orlando, Houstan is averaging 5.0 points in 16 minutes per game as of right now. With the Clippers for the past two years, Diabaté has played sporadically. After missing time due to a thumb injury, Bufkin is now playing for Atlanta’s G League club. Before being sent to the G League in late December, Howard spent the first part of the year with Orlando as a deep reserve.
As a result, there is a complete lack of consistency on the roster, which has been made worse this season by Howard’s intermittent appearances following offseason surgery. Additionally, the point guard is now limited to playing in home games.
Many people don’t know this about our squad, but 11 guys on scholarship are essentially playing in their position for the first time, Nkamhoua remarked.
It’s easy to speculate about what Michigan may look like this season if any of its young players were to stay. However, that is a given when depending on top-50 recruits.
It’s also difficult to resist wondering what could have happened if Caleb Love and other recent high-profile transfer-portal commits hadn’t been turned away from the university. But that’s what happens when a university like Michigan recruits transfer upperclassmen.
For whatever reason, Michigan hasn’t triumphed enough. Over the last two seasons, Howard’s club is 5-19 in games decided by six points or fewer or in overtime, with a 1-6 record this season. There is always doubt about his coaching. However, he is also the same coach who advanced twice to the NCAA Tournament’s second round and claimed the Big Ten title in 2021.
Although the latter part of Michigan’s league schedule will receive most of the attention right now, everyone’s attention should be focused on what’s coming up next. The following season, at least four scholarships will be available. While Khani Rooths, a top-30 prospect who is committed, is still unsigned, Christian Anderson and Durral Brooks, two three-star recruits, have signed.
Though presumably not in the head coach’s office, it’s reasonable to anticipate a far more extensive revamp than that, both on and off the squad. The contract extension that Howard signed in November 2021, when he was the national coach of the year, is still in effect for the next two years.Bor, Mich. If nothing else, the fact that it felt unthinkable at one point should have made it a larger deal. Earlier last week, the whole Fab Five, free of any personal grudges or senseless NCAA separation penalties, were back together. Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, and Jalen Rose were all at Ann Arbor for the rivalry game between Michigan and Ohio State, sitting across from the Michigan bench. They supported Juwan Howard’s squad together. They gave current U-M players high fives and gave each other the kind of old-man hug after a Wolverine victory. After playing their last game at Ann Arbor thirty years earlier, it was the first time all five had been back in the same building.
The entire scene would have been honored in a more expansive cultural setting not too long ago. No group has had a greater influence on collegiate basketball than the Fab Five.
The reunion, however, merely sort of happened on Monday.
First of all, it was overshadowed by what came right before it. After Michigan football’s national victory, the institution experienced a collective catharsis that everyone is still getting used to. However, it was quickly followed by uncertainty over Jim Harbaugh’s potential coaching position for the following season.
However, the homecoming was also lost to something considerably more sinister: the situation of Michigan basketball at the moment and growing doubts about Howard’s future.
What is the current situation? With 14 games left in the regular season, the next two months will probably influence the program’s near- and long-term trajectory, but maybe not in the way that many have assumed.
Let’s do a quick vibe check first. Situation: appalling. The Wolverines are 2-4 in the Big Ten and 7-10 overall. They are ranked 10th among conference teams as of Wednesday, ranking 72nd overall in KenPom’s efficiency ratings. They have trouble finishing games and aren’t very good either offensively or defensively. The roster is poorly designed as a result of a variety of factors, including early NBA exits and shoddy transfer-portal recruiting. Fans seem to be either annoyed or disinterested. The main topic of discussion surrounding the program is what has happened to it after it enjoyed a run of 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 postseasons (excluding the 2020 COVID-19 tournament cancellation) and had, until a few years ago, appeared to have transitioned from John Beilein to Juwan Howard with grace. Rarely is the news positive. Rather, it’s a practice match between starting point guard Dug McDaniel, who is serving an odd academic suspension for just away games, and longstanding strength coach Jon Sanderson.
When you add it all up, every Michigan defeat becomes a criticism of the team and the head coach.
That is how the responses from two weeks ago came about. Assistant coach Phil Martelli was notified by head coach Howard that he would be leading the Wolverines as head coach for the game in his hometown of Philadelphia on Saturday morning at the Palestra against Penn State. In a more normal era, the gesture would have been a well-earned honor and a nice, fuzzy taste of memories. At least, that’s how people in Philadelphia perceived it and how the Big Ten Network attempted to portray it. However, are you still in Michigan? And among the plethora of spectators in college hoops? The move was unsuccessful. In his ten games as head coach this season, Martelli has already guided Michigan while Howard recovered from heart surgery. While it was a commendable gesture, Martelli’s abrupt and haphazard return to the head coaching position simply contributed to the disarray and fueled the increasing belief that the program is incapable of functioning as a cohesive unit for longer than five minutes.
When things go wrong, this is what takes place. Sentimentality is irrelevant to anyone.
The five-game losing streak for Michigan, the program’s longest in nine years, began with that matchup against Penn State. With the victory over Ohio State, the spiral came to a stop. Next week, they will visit No. 2 Purdue while playing at home against No. 14 Illinois on Thursday.
It looks like Michigan will have its first losing season since 2009-2010 this season. In Ann Arbor, it was Beilein’s third season. The former Michigan coach, who was 57 years old at the time, was very much in the firing line. The end seemed inevitable when the Wolverines started their fourth season with a 1-6 record in Big Ten play. As things turned out, Beilein left the school nine years later as the all-time leader in wins, and the Michigan team salvaged their season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
As Howard enters his fifth season at Michigan, there appears to be a rising sense of impending change. Some members of the fan base and the media refer to the end as though it were inevitable. Diminishing returns are cited. They mention issues with behavior.
However, they fail to mention reality. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that Howard will go anywhere until he makes the decision to depart on his own.
As Michigan’s athletic director for eight years, Warde Manuel has endured voices demanding change that are far louder than those he hears today. He refused to let Harbaugh leave after 2020, when the Michigan football coach’s career came to an apparent conclusion with a 2-4 record in a season cut short by a pandemic. Additionally, Manuel lasted longer than anyone might have imagined until firing hockey coach Mel Pearson in 2022 as a result of an inquiry into a purportedly hostile program culture. Actually, the board of regents had just as much say in that discharge as Manuel did.
But that doesn’t mean Manuel hasn’t let any head coaches go. In addition to firing the men’s and women’s lacrosse coaches in 2017, he also fired the women’s soccer, water polo, and volleyball coaches in 2022. During his tenure as Connecticut AD in 2014, he famously sacked head football coach Paul Pasqualoni following a 0–4 start.
However, Manuel’s approach has always been evident. He prefers to observe and wait rather than take action and respond. Howard is probably in the same boat, which puts an end to all of the current speculation.
It is much more likely that Howard will be given the chance to revive the show after this season. How might that appear? Who knows, but Harbaugh managed to pull it off after 2020. It’s likely that Howard will get his shot at a reset. Employee alterations. reorganizing the roster. a fresh approach to hiring in the transfer portal and at the high school level. An alternative strategy for producing NIL skills. It is necessary to have a plan and to carry it out.
But before Howard can make such a shift, he must survive to get there. He will probably have the chance if Michigan can make it through the rest of the season without completely losing control and prevent more needless humiliation, which is reportedly harder than one would think.
Yes, the current squad is not perfect, but it still plays. Though that notion might be tested, rallying for an NCAA Tournament berth doesn’t seem realistic, nor does a horrifying 3-17 or 4-16 conference finish.
Following Ohio State’s victory, senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua remarked, “I think we are a bunch of guys that want to see each other win, and a bunch of guys that understand that we’re going to have our challenges.
There are some good players on the current squad despite those difficulties. They’ve just never worked well together. The squad as it stands now seems to be made up of players who could be excellent third- or fourth-choice options for a top club. The issue is that it doesn’t seem like there are any No. 1s or No. 2s. That is the result of a strange pairing.
Despite recent program declines, four underclassmen NBA Draft selections—Moussa Diabaté, Caleb Houstan, Kobe Bufkin, and Jett Howard—were selected in the last two offseasons. All but Diabaté were selected in the first round. Together, the other thirteen Big Ten universities produced nine selections for the early draft.
It seems, on the one hand, like a conspicuous failure to take advantage of skill. These NBA draft prospects not only lined up with All-America center Hunter Dickinson, but they also played in Ann Arbor.
However, during a period when the epidemic changed college basketball into a game dominated by older guys, all of the aforementioned players received significant playing time as freshmen. Despite their talent, none of them was prepared to lead a collegiate program. It is the program’s problem that it doesn’t function; it is not their fault.
In his second season with Orlando, Houstan is averaging 5.0 points in 16 minutes per game as of right now With the Clippers for the past two years, Diabaté has played sporadically. After missing time due to a thumb injury, Bufkin is now playing for Atlanta’s G League club. Before being sent to the G League in late December, Howard spent the first part of the year with Orlando as a deep reserve.
As a result, there is a complete lack of consistency on the roster, which has been made worse this season by Howard’s intermittent appearances following offseason surgery. Additionally, the point guard is now limited to playing in home games.
Many people don’t know this about our squad, but 11 guys on scholarship are essentially playing in their position for the first time, Nkamhoua remarked.
It’s easy to speculate about what Michigan may look like this season if any of its young players were to stay. However, that is a given when depending on top-50 recruits.
It’s also difficult to resist wondering what could have happened if Caleb Love and other recent high-profile transfer-portal commits hadn’t been turned away from the university. But that’s what happens when a university like Michigan recruits transfer upperclassmen.
For whatever reason, Michigan hasn’t triumphed enough. Over the last two seasons, Howard’s club is 5-19 in games decided by six points or fewer or in overtime, with a 1-6 record this season. There is always doubt about his coaching. However, he is also the same coach who advanced twice to the NCAA Tournament’s second round and claimed the Big Ten title in 2021.
Although the latter part of Michigan’s league schedule will receive most of the attention right now, everyone’s attention should be focused on what’s coming up next. The following season, at least four scholarships will be available.
While Khani Rooths, a top-30 prospect who is committed, is still unsigned, Christian Anderson and Durral Brooks, two three-star recruits, have signed.
Though presumably not in the head coach’s office, it’s reasonable to anticipate a far more extensive revamp than that, both on and off the squad. The contract extension that Howard signed in November 2021, when he was the national coach of the year, is still in effect for the next two years.
