Michigan Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Wolverines
By Adam Childs
Michigan Basketball enters the 2019-20 season with a ton of question marks. Can Juwan Howard surprise people in his first year at the helm?
Michigan Basketball and Wolverine players can’t wait to get the season started and that isn’t just because they get to play games. I am sure they are tired of hearing all about the guys that left and their new head coach in Juwan Howard. It’s time to quit talking and start playing.
Michigan lost Jordan Poole, Charles Matthews Jr, and Big Ten freshman of the year Ignas Brazdeikis to the NBA last year. Although Matthews hurt his knee before the draft and is still trying to make his way. But the big blow came when John Beilein left to be the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a shocking decision and one that has now left the Wolverines with a lot of uncertainty.
They brought in former Fab Five player Juwan Howard to continue to build on what Beilein created and early returns are he is doing great. He was able to bring in Moe Wagner’s brother Franz into the mix (although he just suffered a wrist injury that will sideline him 4-6 weeks). He has also kept commitment Zeb Jackson for next year and already has a commitment from five-star forward Isaiah Todd.
Howard has been doing well on the recruiting front, but can he coach in a game. That is the big question heading into this year. The other is where is the scoring going to come from this year. If this team is anything like last year, the defense will be great, but they still need to put the ball in the hoop.
The Wolverines struggled at times last year scoring and that ultimately cost them against Texas Tech in the Sweet 16. Of course, not many teams did score on the Red Raiders, but Michigan didn’t help themselves at all either.
So what can we expect from the Wolverines this year? We preview their lineup, key non-conference games, and give a season outlook right here.