Busting Brackets
Fansided

Michigan Basketball: Takeaways from Wolverines 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis run

By Adam Childs

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 23: Michigan Wolverines fans cheer on their team against the Oregon Ducks during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 23, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 23: Michigan Wolverines fans cheer on their team against the Oregon Ducks during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 23, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 15: Zavier Simpson #3 and Eli Brooks #55 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrate in the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 15, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 15: Zavier Simpson #3 and Eli Brooks #55 of the Michigan Wolverines celebrate in the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 15, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

1. Growth of the players

Jon Beilein was great at developing talent. He could get three-star guys and make them stars at Michigan. He even took a former D3 player to a great D1 player and now a very good pro player. He did it over and over again and the Michigan Wolverines thrived because of it.

It looks like Juwan Howard is going to be able to do the same thing. In a season where it was thought that the Wolverines would struggle to score and they might be very thin, they have had several guys step and play exponentially better than they have the previous years.

Isaiah Livers has gone from the sixth man to probably one of the best players in the Big Ten. Jon Teske is a rebounding machine right now and just won the Battle 4 Atlantis MVP. Zavier Simpson’s assists numbers are up as he continues to run the show on offense while keeping up his great defense.

They are all great, but the development of Eli Brooks and David DeJulius has been remarkable. Brroks went from playing very few minutes and lacking the confidence to being one of the best scorers for the Wolverines right now.

Brooks is averaging 12.9 points per game that includes a 24 points outburst against North Carolina in the semi-finals. What is probably the most impressive is he is shooting 50% from deep, when last year he shot just 29.2% and most Michigan fans would agree they didn’t want him to shoot. Now he might be the best shooter for Michigan.

DeJulius has been great off the bench averaging nine points per game and had scored in double figures in four straight games leading up to the game against Gonzaga. He has been the reliable scorer the Wolverines have needed off the bench and most importantly they don’t miss a beat when he comes off the bench.

The improvement of every player on this team is incredible and way ahead of schedule. They have helped make Michigan of the deepest teams in the country. They went from having doubts about their depth to having it be a strength.

Home/Michigan Wolverines