Michigan Basketball: 3 biggest 2020 offseason storylines for Wolverines

1. Michigan Basketball: Who plays point guard?

The Wolverines lost one of the best point guards in the country when Zavier Simpson graduated. He was one of the top assist men in the country and ran the Wolverine offense with precision. Besides Simpson’s ability to thread the needle with his passes, he just made everyone around him better. He will be a huge loss for the Wolverines.

So the question is now who replaces him. The first option is Eli Brooks who has played aside Simpson for the last three years and really came into his own last year. He was used more of a  two-guard last year but ran the point when Simpson was on the bench.

Brooks has the talent to run the point and will probably be the one who gets the start there to begin the year. But Juwan Howard was able to bring in graduate transfer Mike Smith from Columbia. Smith scored over 20 points a game last year and is very skilled at running the point also.

Could Howard elect to have Smith run the point and have Brooks continue to be the two-guard? Or will playing in the Big Ten be too much for Smith. Mid-major players have had their struggles at times finding their footing when they make a jump up to the power conferences.

The best-case scenario for the Wolverines is that Smith can jump in right away and make a dynamic combo with Brooks with them both on the court. Neither are going to run the point as well as Simpson did, but both Brooks and Smith are better shooters than him. If they can bring that extra scoring and both take the load of running point, then Howard could have a dangerous combination.

Throw in freshman Zeb Jackson into the mix (although he is more of a two-guard) then all of sudden Michigan may be deeper and better at a position where it looked like they were taking a major hit. Replacing Simpson will not be easy but this group has the ability to make that loss just a little less of a problem.