Michigan Basketball: Why Wolverines will be better than Michigan State in 2020-21

Tougher Adjustments for the Spartans

Michigan State relied on Winston perhaps more than any other Big Ten team with any player last year, as only Luka Garza, Lamar Stevens, and Trevion Williams earned higher usage rates during the 2019-20 season. But with Winston leaving the team, essentially no scenario exists involving a chance for the Spartans to potentially recycle any offensive scheme’s from last year’s campaign for this year’s. With such an integral piece now gone from last year’s system, Tom Izzo and his returning players must return to the chalkboard, and essentially start fresh.

This issue poises to expand further if Tillman decides to follow Winston and move forward with the NBA Draft, leaving the team without their clear cut second best player as well. But still, Winston’s departure as a former insurance policy frequently depended on by the team, now unavailable, forces the team into an incredibly raw approach for next season.

This leaves Michigan State with a clear disadvantage especially once compared to Coach Howard’s Michigan squad, which deployed an exceptionally even offensive attack last year. Remarkably, last season the Wolverines saw all five starters average double figures, a feat which no other Big Ten team came even close to accomplishing. This system not built up by a singular supporting brick such as Winston and instead as a more collective unit, identifies as a design far easier to progress with and certainly more compatible for a team bringing back some returning pieces, while simultaneously welcoming in a few new ones.

This may seem like a minor aspect tipping Michigan’s way, but with two teams heading into next year with such similar situations, tiny factors such as this sometimes make all the difference.