In his early years at U-M, men’s basketball coach John Beilein had a reputation as an offensive genius, though perhaps a bit inflexible in his ideas. That image loosened up in 2010 when he hired two young assistants, Bacari Alexander and LaVall Jordan, who brought the pick-and-roll playground game back to Crisler Center. Now Beilein is rethinking his defensive strategy as well.
After Jordan and Alexander took head coaching jobs in the spring, Beilein hired Saddi Washington from Oakland University and Billy Donlon, ex-head coach at Wright State. Donlon is known as an advocate of the “pack line,” a strategy quite at odds with Beilein’s preferences in man-to-man defense.
In a typical man defense, the off-ball defenders pressure their players and deny perimeter passing lanes. In the pack line, defenders instead sag into a radius around the basket, protecting the paint and forcing shots from the perimeter. Compared to Beilein, Donlon also has been much less concerned about defensive fouls.
But after the Wolverines finished 168th in defensive efficiency last year, Beilein is calling Donlon his “defensive coordinator.” “Some guys didn’t average two fouls a game, so that’s a little bit too cautious,” he told the media in a pre-season press conference. “Somehow we’ve got to take Bill’s defense where they fouled more, and still stay out of the one-and-one and still keep our best players on the floor.” As the season started, Michigan was surrendering more free throws than in the past but also getting to the foul line more often.
The last two years Michigan went into the season with plenty of talent and high expectations, only to underperform after key players (Caris LeVert, Spike Albrecht) were injured. With LeVert headed to the NBA and Albrecht trying a fifth year at Purdue, most experts are picking the Wolverines to place somewhere between seventh and ninth in the fourteen-team Big Ten. That may be too pessimistic.
Returning forward Zak Irvin and guards Derrick Walton Jr. and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (supported by frosh Xavier Simpson, Ohio’s 2015-2016 player of the year) give Michigan a solid perimeter core. Duncan Robinson returns at forward, but he is being pushed by sophmore DJ Wilson. In Michigan’s first two games, Wilson was the best player on the floor. DJ Wilson, last year more of a finesse guy or outside shooter, has come back ready to mix it up.
Michigan’s fortunes, though, may turn on the center position. Mark Donnal has improved on the defensive boards, and German import Moritz Wagner gives U-M a potential offensive force in the middle. Add 7′ frosh Jon Tekse, and Beilein has fifteen fouls to play with. While Michigan is unlikely to win the conference (Wisconsin will), it will find its way into the to the NCAA tournament and will be a tough out.