I posted about Illinois basketball's drastic team turnover before this seaon, and also before last season.
Interestingly enough, as much as we have laughed at Brad Underwood for not winning the B1G, his team is currently 23-8, and 14-6 in the B1G.
This is with a program that, for two years in a row, has lost at least 4 of their top 6 scorers, and minutes producers.
This season's strong team has a top five scoring group of Terrance Shannon, Marcus Domask (Transfer from SIU), Coleman Hawkins, Qunicy Gurreier (Oregon transfer), and Justin Harmon (JC transfer).
Last season's tem was led by Texas Tech transfer Shannon, Matthew Mayer (Baylor transfer), Dain Dainja (2nd year transfer from Baylor), Jayden Epps, and Skyy Clark (both HS frosh).
Two seasons ago, the team was led by Kofi Cockburn, Alfonso Plummer, Trent Frazier, Jacob Grandison, and Andre Curbello with the sophomore version of Hawkins as the 6th man...
A couple of points.
One is that Underwood seems to really be adept at changing his team on the go, and continuing to win at the same level.
Another interesting take is that both of the freshmen transfers off of last season's team, Epps and Clark are both playing well as sophomore in their new programs- Yet Ilinois doesn't seem to miss them much.
One thing that seems to be becoming a pattern in college basketball: Top mid major conference scorers dominating or at least contributing at a high level for their new programs- Domask is a poor man's Dalton Knecht, who may very well end up being in the POY converstaion for Tennessee as a Northern Colorado transfer.
Honestly, Underwood's teams give me hope that, with the right guy making the moves and bringing in the right fits, a program can overcome a lot of turnover, and rebuilds don't have to take years.
In addition, Illinois recruits nowhere near as well as B1G rivals IU, MSU, or OSU, yet still finishes above those programs in the rankings most years.
The ability to rebuild has eluded not just Michigan, but other programs like OSU and IU, who is struggling despite putting together a group of highly-ranked freshmen and transfers, yet still struggling to an MSU-level 18-13, 10-10 conference season.
The key to basketball's future is finding a guy like Underwood, who can switch and replace huge parts of the lineup from one season to another, and still win 11-15 B1G basketball games each year...In this new transfer/NIL world, team and talent building is the most important part of success, and is necessary in order to keep one's job as a college basketball head coach.
Michigan just needs to get the next guy in, and hope that he has Underwood's success on rebuilding.
But if we find the right guy, the turnaround shouldn't take a ridiculously long 3 or 4 years...We shoud knwow soon if the new guy can handl it
Interestingly enough, as much as we have laughed at Brad Underwood for not winning the B1G, his team is currently 23-8, and 14-6 in the B1G.
This is with a program that, for two years in a row, has lost at least 4 of their top 6 scorers, and minutes producers.
This season's strong team has a top five scoring group of Terrance Shannon, Marcus Domask (Transfer from SIU), Coleman Hawkins, Qunicy Gurreier (Oregon transfer), and Justin Harmon (JC transfer).
Last season's tem was led by Texas Tech transfer Shannon, Matthew Mayer (Baylor transfer), Dain Dainja (2nd year transfer from Baylor), Jayden Epps, and Skyy Clark (both HS frosh).
Two seasons ago, the team was led by Kofi Cockburn, Alfonso Plummer, Trent Frazier, Jacob Grandison, and Andre Curbello with the sophomore version of Hawkins as the 6th man...
A couple of points.
One is that Underwood seems to really be adept at changing his team on the go, and continuing to win at the same level.
Another interesting take is that both of the freshmen transfers off of last season's team, Epps and Clark are both playing well as sophomore in their new programs- Yet Ilinois doesn't seem to miss them much.
One thing that seems to be becoming a pattern in college basketball: Top mid major conference scorers dominating or at least contributing at a high level for their new programs- Domask is a poor man's Dalton Knecht, who may very well end up being in the POY converstaion for Tennessee as a Northern Colorado transfer.
Honestly, Underwood's teams give me hope that, with the right guy making the moves and bringing in the right fits, a program can overcome a lot of turnover, and rebuilds don't have to take years.
In addition, Illinois recruits nowhere near as well as B1G rivals IU, MSU, or OSU, yet still finishes above those programs in the rankings most years.
The ability to rebuild has eluded not just Michigan, but other programs like OSU and IU, who is struggling despite putting together a group of highly-ranked freshmen and transfers, yet still struggling to an MSU-level 18-13, 10-10 conference season.
The key to basketball's future is finding a guy like Underwood, who can switch and replace huge parts of the lineup from one season to another, and still win 11-15 B1G basketball games each year...In this new transfer/NIL world, team and talent building is the most important part of success, and is necessary in order to keep one's job as a college basketball head coach.
Michigan just needs to get the next guy in, and hope that he has Underwood's success on rebuilding.
But if we find the right guy, the turnaround shouldn't take a ridiculously long 3 or 4 years...We shoud knwow soon if the new guy can handl it
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