Kornacki: What's New with Michigan Men's Basketball
10/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 3, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There's a new look to the University of Michigan men's basketball team this season.
It begins with the Nike Jumpman uniforms from the Jordan Brand but also includes "The Four Freshmen" and two coaching staff additions in Billy Donlon and Saddi Washington.
"We're all happy -- especially rockin' the Jordans," said senior guard/forward Zak Irvin. "It's going to be a good year for us. Now we just have to build off that, have chemistry and mesh well so we can really start to fly."
The Wolverines are coming off a 23-13 season, and Coach John Beilein and long-time assistant Jeff Meyer put together a strong recruiting class along with outgoing assistants Bacari Alexander (Detroit) and LaVall Jordan (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), who moved on to head coaching positions.
The highly acclaimed freshman class features 7-foot center Jon Teske, 6-10 forward Austin Davis, 6-5 swingman Ibi Watson and 6-foot point guard Xavier Simpson. Davis hails from nearby Onsted, Michigan, and the other three are from Ohio.
They arrived on campus this summer and have been getting accustomed to the campus, academics and their new teammates.
-- Derrick Walton Jr. on senior leadership alongside Zak Irvin
"Jon has a different dynamic at center for a guy who can stretch the floor," said senior point guard Derrick Walton Jr. "His body's going to catch up with him. Austin can catch it, pass and finish really well. Ibi is a knock-down shooter. 'X' is really competitive. They all bring their personal things that can help this team, and all four have some really good intangibles and skills we can use."
Irvin said: "They bring us a variety of abilities, all four of them, and 'X' is learning as much as he can from Derrick. Ibi's trying to learn as much as he can from me, and Mark (Donnal) and Mo (Moritz Wagner), and we're all coaching up Austin and Jon. They're excited, too. They don't know what to expect, but we're coaching 'em up."
Talented Duncan Robinson, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, D.J. Wilson, Andrew Dakich and Sean Lonergan also are back to form a new nucleus with last season's co-captains, Caris LeVert (Brooklyn Nets first-round pick) and Spike Albrecht (Purdue graduate transfer), onto their next challenges.
Irvin chuckled about Albrecht's decision to wear No. 55 at Purdue, adding: "We play Spike on our Senior Night here (Feb. 25) this season. That's going to be different, but I wish nothing but the best for him."
Walton and Irvin will stay in touch with LeVert and Albrecht, their former roommates, but are focused on "building a new team" this season at Michigan. They're also working with new assistant coaches.
Washington, a long-time Oakland University assistant coach, played at Western Michigan, where he's a member of the school's athletic Hall of Fame.
Irvin and Walton shared their observations of Donlon, their primary position coach.
"He's intense," Walton said. "He's been a head coach (at Wright State) and also was a hell of a player (at UNC-Wilmington). He's meshing well with the guys and gets you ready to go."
Irvin, who also works individually with Meyer, added on Donlon: "I love it because everyone knows I feed off enthusiasm and show a lot of emotion. Billy's just right there with me. He loves to show emotion and will dive out there on the floor and get into a defensive stance with us. That's what he's all about -- defense -- and we've been working on that.
"We've got to be better this year, and especially defensively, because that's where we struggled last year. That's been a big key for us this season, and Billy's really taken control of that."
What's it going to take for the two seniors to make this season a success?
"Coming into our own and embracing the roles that we're in," said Walton. "Last year, we were just kind of thrust into it, and we weren't really prepared. Now, this is it. Both of us need to take our games to the next level. This is a different group, too, and a totally different team."
Irvin added: "We know we have a lot to do and take care of. We've been overlooked the last two years because we haven't had the kind of seasons we wanted to have. We've had injuries but don't like to make excuses. We have a chip on our shoulder and are eager."
Read about the unique, long-time friendship of Irvin and Walton, who have known one another for over 10 years despite growing up in different states [ Story ].
