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Michigan Wolverines: John Beilein’s coaching transformation

By Bryan Gibberman

Mar 22, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Caris LeVert (23) drives to the basket in the first half of a men
Mar 22, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Caris LeVert (23) drives to the basket in the first half of a men /
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Under John Beilein the Michigan Wolverines have undergone an amazing transformation. Coming off a National Championship loss in 2013 and an Elite Eight appearance in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the program has become borderline elite and will reach that level with another year or two of high level success.

Finishing ranked first the past two seasons in Ken Pomeroy’s offensive efficiency statistic, Michigan has become one of the most watchable teams in the country. Beilein’s offense highlights his players’ individual creativity within the confines of a structured offense. He still employs some of his Princeton offense principles he became famous for – it’s rare you watch a Wolverines game without seeing someone set up a defender for a backdoor cut and getting an easy bucket. That’s no longer the focal point of the success, it’s more a counter move to generate cheap hoops against an over zealous defense. The Wolverines bread and butter has become small ball lineups with shooting and floor spacing allowing them to effectively use pick and roll in addition to exploiting individual mismatches in isolation. It’s all about using some form of dribble drive with leverage from a hand off, on ball or off ball screen.

In a way this is surprising, but it also isn’t. Smart coaches aren’t stubborn in how they schematically generate a basis for their offense and defense. It’s a disservice to your players to not play to their talents and that’s all Beilein has simply done. He puts the guys on the court in the best position to succeed.

From another perspective the way Beilein has structured his teams at Michigan has been in an unexpected way. His two most successful squads at West Virginia in 2004-2005 and 2005-06 were based around upper classmen. The likes of Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey, Tyrone Sally, Patrick Beilein and Johannes Herber were core contributors in their junior and senior years.

At Michigan this has shifted significantly, especially the past three years when the Wolverines have reached new heights. While they’ve had upper classmen be key role players, outside Tim Hardaway Jr. during his third season, that was the extent of the juniors and seniors — complementary pieces.

In 2011-12 when Michigan split the Big Ten title and lost to Ohio in the first round they were led by freshman point guard Trey Burke and Hardaway Jr in his sophomore season.

When the Wolverines advanced to the National Championship game in 2012-13 they started three freshman (Glenn Robinson III, Nik Stauskas and Mitch McGary), one sophomore (Burke) and one junior (Hardaway Jr) during the March Madness run. Two freshman (Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht), one sophomore (Jon Horford) and one junior (Jordan Morgan) contributed off the bench.

Last season as the Wolverines fell to Kentucky in the Elite Eight they started one freshman (Derrick Walton), three sophomores (Stauskas, Robinson andLeVert) and a senior (Morgan). Off the bench the key cogs were a freshman (Zak Irvin), sophomore (Albrecht) and a junior (Horford). While the trio of sophomores were a part of the accomplishments from the season before they inherited expanded roles that didn’t resemble what they did in 2012-13.

Mar 30, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein in the first half of the finals of the midwest regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 30, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein in the first half of the finals of the midwest regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

This isn’t to say Michigan has become Kentucky under John Calipari, but the extent to which they’ve relied on younger players has been a startling revelation.

For them to stay at the level they have established for the last few years Beilein will have to shuffle the roster in a similar fashion again. Lost from the 2013-14 team are Stauskas, and Robinson, who each left early for the draft. Morgan graduated and Horford decided to transfer.

Caris LeVert is the lone returnee entering his junior year that will be placed in a similar role as he played the year before.

Walton will be asked to play a more traditional point guard role than the high percentage of spot up attempts he used last year. Instead of playing off others he is going to participate in significantly more pick and rolls creating for himself and teammates. It would be helpful if Irvin could make a poor man transition of what Stauskas did his freshman to sophomore year. 146 of Irvin’s 196 shot attempts as a freshman were from three-point range. His long-range shot will still be a weapon that Beilein makes sure to emphasize, but he will also have to expand his skill set into other areas to help Michigan function at a high level.

As you can see in the backcourt, the Wolverines do have at least some experience to lean on, but that won’t be the case with the frontcourt outside of Irvin potentially shifting up to play some small ball four as he did at times last season. The big man rotation at the power forward and center positions will mainly consist of freshman center Ricky Doyle, freshman power forward DJ Wilson, redshirt freshman big Mark Donnal and freshman wing Kameron Chatman.

For Michigan to sustain a similar level Beilein will have to be able to get these four to transition to the collegiate game smoothly plus have multiple guards be able to handle larger roles. The program has proven adept at doing this the past three seasons and has to do it again for Michigan to continue it’s ascension as one of the best college basketball teams in the country.