Juwan Howard already looks like brilliant hire for Michigan basketball
The University of Michigan just won the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis championship and the early returns on Juwan Howard’s head coaching abilities have been glowingly positive.
Fab Five player-turned-coach Juwan Howard is off to a fabulous start with Michigan basketball.
Prior to being named the head coach at Michigan, Howard spent the last six years as an assistant coach for the Miami Heat, working primarily in player development. Yet, when the former member of the Fab Five was announced as the replacement to Jon Beilein, the hire was met with some skepticism.
Was Howard ready to handle the toll that comes with running a program? Could he connect with kids who likely never saw him play a meaningful minute in an NBA game? Would he be able to match the success Beilein had during his stint in Ann Arbor?
Well, Howard — and the Wolverines — have responded to these questions in a big way to start the 2019-20 season. The team is undefeated through seven games and just pulled off the most impressive three-game run of any program this year.
They opened play in the Bahamas facing against a veteran Iowa State group and despite a big game from Tyrese Haliburton, Michigan pulled out a win setting them up with a test against their first top-10 opponent of the season: the University of North Carolina.
The Tar Heels are powered by talented freshman guard, Cole Anthony, but the Wolverines have senior point guard Zavier Simpson on their side and he has helped paced this team this year. Howard’s offense revolves around a lot of ball screen’s and Simpson has been one of the best playmakers in pick-and-roll actions. Michigan would lead by as much as 24 against the Tar Heels and with their win they would move on to the championship game against Gonzaga (ranked 8th in the nation).
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Once again, Simpson, Jon Teske, and sharpshooting from the perimeter (52.2 3-point field goal percentage on 23 attempts) were the Wolverines calling card and they defeated the Bulldogs by 18 points to take home the Battle 4 Atlantis title, which is no small feat. In the last two years, the team that won the tournament in the Bahamas (Villanova in 2017 and Virginia in 2018) have gone on to win the national championship in the same season.
Under Howard, the team has experienced an offensive explosion. They are averaging 82.4 points per game, if that were to hold for the rest of the year it would be the first time since 1989-90 that a Wolverines team averaged 80-plus points a night.
While the team has ditched a motion-heavy offense in favor of one focused on spread ball screens, they are even more potent from the perimeter this season. Their 3-point attempts per game went up from 22.6 to 24.3 but the conversion has been even greater as they’ve jumped from 34.2 percent to 42.4 percent.
Howard also has the team playing faster. They look to get out in the open floor after defensive rebounds and they aren’t afraid of shooting shots early in the shot clock.
His return to his alma mater has been spectacular to start his coaching career. However, there’s no resting for this team yet. A road matchup with Louisville (their third straight game against a team ranked inside the top 10) awaits them on Tuesday and the Oregon Ducks come to Ann Arbor with two conference games (Iowa and Illinois) sandwiched in between.
Everythings coming up roses for Howard and his team. They have proved any and all doubters wrong immediately. The first-year coach is also has shown his recruiting chops getting five-star center Isaiah Todd to commit and being a real contender to sign five-star guard Josh Christopher.
Howard once proclaimed the Wolverines would “shock the world” and in his return back to campus, he’s led his team to do exactly that.
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