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Michigan basketball: 3 starting lineup options for 2020-2021 season

By Cody Williams

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - DECEMBER 06: Head Basketball Coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines during the first half of a college basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Crisler Arena on December 6, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines won the game 103-91 over the Iowa Hawkeyes. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - DECEMBER 06: Head Basketball Coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines during the first half of a college basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Crisler Arena on December 6, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines won the game 103-91 over the Iowa Hawkeyes. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) /
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Michigan basketball starting lineup
Michigan basketball (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

Worst-case scenario

  • Guard: Eli Brooks
  • Guard: Franz Wagner
  • Guard: Adrien Nunez
  • Forward: Brandon Johns Jr.
  • Center: Austin Davis

Okay, so if we’re talking about possible scenarios for Michigan basketball in the upcoming season, we have to at least consider a world in which one of Isaiah Livers or Franz Wagner, despite their current projections, decides to stay in the NBA Draft and not return to the Wolverines. I do not believe both will go but one member of the pair may take the risk.

In the projected lineup above, it’s Livers that we have sticking with making the jump to the pros. However, the truth of the matter is that we’re ultimately looking at the same solution should that happen. With Wagner staying, that would likely cause a three-guard starting lineup with Adrien Nunez slotting ing. If Livers stayed and Wagner left, Livers would be at small forward with Nunez in the backcourt with Brooks.

Nunez has appeared in 42 games for the Wolverines over the past two years but has seen limited action. He played only 7.6 minutes per game last season and offered very little when on the floor, averaging just 2.0 points per game and shooting 30.8 percent from the field. With his length at 6-foot-6, though, he’d be a valuable two-way player in this lineup.

As this is the worst-case scenario, however, the top-end potential of this group is limited. Whereas the best-case lineup should expect a top-three finish in the Big Ten, this lineup would very much have middle-of-the-pack expectations in the conference.

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