Hey basketball's on tonight. Like, real basketball that counts. Our draft also counts: whoever wins gets to be the MGoBlogger who feels smarter than the rest of us. Because Brian and Alex squabbled over point guards in the first round, Denzel Valentine slipped to Ace. Because we had a run on power forwards in the 3rd/4th rounds, Zak Irvin and James Blackmon fell to Ace.
Can he deliver the coup de grace, or does that require, you know, forwards? Also: who are the best/most overlooked basketball players Michigan will have to face in conference this year? Find out in the thrilling penultimate 'geddon of this year's basketball season.
As things stand:
Alex is on the clock.
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ALEX: Round 5, Pick 2: Jarrod Uthoff, Wing, Iowa
TEAM: PG: Bronson Koenig (UW), SG: Caris LeVert (UM), SF: Jarrod Uthoff (IA), PF: Malcolm Hill (IL), C: Thomas Bryant (Ind)
A year ago, Iowa won 22 games, finished tied for third in the conference, and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Aaron White, the underrated and versatile 3 /4 wing, has graduated; almost everyone else is back (save for Gabe Olaseni)—Adam Woodbury, Mike Gesell, and Anthony Clemmons.
The best of the group is senior wing Jarrod Uthoff. He's 6'9 (and with that size, posts a nice block rate of 6.2) and had a shooting split of 47% / 37% / 74% last season. He might not be able to transition to being the leading scorer because of a possible lack of 2nd scoring options on offense. Still, he'd be a good fit as part of my drafteggedon team -- Uthoff can space the floor and score enough to carry a team for prolonged stretches.
[Hit the JUMP if you dare. Or care]
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BRIAN—ROUND 5, PICK 3: Keita Bates-Diop, F, Ohio State
TEAM: PG: Yogi Ferrell (IU), SG: Melo Trimble (MD), SF: Keita Bates-Diop (OSU), PF: Troy Williams (IU), C: Alex Olah (NW)
Bit of a speculative pick but I loved Bates-Diop as a recruit and was crushed when he picked Ohio State seemingly out of nowhere. He had an odd freshman season, shooting 46% from three while playing barely over ten minutes a game. KBD rebounded, avoided turnovers, shot efficiently, blocked shots, and acquired steals. He was skinny as hell and needed a year to fill out but he's kind of like a budding Caris LeVert; I love his ability to get where he needs to go on the floor without ever looking out of control.
With the Buckeyes losing Shannon Scott, DeAngelo Russell, Sam Thompson, and, uh, Amir Williams they need someone to drive their offense. Marc Loving's always been pretty passive and Jae'Sean Tate is a garbageman on offense (a really good one, admittedly); KBD is going to be a major component, if not the focal point.
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SETH—Round 5, Pick 4: Aubrey Dawkins, Wing, Mich
Round 6, Pick 1: Eron Harris, SG, MSU
[Patrick Barron] [Dale Sparks/WVU Athletics]
TEAM: PG: Bryant McIntosh (NW), SG: Eron Harris (MSU), SF: Aubrey Dawkins (UM), PF: Jake Layman (MD), C: Diamond Stone (MD)/AJ Hammons (PU)
What do John Beilein, Dayton, and Seth Fisher all have in common? We are the only people who saw Johnny Dawkins's son and said "Gee, I think I'd like that guy on my team." Let's go right to Ace's preview:
Despite an oddly flat shot trajectory, Dawkins proved to be a deadly spot-up shooter, hitting 48% of his three-pointers in Big Ten play. Even if that number comes back to earth, Dawkins should be in the 40% range and give opponents a very tough choice—help their teammates on Walton/LeVert/Irvin drives and risk a three or stay put and potentially give up the lane. Dawkins also improved the timing of his cuts as last season wore on; by the end of the season he was realiable for around one sneaky backcut down the baseline for a dunk per game, and those dunks were exquisite feats of gravity-defying athleticism. Dawkins can bounce.
Weaknesses in his game: doesn't crash the boards, and got exposed as a defender at the four as a true freshman. I love the upside, and with the kind of attention my interior guys command I really need a small forward who'll do something nutters if you drift off of him.
I'll continue the theme of guys John Beilein really wanted with Eron Harris, the West Virginia transfer who we've been avoiding because his DUI suspension carried the dreaded "indefinitely." But this is MSU we're talking about; Izzo took Harris on the trip to Italy, saying Eron and teammate Alvin Ellis will "have to sit there every day and figure out they let their teammates down." By now we should all be fluent enough in Izzo to recognize a "he's learned his lesson" has been set up, and we'll see him before December.
Let's go back to Harris's 2014 numbers: 113.4 ORtg in 78% of minutes, using 25% of possessions, 42.2% from three, 54.4 eFG%. Those shooting numbers are incredible when you consider over a quarter of his threes weren't assisted. UM Hoops did a scouting video on him that got us momentarily excited:
(ADJUST VOLUME DOWN FIRST)
Once they let him on the court, he'll be MSU's second-best scoring option. He won't be a major creator for the other guys, but I've got McIntosh and Layman to do that. Harris meanwhile is the threat off the pick and roll I badly need to keep teams from crashing down on my stars inside.
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BRIAN—ROUND 6, PICK 2: Jae'Sean Tate, PF, OSU
Can guard anyone 2-4 (not Michigan's 2-4) [Fuller]
TEAM: PG: Yogi Ferrell (IU), SG: Melo Trimble (MD), SF: Keita Bates-Diop (OSU), PF: Troy Williams, C: Alex Olah (NW), Bench: Jae'Sean Tate (F/C, OSU)
This is the second guy Beilein recruited but Matta got I've taken in a row. While Bates-Diop is a really really obvious guy for Beilein to go after hard, Tate is the exact opposite of a typical Beilein player. Tate is an attack dog who was a top-ten OREB guy in the league as a 6'4" freshman. He can't shoot at all—52% from the line last year—but that doesn't matter much when he is beasting on the boards and shooting a whopping 68% percent in Big Ten play on solid (21%) usage.
Tate gets to the rim—70% of his shots—and finishes with authority—74% on those shots. And a fair number of those he generates on his own whether it's through offensive boards or drives to the hoop. And he gets fouled an absolute ton. If he can just inch that FT% up he'll be one of the most efficient offensive players in the country, and he's a guy who can guard 2-4.
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ALEX—Round 6, Pick 3: Robert Carter, C, Maryland
[John Nakato/Technique]
TEAM: PG: Bronson Koenig (UW), SG: Caris LeVert (UM), SF: Jarrod Uthoff (IA), PF: Malcolm Hill (IL), C: Thomas Bryant (Ind)
Maryland's supposedly one of the best teams in the country and, if so, Robert Carter—who will likely play alongside Diamond Stone in the frontcourt—will likely (get it?) have made a substantial impact.
Carter's been getting the most hype in fall practice (caveats apply) for a Terrapins squad that has 2 likely first-round NBA draft picks. Before transferring to UMD, Carter played at Georgia Tech and posted excellent rebounding rates and two-point field goal % (not to mention a solid FT rate and % for a player of his profile). He's now a senior with two years of eligibility left and he could potentially be the steal of this draft.
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ACE—Round 6, Pick 4: Caleb Swanigan, PF/C, Purdue
Round 7, Pick 1: Matt Costello, C, Michigan State
Team: PG: Derrick Walton (UM), SG: Zak Irvin (UM), SF: Denzel Valentine (MSU), PF: Nigel Hayes (UW), C: Matt Costello (MSU). Bench: James Blackmon (SG, IU), Caleb Swanigan (PF/C, PU)
Man, I was hoping Carter would drop one more pick, but I can still shore up my frontcourt with consecutive selections here. Caleb Swanigan may be a freshman big man, but he's a McDonald's All-American with an advanced game for a player his age:
Swanigan is an impressive post scorer, he can step out and knock down the midrange shot, and he'll make an immediate impact as a rebounder. At 6'9", 250, he's got the size to play the four or the five, which will come in handy here—while I've got him slated to come off the bench, he could easily be the starting center on this squad. The big question for him is conditioning, but he was praised as a recruit for his high motor—with a solid three-man rotation up front, he should be productive as a 20-30 minute guy who can fill multiple roles.
To complete that three-man big rotation, I'll make a rather un-sexy selection and go with State's Matt Costello. A senior who's played a big role on some very good teams, Costello cleans up the glass on both ends and hit 57% of his shots in conference play last year, but I'm mostly making this selection because of his ability to protect the rim—his 8.9% block rate was third in the B1G last season, and that was actually a dropoff from his 10.1% mark as a sophomore.
Costello has finished among the top 11 players in the conference in offensive efficiency the last two years; while he's not going to create much offense, he's a reliable finisher who takes care of the ball, and his ability to alter shots on the other end is a significant boon to my team's defense. His main drawback is that he's foul-prone, but this team has three players who could conceivably play center, a shooting guard who plays the four for his actual team, and solid size across the board—the lineup flexibility really mitigates that issue.
CURRENTLY:
