Grading Juwan Howard's First Season

The college basketball season came to an abrupt halt Thursday and Friday when conferences and the NCAA cancelled future contests in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Juwan Howard's best coaching might have been coming. We'll never know. What we have are 31 games and six months to grade his season.

Player Development - B+: Under Howard's tutelage, redshirt junior Austin Davis blossomed into a plus player for the Wolverines, showing off a dastardly effective low-post game, though he struggles defensively, especially with quicker 5's.

On the flip side, senior Jon Teske regressed as an offensive player, experiencing dramatic dips in his two-point shooting (54.4% down from 61.3% as a junior) and behind the arc (24.6% down from 29.9%) while he was abused defensively in January and early February by opposing 'bigs.' Teske rebounded defensively but never offensively by the end of the season.

Both junior Eli Brooks and freshman Franz Wagner became the best versions of themselves while sophomores Brandon Johns Jr. and David DeJulius had good moments and bad, and were largely inconsistent.

Senior Zavier Simpson continued his career trajectory as a playmaker, becoming one of the elite assist men in Michigan history, though the rest of his offensive game plateaued from past seasons and his defense took a step back. Junior Isaiah Livers was in a groove before injuries sabotaged his game's growth.

If Davis was the highlight and Teske the lowlight, everything in-between reflected the ebbs and flows of a basketball season. However, most of Michigan's eight-man rotation took a step forward this year.

Pre- & In-Game Coaching - B: Howard made a smart decision when he added 20-year veteran head coach Phil Martelli to his bench, however, there were plenty of bumps along the way that needed smoothing out. Howard's most consistent struggle during the year was allocating minutes, with often head-scratching substitution patterns in which key reserves sat idle for extended periods of time.

He also bet on his team being able to play one-on-one defense against any opponent, refusing to double-team in the post, to sometimes disastrous results.

Michigan had other challenges - largely shooting and defending the three, ranking 141st nationally in success behind the arc (33.9%) and 127th in defending it (32.3%) -- but Howard had some huge coaching wins: creating a game plan to slow Michigan State's Cassius Winston, giving the assignment of defending a team's best guard from Simpson to Brooks, doubling-down on Simpson as the team's unquestioned leader (even after an off-court incident), and navigating shortened benches with the injuries to Livers and Brooks.

Like with player development, Howard had more positives than negatives as a sideline coach. He made mistakes but there was exponential growth, forecasting a game-day boss that could provide a regular advantage for Michigan.

Results - B: Michigan's regular season skidded off the tracks down the stretch, U-M losing 3 of 4, including its fourth home loss of the Big Ten campaign, as the Wolverines finished 10-10 in league play and in ninth place. Most preseason projections had Michigan finishing in the upper half of the Big Ten, which it did not.

Certainly, there were mitigating factors - U-M lost four of its 10 Big Ten games with Livers sidelined - but the regular-season finish was disappointing, and Michigan wasn't striking much fear in its conference opponents heading into the Big Ten tournament. Still, the Maize and Blue would have qualified for the NCAA tournament as a sixth or seventh seed and probably would have made it to the second round.

Recruiting - A+: When the late signing period commences in April and U-M officially inks Hunter Dickinson, Jace Howard, Terrance Williams and Isaiah Todd, to go along with November signee Zeb Jackson, the Wolverines will finish with the nation's No. 4 recruiting class. If they also land five-star Josh Christopher, the class will go down as the finest signed by Michigan in more than 20 years and one of the best ever.

Overall - B+: Howard was a complete unknown when he was tagged to replace John Beilein last spring. Could he recruit? Create a program identity? Defensive philosophy? Offensive strategy? How would he handle in-game coaching decisions? Was he a leader of men on and off the court?

While the roster had enough pieces to finish in the top half of the Big Ten, no one knew if Howard was capable of running an entire program. We expected blips, perhaps major blunders, and a transitional year that might have ended with an early exit in the conference tournament and no NCAA.

Instead, Howard did almost everything right and was an outstanding ambassador for the Michigan basketball program, such a great confidence builder and affable personality that his 2020 recruiting success should only be the beginning.

Ultimately, though, Howard's powerful persona, improving coaching chops, and locker room presence didn't translate to more winnable games (even acknowledging the difficulty of the Big Ten) as he must learn to push more of the right buttons in realizing better results.

Did this Michigan team reach its full potential? It appears the Wolverines left a little bit on the court. Maybe they were saving their best for last, but we'll never know. It was a very good season for Howard and for Michigan. Just not a great one.