Video & Analysis: Juwan Howard Talks Season Expectations

Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard is as excites as anyone for the hoops season to start tonight and you can see it when he answers questions about his team and the season.

The former U-M standout turned coach identified several goals that he has for his team and was pretty blunt when explaining why he expects to win out of the gate.

Brown's Breakdown

I'm really excited to see what a Juwan Howard-coached team looks like. It already feels like it's going to be an entertaining brand of basketball with a fast pace and a lot of outside shooting. That's not always the best formula for winning but U-M's roster seems to have some interesting pieces for that style of play.

Not having freshman Franz Wagner is a bummer but it will give other guys like junior Eli Brooks, sophomore David DeJulius, sophomore Adrian Nunez and even sophomore Colin Castleton, a 7-footer, an opportunity to see the floor more often as Howard tinkers with his lineup.

Appalachian State is coming off an 11-21 season last year and has a new coach because of it. Dustin Kerns is tasked with resurrecting a poor Mountaineer hoops program after doing something similar at Presbyterian.

From the Appalachian State press release from when Kerns was hired...

Kerns inherited a Presbyterian program that had yet to achieve a winning record in 12 seasons at the Division I level and was coming off a five-win campaign in 2016-17. He immediately led the Blue Hose to a five-win improvement in his first year before breaking through in 2018-19.

Kerns guided the Blue Hose to their first winning record (20-16) and first postseason appearance (CIT) as a Division I program in just his second year on the job. PC's 12-3 record at home and 9-7 mark in Big South Conference play are also its best since joining the Division I ranks. Kerns' team advanced to the quarterfinals of the CIT after garnering road wins at Seattle and Robert Morris.

Michigan is definitely going to be more talented than Appalachian State but there's still a lot to figure out in game No. 1 under Howard. I expect a win but it's going to be really interesting to see how U-M gets there.

What do you see happening? What are three specific occurrences you expect to see? Comment below!!!