Michigan basketball is amidst a transition period as it enters year two under head coach Juwan Howard.
The Wolverines lost their two co-captains, Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske, to graduation this offseason, along with Cole Bajema, David DeJulius and Colin Castleton to the transfer portal. Four incoming freshmen and two transfers, Chaundee Brown and Mike Smith, have joined the squad.
The 2020-21 Wolverines will have a new look, but if things shake out as expected, they'll have two familiar faces running the show on the wings — Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner. Livers, who will be a senior if he chooses to return to Ann Arbor, has until Aug. 3 to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft, and is expected to do so, especially considering the omission of his name on mock drafts following an injury-riddled season. Wagner, a sophomore, chose not to test the NBA waters, despite having a future that almost certainly involves playing at the game's highest level.
If Livers does return, it's no surprise that analysts have pegged him as a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate. Count U-M radio analyst Terry Mills in that boat.
"If he comes back, you’ve definitely gotta look at him as a candidate for player of the year," Mills told The Wolverine.
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It's not just Livers that has a legitimate shot to take home that hardware this upcoming season. Wagner, who averaged 11.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a freshman, has the capability to take a big leap and become one of the league's best players.
"He’s definitely going to get looked at as a player of the year, too," Mills said. "All of the accolades that he got this year — I don’t know how many back-to-back player of the weeks that he got, but he was going to a different level.
"I even asked him one time, ‘What’s the difference of playing over in Germany or playing here?’ He said, ‘Every single day, guys play hard, they’re going at you. Where you might have a day off in Germany, one way or another.’ I basically said, ‘Well, you know, your brother left a blueprint here. Anytime your brother goes on to have success — he’s in the NBA — you believe guys are going to go at you and say, ‘This is what I did to Moe’s brother.’ So, with that name Wagner being on the back of your shirt, you better believe that guys are going to come at you every single night. And, I think he’s prepared for that this year."
Both Livers and Wagner — along with senior guard Eli Brooks, fifth-year senior forward Austin Davis and others — will be integral in leading a Wolverine team that lost the two aforementioned captains. They'll do it using their own individual styles.
"[Livers'] leadership, that’s going to play a major role going forward," Mills said.
"I think Livers is more of a voices type of guy, as opposed to Franz. Franz is a very quiet guy. He’ll let his game do the talking, where I think Isaiah would be a very boisterous guy.
"Right now, I don’t know who that guy is going to be. It could be a newcomer coming in. I don’t know who’s going to be that vocal leader [if Livers leaves]."
The two wings will be the constants — again, if Livers comes back to school — for Howard in year two, and are a main reason why the Maize and Blue are expected to continue having similar success in the Big Ten and beyond that they had under former head coach John Beilein.
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