Kenny Smith, Wally Szczerbiak Weigh In On Juwan Howard, Michigan's Ceiling
Michigan Wolverines basketball is the undisputed Big Ten regular-season champions and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993 when head coach Juwan Howard was playing for the Maize and Blue and helped lead his squad to the national title game.
After going 19-12 in his first season and seeing the postseason get canceled due to the global COVIID-19 pandemic, Howard navigated a unique offseason, brought in six new players, including two key transfers in fifth-year senior guard Mike Smith, senior guard Chaundee Brown and freshman center Hunter Dickinson, and had his team rolling from there.
National analysts around the country have lauded Howard all season long, and he's gotten plenty of deserved attention, earning Sporting News' National Coach of the Year award and the Big Ten conference's Coach of the Year honors. The job he is doing has also caught the attention of Kenny Smith, the Emmy Award-winning analyst who covers the NBA for TNT and the NCAA Tournament in partnership with Turner Sports.
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Smith actually believes that Howard's coaching job this season is not receiving enough praise.
"Juwan has done a great job in such a short period, of putting them in national prominence," Smith said Monday on a Zoom call with reporters from across the country, after being asked by TheWolverine.com for his thoughts. "His style of play, his coaching strategy has been second to none. I would like him — even last year, and this year — of being in coach of the year talk. He’s done a remarkable job for a guy who — there were some questions, can you be an NBA assistant coach and come to college basketball, recruit your student-athlete, get your student-athlete in class, practice, and then put your philosophy in?
"Those are four things you don’t have to do in the NBA. Those guys have to be there. So having to learn to do that again and to make sure that that happened. And the fifth part, dealing with parents. You don’t deal with anybody's parents in the NBA. No one’s parents are calling you about anything, because if they do I’m not answering the phone. I think that’s a different scenario.
"What he’s done and the way he’s grabbed that, I think it’s understated on the job that he’s done."
If Michigan makes it back to the Final Four for the third time in the last eight tournaments, Howard will impress even more, considering how huge the loss of senior forward Isaiah Livers is. The 13-point per game scorer and team captain is out indefinitely with a stress injury to his right foot.
Once a popular pick to be the eventual national champion, or one of the top contenders behind Gonzaga and Baylor, most around the country are picking Michigan to fall before the tournament's final weekend.
CBS Sports college basketball analyst Wally Szczerbiak still believes the Maize and Blue, who play the winner of 16 seeds Mount St. Mary's and Texas Southern Saturday, will make a significant run, but don't quite have what it takes without Livers to cut down any nets this March or April.
"They were fortunate with their draw, and I think they’re lucky, because obviously Isaiah Livers is a key cog in their wheel," Szczerbiak said. 'He’s just a big part of what they do, with his versatility — averaging 13 points, six boards and three, four assists. He does everything out there. And his experience, too.
"They’re absolutely not the same team without him. I still think they can make it to the Elite Eight or somewhere around there. I don’t think they have a really strong draw in the top half of their side of the bracket.
"But hopefully he gets back. ... Hopefully he could get back in a couple weeks, because they really need him if they want to win a national championship. I don’t think their ceiling is a national championship without him, I think their ceiling is the Elite Eight without him."
Only time will tell on if Livers can return, though it seems highly unlikely, and if the Wolverines can do more damage than most expect without him.
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