The Michigan Wolverines’ basketball program will begin a new era tonight, when they welcome the Appalachian State Mountaineers to Crisler Center for the first game of the Juwan Howard regime.
Senior point guard Zavier Simpson, senior center Jon Teske and junior forward Isaiah Livers will look to continue the success they enjoyed last season under former head man John Beilein, when they concluded with a 30-7 record and made a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
With last season's three leading scorers now gone (Ignas Brazdeikis, Jordan Poole and Charles Matthews), several new faces will have to step up in their absences to make up for the lost offensive production.
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Appalachian State — The Basics:
Appalachian State resides in the Sun Belt and suffered through a miserable 11-21 (6-12 in league play) campaign last season, which was good for 10th place in the 12-team conference.
Head coach Jim Fox was fired by the Mountaineers following the season, and Dustin Kearns has taken over in his place as a result.
The 2019-20 campaign will only be Kerns’ third as a head coach, leading Presbyterian each of the past two years.
The Blue Hose went 11-21 in his first year at the helm, before pulling off an impressive turnaround season in 2018-19 that saw them go 20-16 and make it all the way to the quarterfinals of the CIT (College Insider.com) postseason tournament.
“It’s challenging, because we’re watching highlights of a different college [Presbyterian],” Livers admitted yesterday.
“Coaches have schemes, so we’re just going off the schemes he’s run over the past year or two from Presbyterian.
"They don’t know what we do, and we don’t know what they do.”
Howard also revealed that Appalachian State chose not to send the Maize and Blue any film, with the club having played two secret scrimmages against High Point and James Madison instead of any public exhibition games.
The preseason outlets have projected Kerns’ debut season in Boone to be a rough one, with Street & Smith’s predicting the Mountaineers to finish in last place in the Sun Belt and Lindy’s anticipating an eighth-place finish.
Appalachian State's Personnel:
The Mountaineers' lost 2,000-point scorer Ronshad Shabazz from last year's club, after he led the team in scoring with 18.3 points per game.
Four starters return, however, in the forms of junior guard Justin Forrest (16.2 points per game, eclipsed the 30-point mark twice), senior forward Isaac Johnson (10 points and 8.6 rebounds), fifth-year senior forward Hunter Seacat (5.6 points and 3.6 boards) and sophomore guard Adrian Delph (7.1 points).
The Mountaineers also return a key reserve in senior guard O'Showen Williams (played 21.5 minutes per game last year), who Street & Smith's referred to as a 'steady point guard.'
Lindy's, meanwhile, was particularly high on Johnson, tabbing him as the conference's best rebounder.
The rebounding numbers weren't pretty for Appalachian State outside of Johnson last year, though, with Seacat the only returning player who averaged more than 3.3 per game.
"Improving on the interior is a key for the Mountaineers," Lindy's wrote. "Isaac Johnson hit 59 percent of two-pointers vs. Sun Belt teams but needs assistance on the backboards."
Prediction
The Westgate Superbook has tabbed the Wolverines as a 16.5-point favorite tonight, while Ken Pomeroy sees a similar outcome, anticipating the Maize and Blue to pull out an 80-62 victory.
There will undoubtedly be growing pains (especially offensively) against the Mountaineers as Michigan adapts to its new up-tempo, 'get out and run' transition style.
Appalachian State hanging around until halftime and perhaps early into the second half is more than feasible, but it's hard to imagine the Mountaineers taking tonight's game down to the wire and potentially pulling out a win.
Michigan 78, Appalachian State 63
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