Michigan Wolverines Basketball Postseason Team Awards

Michigan won’t be holding its annual postseason basketball banquet for several weeks, if at all, but several players stepped with big seasons. Here are our choices for a few of the postseason honors.

Most Valuable Player: Zavier Simpson

Simpson averaged a career-best 12.9 points per game and notched career-bests in shooting percentage (47.6) and three-point percentage (36). He finished the season third nationally in assists with 7.9 per game as head coach Juwan Howard’s “Tom Brady” on the court.

Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell was one of many to compliment Simpson’s on-court presence after the Wolverines beat his team in Piscataway, N.J., a game in which Simpson notched 16 points, including his 1,000th career point.

“They got a lot of weapons, but when they have that quarterback that can slice and dice you, nothing is easy,” Pikiell said.

Defensive Player of the Year: Eli Brooks

This one is a surprise given how good seniors Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske had been throughout their careers, but even head coach Juwan Howard singled Brooks out at the end of the year. While Simpson got most of the props from league analysts, he noted, Brooks had been their best on-ball defender.

“He’s been the anchor of our defense,” Howard said after Brooks missed a game with Wisconsin.

U-M struggled without him defensively in losing 77-80.

“We missed his activity; we missed his energy and being able to guard guys, attention to detail when it comes to the scouting report. That guy is a Swiss Army knife,” Howard praised.

“Eli is maybe our best defender on the team,” frosh Franz Wagner added. “He brings it every night.”

Newcomer Of The Year: Franz Wagner

The German captured Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors three times this season and got better as the season progressed. He averaged 11.6 points per game, and though he only shot 31.1 percent from three-point range, he was the leading scorer in U-M’s last five games with 16.6 points per contest and a 41.7 percent (10-for-24) shooting percentage from deep.

“Franz is a competitor … Franz Wagner is a guy who is highly skilled, can play at a high level, not afraid of the big moments,” Howard said. “He has that experience by paying over in Europe where he’s played in big games, playing professionally for a few years.

“Franz is developing and improving game by game. This season he’s improved in practice habits, always in the gym looking for ways to improve. He’s just passionate and loves basketball.”

Most Improved Player: Austin Davis

Davis earned a fifth year with hard work and a post game that helped give the Wolverines a much-needed boost this year when senior center Jon Teske was struggling.

Simpson paid Davis the ultimate compliment at the end of the year.

“If I’m not confident in you, you won’t get the ball," he said. “I’m very confident in Austin.”

Davis averaged 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game and made an impressive 69.8 percent of his shots.

Leadership Award: Isaiah Livers

Livers handled the disappointment of missing several games due to injury by becoming “another coach on the bench,” head coach Juwan Howard noted, doing whatever he could to help his teammates while he spent much of his time in rehab. When Howard asked him to be his “fourth assistant,” he responded, “

He helped Wagner immensely.

"He's telling me things that he sees," Wagner said. "He's very vocal at practice and during games. Isaiah has been very good to me."

Iron Man Award: Jon Teske

Teske didn’t miss a game, the only Wolverines to play and start in all 31 games. He played through many bumps and bruises and logged more minutes than ever in a more up-tempo offense, and his leadership took another step, too.

“There are times when Jon has been the vocal person in our huddles in timeouts. Some things that he may see, when it comes to guarding a ball screen, he’ll say, ‘Hey, no coach, let’s try it this way,’” Howard said during Big Ten season. “Sure, no problem. Let’s go.”

Award for Outstanding Free Throw Shooting: Isaiah Livers

Livers made an astounding 44 of 46 (95.7 percent) of his free throws in 21 games played. Wagner made 45 of 54, good for 83.3 percent.

Award for Most Assists: Zavier Simpson

Simpson notched 236 of the team’s 454 assists to win this one going away.

Rebounding Award: Jon Teske

The big man pulled down 209 and averaged 6.7 per game, 1.1 more than No. 2 Wagner.

Sixth Man Award: Brandon Johns

Johns had his ups and downs, but he had the highest field goal percentage on the team (49.2) among players who saw over 10 minutes per game, and his 37 offensive rebounds were second on the team.

Hustle Award: David DeJulius

The sophomore made the most of his minutes in averaging seven points per game and often providing a spark off the bench when the Wolverines were struggling.

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