Earlier this week, Hunter Dickinson, Jerryn Llewellyn and Jace Howard Michigan WolverinesThe men’s basketball team spoke at Big Ten Media Day. The three of them are team captains of the year and had a lot to say to the media on Wednesday.
The key points are:
traveling in Europe
Jaelin Llewellyn: “I think it’s been a great experience. Lots of great talent. Playing against the pros, they’re grown men and they have a lot of strength, but see where we are.” And it was a good time to start the season.
Hunter Dickinson: “I think it was really good for us to get some games early in the season. first match in france It gave me a little reality check. We still have a lot to do. Thankfully, we still have a month or so before the season starts, so there’s still time to fine-tune it. Overall, it’s been a great experience growing together on and off the court. ”
Jace Howard: “Retracting their words gave us an opportunity to see where we are as a team. But I think it got us ahead of schedule, especially in August. It’s (compared to what we’re used to) playing against a professional team in. At best we won’t be playing on a team until scrimmage in late October.It definitely feels like it gave us the gauge…now We know what we need to do.It feels like we practice and try to do it every day.We have different things we want to deal with every day, such as overplay and ball screen defense.Keep it up, every day A 1% improvement will definitely get me excited for the season.”
On Hunter’s decision to return to the University of Michigan
Dickinson: “I think this year has been a lot easier than last year. I really enjoy being at the University of Michigan and feel like I have more to do here.”
On how NIL was involved in the comeback decision
Dickinson has never been ashamed of my feelings towards NIL Here in Michigan, he said it was definitely a factor in returning to the junior season.
“It definitely made it easier,” said Dickinson. “Without NIL, it would have definitely been a tough decision, but now that I have the opportunity to make money while in college, I think it will definitely help my decision and others like me. ”
Dickinson also likes the progress the university as a whole has made in dedicating more resources to NIL to help its players.
“I think we’ve come a long way since the University of Michigan and NIL,” says Dickinson. “I think at first they didn’t seem to embrace it. Now, a year later, Michigan knows it has to embrace it more because that’s what colleges are at this point.” Because that’s what basketball and collegiate athletics look like, so I think we’re doing a better job of adapting, but there’s still a lot of room to grow.”
On Dickinson’s changing role and expectations as a leader
Associate Head Coach Phil Martelli talked about this on a podcast over the summer. I highly recommend listening to it on Defend The Block. Dickinson has really embraced being a leader and seems to be learning a lot from his former teammates.
“My role has definitely changed a lot in my three years,” Dickinson said. “I was on an experienced team when I was a freshman, so I wanted to be a sponge and soak up all the information from my older teammates.
“Now that I’m a junior, in a sense, the leader of the team, I’m the person that the juniors look to for advice. We’ve got people who know us, but we also have super-old guys like Jerryn and Joey (Baker) who bring a lot of great experience and leadership. I’ve played a lot in , so I have a lot of experience that young players can look forward to and ask for help.”
On Llewellyn’s role and how he feels like a fit in Michigan’s offense
I wrote about this in the Advanced Statistics Breakdown Earlier this summer, Llewellyn will be an integral part of what Michigan does as a graduate student this season, with plenty of college basketball under his belt.
“It was a smooth transition,” says Llewellyn. “I’ve played a lot of college basketball, basically trying to get the flow of the offense and figure out how to blend in with the players on the team. So far, it’s been pretty smooth. Playing abroad definitely helped us because it gave us the chance to let go of our first-time anxieties like playing for a new team. I think we are adapting.”
Jace Howard playing multiple positions
“Not much has changed,” Jace said of his positional flexibility. “Some days I play No. 4, some days I play No. 3, some days I get rep on No. 2. For me, I’m ready when my name is called. learning all the positions, playing etc. I feel my role on the team is to be a versatile guy. will probably expand.”
Jace playing with his brother Jet Howard
“Good. Jet is a talented man,” said Jace. “I’m glad we were together. The setting of him playing at both the school we love and the school we grew up watching is pretty surreal. I can teach you games and little tips.It’s really fun to pick each other’s brains and go with each other.We’ve actually played against each other many times.He knows my moves and I We know his moves, so it’s been a great experience so far.”
Jace isn’t the only one excited to be Howard’s not the only one on the roster. His father, Juwan Howard, Mentioned Jace’s improvement and now mentoring both of his sons early this summer.
funniest answer of the day
Hunter Dickinson and Jace Howard were asked if they could have other players in the Big Ten as teammates.
Without hesitation and with a laugh, they both answered: “Terence Shannon.”
— Anthony Bloom (@anthonytbroome) October 12, 2022
click here for some context.
