The Michigan men\u2019s basketball team is back from its international tour, with the program taking its triennial trip overseas to face professional competition. These summer showcases are a great early chance for Michigan\u2019s roster to test itself in a non-practice setting. The Wolverines lost the first two games \u2014 96-84 to Lithuania A and 82-77 to Lithuania B \u2014 before using a fourth-quarter surge to beat Mega SUPERBET, a Serbian professional team, 84-81.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to take the results of these games with a grain of salt, but based on the action we saw, there\u2019s a lot to like about the reigning national champs. Here are my six takeaways from the three games.<\/p>\n
(If you\u2019re interested on watching these games for yourself, you can watch them for free on YouTube at this link <\/a>for the first game, this link <\/a>for the second game and this link for the last game.<\/a>)<\/p>\n The emergence of Trey McKenney as a go-to guy<\/p>\n McKenney looked like Michigan\u2019s best player for most of these scrimmages, averaging 25 points in two games while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three. He looked incredibly confident, as he and Cadeau took over the fourth quarter to help Michigan win the final scrimmage.<\/p>\n In this small sample size, we saw what could be a Kobe Bufkin-esque sophomore leap<\/a> from McKenney, who launched deep threes, jumped passing lanes with ease and flashed that three-level scoring that made him such a highly-touted prospect.<\/p>\n We know McKenney has a high work ethic, considering he was transformed his body<\/a> before even playing in a game that counted at Michigan. It really does look like he has been in the gym all summer long. We\u2019ll have more on this as the off-season continues, but an All-American nod isn\u2019t out of the question if he plays like he did on this trip.<\/p>\n Elliot Cadeau brings stability<\/p>\n I wrote about it for years on this site, but man, having a veteran point guard really does wonders in college basketball.<\/p>\n Fresh off leading Michigan to a national championship, Cadeau was a guiding light for this young team, setting teammates up for success and leading the Wolverines with 5.7 assists per game across the three scrimmages. He was the main shot creator, especially against the Lithuanian B Team.<\/p>\n With a Michigan team still working out the kinks in terms of defensive rotations and transition defense, Cadeau was a steady defender who helped stir the drink on the offensive end. With all the unknowns on this squad, Cadeau\u2019s playmaking and shot creation should squelch the anxiety of fans.<\/p>\n Michigan could use more toughness inside<\/p>\n Anyone who gets really into FIBA basketball around the Olympics knows these games can get physical, and the refs in all these games let Michigan and its opponents bang in the paint more than NCAA officials would tolerate.<\/p>\n With that qualifier in place, if I had to touch on one area of improvement from these games, I do think Michigan got bullied inside at times. The Wolverines lost the rebounding battle to Lithuania\u2019s B team \u2014 part of that had to do with Thiam not being available the last two games and most of the first game, so Michigan had a bit of a size disadvantage. J.P. Estrella held his own inside, but Marcus Moller got exposed a bit. Other than Oscar Goodman, the wings caught on switches got taken advantage of at times.<\/p>\n This roster may not have a interior bulldog of Vlad Goldin\u2019s caliber, but I do want to see Michigan get better when it comes rebounding and interior defense.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a LOT to like about the freshman class and bench pieces<\/p>\n Even with Brandon McCoy Jr. out for the season<\/a> due to an ACL injury he sustained on the trip to Europe, there\u2019s a lot to like about this young team.<\/p>\n Quinn Costello shot the cover off the ball from deep, making 45.8 percent of his 24 attempts from three while also proving to be a stellar cutter. I\u2019d imagine he\u2019ll be the first guy off the bench with his offensive versatility.<\/p>\n I liked the minutes I saw from Joseph Hartman and Malachi Brown. They have a ways to go when it comes to defensive rotations, but I liked the energy both guys played with on that end. As much as it sucks to lose a prolific one-on-one scorer in L.J. Cason, Hartman (seven points in Game 1) showed flashes of being able to fill in that role as a bench scorer.<\/p>\n I really liked the minutes from Goodman, who played great defensively and moved the ball well. He was essentially attached to Will Tschetter at the hip before games last season, and it looks like Tschetter\u2019s unselfishness and embrace of the glue-guy role rubbed off on him.<\/p>\n Moller got pushed around a little and could have been quicker on his feet, but he was always going to be a work in progress considering he has been busy battling testicular cancer, being declared cancer-free in May<\/a>. But it was nice he got some playing time in these matchups.<\/p>\n Most importantly, no grand conclusions can be drawn from August scrimmages<\/p>\n There are many overreactions on social media when it comes to sports these days, so let\u2019s make two things abundantly clear \u2014 these games do NOT count towards Michigan\u2019s roster, and you can\u2019t make grand conclusions about these teams based on what are ostensibly organized practices that take place more than three months before the regular season starts.<\/p>\n