The timing could not be any worse, but Michigan lost backup point guard L.J. Cason to a torn ACL during the Wolverines’ win on Friday against Illinois. The Maize and Blue won an outright Big Ten championship, but they also lost arguably the best backup guard in basketball.
Without Cason, Michigan’s rotation will shrink from nine to eight. On Monday, head coach Dusty May discussed the challenges of losing Cason, but he believes in his players and he also thinks an eight man rotation might be better for players to stay in rhythm and work through mistakes.
However, more responsibility will rely on starting point guard Elliot Cadeau, who will be tasked with more minutes, and more need to stay out of foul trouble.
“As far as Elliot, yeah, this will force Elliot to be, I guess, much more solid with his defensive decision making when it comes to fouling,” May said on Monday. “He doesn’t have that insurance policy anymore, named L.J. behind him, because L.J. came in and carried the load several games for our group…