Sunday’s loss against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship imparted a host of unpleasant lessons for Dusty May’s team. Outside shooting was a problem. Even still, the Wolverines amassed 31 wins this year and were rewarded with the number one seed in the Midwest region in the NCAA Tournament. And it’s a region loaded with talent, including the second-seeded Iowa State Cyclones, the Virginia Cavaliers at the two seed, and a dangerous Alabama Crimson Tide at the fourth seed.
And so it’s no surprise that with that draw comes a whole host of challenges and extremely tough matchups in the backcourt, an area where Michigan basketball has seen a tremendous amount of inconsistency this year.
Elliot Cadeau has had games where he looked like a top-tier point guard, scoring at will and getting to the basket with tenacity and grit that were impressive for his size. But too often he’s seen spikes in turnovers and has struggled offensively. Nimari Burnett can score in bunches (as evidenced by his 31-point outing against Penn State), and yet has faded into the background in important games like against Duke and Michigan State. Roddy Gayle’s role is so much more important with the injury to LJ Cason, and he has been particularly effective on defense, but his shooting has been extremely inconsistent, and his drives to the basket are too often reckless and lead to turnovers…