Mailbag: Is Michigan basketball really this good, what are Jadyn Davis' prospects?

ANN ARBOR, Mich.

For any Michigan fans feeling some FOMO about an Ohio State-Notre Dame national championship game, todays mailbag kicks off with a fun hypothetical that imagines a trading-places scenario with Michigan s teams from 2023 and 2024.

Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement How well do you think 2023s roster would have done against 2024s schedule? Todd G.

The flip side of that is also interesting ...

how would 2024s roster have done against 2023s schedule? Michael B.

Lets imagine we could push a button and transport the 2023 Michigan team (Jim Harbaugh included) into the 2024 college football season, complete with the expanded Big Ten and the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Michigans road to the national championship would be tougher in several ways: tougher regular-season schedule, tougher matchup in the Big Ten Championship Game (RIP, Big Ten West) and at least one additional Playoff game.

Even with the tougher schedule, Id project the 2023 Michigan team as the No.

1 seed in this years Playoff field with one regular-season loss at most.

Coincidentally, the team that has come the closest to matching Michigans dominance from last year is Ohio State .

I watched this Ohio State team lose to Davis Warren and company, so its hard to imagine the Buckeyes beating last years Michigan team in a hypothetical CFP matchup.

But the version of Ohio State weve seen the past three weeks against Michigans national championship team would be a matchup for the ages.

Now lets push the button again and transport the 2024 Michigan team into the 2023 season.

In a way, this ones even more interesting.

The toughest games Michigan played before November, at least on paper, were at Nebraska and at Minnesota.

Its not wild to think the Wolverines would have started 8-1 or 7-2, even with all the same quarterback issues they had at the beginning of this season.

Winning at Penn State would have been tough, but if the 2024 Michigan team could win in Columbus, it could have beaten the 2023 Ohio State team in Ann Arbor.

I could see the 2024 team going 9-3 or even 10-2 against last years schedule.

Whats happening with Jadyn Davis ? He was a top-100 recruit, and now hes seemingly dropped into the void.

Why didnt the coaches play him instead of Alex Orji in the bowl game? Barry A.

The best answer I can give is that Sherrone Moore wanted to win the game and thought Orjis experience made him the best option after Warren went down with a knee injury.

Is there more to it than that? Possibly, but I dont think there has to be.

Orji was ahead of Davis on the depth chart all season and participated in bowl practices despite entering his name in the transfer portal.

The reason to give those reps to Orji in practice was to have him ready in case he was needed.

He was needed, and he got the job done, even if it wasnt pretty.

Advertisement It would have been nice to get a longer look at Davis, but its not unusual for quarterbacks of his caliber to spend a year learning the ropes.

Of the top 10 quarterbacks in the 2024 class, only three attempted more than 20 passes this season.

Floridas DJ Lagway and Nebraskas Dylan Raiola were five-star prospects, so its not surprising they saw the field right away.

Florida State s Luke Kromenhoek attempted 84 passes for a 2-10 team and transferred to Mississippi State .

Walker White ( Auburn to Baylor) and Julian Sayin (Alabama to Ohio State) are on their second stops as well.

The other quarterbacks in the top 10 Ohio States Air Noland, Notre Dame s CJ Carr , Penn States Ethan Grunkemeyer and Georgias Ryan Puglisi had freshman seasons that looked a lot like Davis.

No one would be worried about Davis if not for the struggles of the players in front of him.

Kirk Campbell, the offensive coordinator who recruited Davis, said during the season that Michigan wasnt going to jeopardize his development by putting him on the field before he was ready, and Michigan stayed true to that, even when the quarterback situation looked bleak.

Playing Orji in the bowl game was consistent with how Michigan handled its quarterbacks all season.

With the portal closed for nongraduate transfers, all signs point to Davis competing with Bryce Underwood and Mikey Keene in the spring for the starting quarterback job.

Davis is not the favorite to win the job, but I wouldnt write him off just yet.

This year we learned the development of Michigan players took a big step back from previous years.

I believe we all expected this after most of the staff departed.

What gives Michigan fans confidence the current coaching staff can ensure the development of prospects? Ryan B.

This is a fair question, but Im not ready to go along with the premise.

Michigans 2023 roster was loaded with seniors and NFL Draft picks, and it was inevitable those departures would leave a void.

You can point to a few positions quarterback, offensive line and wide receiver, especially where Michigan didnt have great options to replace the players who moved on.

Thats partly a development issue, but Id argue its more of a recruiting and roster management issue.

Michigan signed quite a few offensive linemen in previous classes who didnt end up making a big impact.

Several of those players, including Andrew Gentry , Tristan Bounds and Raheem Anderson , hit the portal in December.

Orji and Jayden Denegal didnt develop the way Michigan hoped, but statistically, most three-star quarterback recruits dont turn out to be above-average starters in the Big Ten.

The same is true at wide receiver: Michigan had some players who flamed out, but I wouldnt say development was the biggest issue.

Advertisement This staffs ability to develop talent will become much clearer over the next season or two.

Michigan has a bunch of young players with star potential, including Underwood, Andrew Sprague , Andrew Babalola, Andrew Marsh and others.

If those players arent making significant contributions in the relatively near future, we can revisit the question about development.

For now, its fair to give Moore and his staff time to reshape the roster.

Is Michigan basketball really this good? A few points away from being undefeated? Beating the crud out of UCLA at Pauley? Dare I believe? John K.

You have full permission to be excited about what Dusty May is building.

Michigan is 13-3, with those three losses coming by a total of 5 points.

The Wolverines swept USC and UCLA on the road, hanging 94 points on the Bruins in a 19-point win at Pauley Pavilion.

Michigan is a legitimate Big Ten title contender and will be playing meaningful basketball games from now until the season ends, which is a sentence I didnt think I would be typing after last years 8-24 debacle.

The roster May assembled looked good on paper, but it looks even better on the court.

The key is the chemistry between 7-footers Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf.

When May said he wanted to play them together, I thought the two-big lineup might be an oddity or a change of pace Michigan would roll out for a few minutes at a time.

Instead, its been a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.

Im not alone in saying I had no idea Wolf was going to be this good.

His versatility, paired with Goldins low-post game, sets Michigan apart from most other teams in college basketball.

I wrote before the season that Michigan was going to play a bunch of toss-up games that would determine how high the Wolverines would climb in the Big Ten.

With seven Big Ten teams bunched between No.

10 and No.

25 in the KenPom rankings, that still seems like a good bet.

Buckle up for an entertaining Big Ten race that could come down to two games in the final eight days of the regular season: Illinois at Michigan on March 2 and Michigan at Michigan State on March 9.

What should we expect from defensive line transfers Damon Payne Jr.

and Tre Williams ? I assume they both start right away.

Harry W.

I wouldnt assume that, although its not out of the question.

Michigan needed big bodies on its defensive line to replace Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant , and the Wolverines filled that need by getting Payne from Alabama and Williams from Clemson.

Both were top-100 recruits coming out of high school, and Payne was a five-star prospect during his prep career at Belleville, the same high school Underwood attended.

Neither put up huge numbers at his previous stop: Payne had 30 tackles and two tackles for loss in four seasons at Alabama, and Williams had 42 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks in five seasons at Clemson .

Assuming Rayshaun Benny returns, hes probably the best interior defensive lineman on the roster.

I see Payne and Williams as rotational players who will share snaps with younger players like Enow Etta and Trey Pierce , although either one could slot in as a starter and both should have meaningful roles.

Apart from potentially Underwood, which incoming freshmen do you expect to make an immediate impact in 2025? And, after the initial group of portal recruits, where do the Wolverines still need help in their starting lineup for next year? Derk W.

My answer to the first question is related to the second.

Michigan needs help at wide receiver and has added two from the portal: Donaven McCulley from Indiana and Anthony Simpson from UMass .

If Michigan doesnt land another starting-caliber wide receiver, it would clear the way for a player like Marsh to have a significant role as a freshman.

Advertisement Michigan is looking for ways to get more explosive, and Marsh, a top-100 prospect from Texas, could be part of the solution.

With Tyler Morris transferring to Indiana, I could envision Michigan moving Marsh around and finding ways to get the ball in his hands.

At 6-0 and 175 pounds, he isnt the big target Michigan has been looking for on the outside, but hes a tough runner after the catch with speed to stretch the field.

Even if Michigan adds another wide receiver from the portal, Marsh could be in line for snaps as a freshman.

As far as other positions of need, Michigan could use help at cornerback and is in the mix for Washington transfer Thaddeus Dixon .

The Wolverines added an intriguing player to their offensive line in Lawrence Hattar, a Division II standout from Ferris State, but they still need a tackle.

Well see whether theres another portal addition on the way to compete with Evan Link, Sprague and Cal Poly transfer Brady Norton, who can play guard or tackle.

(Top photo: Aaron J.

Thornton / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.