Everything you need to know about Michigan’s true freshman class

For the Michigan Wolverines and head coach Dusty May, who is embarking in his inaugural season with the program, there are going to be many new faces on the roster and with all the happenings in the transfer portal a group that doesn’t get as much attention as perhaps it deserves is the Michigan Wolverines freshmen class.

There are other players such as Justin Pippen, Durral Brooks and L.J. Cason, all of whom, May said, could have ran the rotation before the summer. It’s time to assess those youngsters who can potentially shine at Crisler Center for quite a lot of seasons.

Before Michigan

Pippen is 6-foot-3 but there may still be some height left in him as his father Scottie Pippen had for the NBA Hall of Famer the height of 6-foot-8. Some of the players he competed against while in Sierra Canyon include both of LeBron James’ sons. He is an absolute unknown late bloomer that is ranked right outside of the top 100 in the class according to the composite of all major recruiting sites at 247; he is Michigan’s highest ranked recruit in the class.

Brooks stands 6-foot-2 and is considered somewhat outside of the top-200 on the composite. He is coming off a high school season at Grand Rapids Catholic Central in which he was awarded Michigan’s Mr. Basketball title. He scored an average of 27.1 points, attained 8.1 rebounds and had 5 assist per match for the cougars (20-5) that was escorted by Brooks to the DII state title game.

Cason is 6-foot-2 and has been previously pledged with May and Florida Atlantic, with FAU Owls Nest reporting at the early part of this month that he was released from the letter of intent. The freshman is ranked as an averaging combo guard from Lakeland, Florida in his category standing as the 35th best from his category and overall the 22nd best from Florida as ranked by 247Sports.

A summary of their games As usual we will break-down all their games to ease understanding.

Pippen: He’s got a tight handle and deadly step back jumpers and like most wings nowadays he can blow by his man and finish at the rim as well. In movements with the ball, he recognizes the floor well and is solid when covering shots with activity in the help-side without going for a block. Like his dad, Pippen is an accomplished defender, and in an instance that he had spotted that a particular pass was heading his way, he is capable of beginning an osmone fast, break. He can play good defense, needs to work on footwork, blocks a lot of passes and keeps moving when not on the ball.

Watching film, I can draw a lot of comparison to a young Lonzo Ball, especially, his wretched jump shot aside considering his confort on the games using the break, his nice court vision, his ok movements while playing the ball screens and he has great Basketball IQ.

Brooks: He has a great touch of the game. He won’t get stressed when there are two men guarding him and he has reasonably good passing ability when his man is ‘jamming’ him. He’s fast, not quick, so he is able to maintain control when blowing by his man to get to the rim. Still, he does have some wheels and is potentially the quickest player on the team regardless of the position. He has a lovely looking jumper which he surely does get at more times than failures. He is a very effective scorer near the basket and is not shy about being physical and throwing his body around with his arms stretched and sliding in taking the contact while putting the ball in. He is just an enigma in transition and a tricky customer when you meet him close to the basket.

Cason: Off the dribble though he is very fast, he also has a good handle on the ball. He is very good one on one, as May said in the local media day held on Friday, he is one of those players capable of scoring a bucket anytime he is invited to. He has a real stretch, as long as his three-point shot is on target. He’s got a crafty step back that he does not hesitate to pull off coming off a pick-and-roll. He is also super fast, converts through contact around the basket and makes good decisions when leading the fast break. The former may well have the best looking jumper out of the three. Whenever I am watching him I get a feeling of Malik Monk.

The quotes on the freshmen, and the quotes of the freshmen

May on Cason’s durability and being able to contribute right away: “Cason has been a real bright spot and is very deserving of getting the ball.” His physical stamina, I do not believe he has skipped any practice up to now. He’s played well and honestly the reason for this is because that is what he has done best, creating one on one opportunities. And even though we don’t play that much as a group, when teams switch and bulk you down, you need some one that can create that advantage on its own. He’s been as good as anyone on our roster at creating offense, I think he’s shooting almost 50 percent off the bounce from three over 30-50 practices, pretty big sample size. He’s a guy that’s very confident, he won state championships in high school, he won big-time games in the AAU circuit and so, past performance will predict that he’s going to be ready to help us as a freshman.”

May on Pippen: Probably Pip started off the best, welche bedeutet. In the first few weeks he trained, he looked like someone who has been doing it for far longer than a week. He was tough, he was poised, you would thing this guy is a sixth senior with a medical redshirt as far as his pace and the way he plays. He has not acted very often because he has had surgery but will return shortly.

May on Brooks’ ball skills: “Brooks for instance, developed a knee injury this summer and when he joined practice he probably missed the initial five or six weeks. Recently it is interesting how much he grew into a player, he is way more confident in shooting now, fantastic on defense. I don’t wanna say this too loud but he can play in front of a lot of fannies on Saturday as far as he ball instincts. He just contributes so much, his peripherals, he’s a fantastic team man. I don’t think at some minute of a practice I never looked at it like, “man, I love coaching Phat Phat, he has started to play much better recently.”

Danny Wolf on Cason: I wouldn’t be shocked to see in two years he is already the best player in the Big Ten level. He’s that good of a player.”

Cason on why he wanted to play for May: “Hey man, of course you had me when over the years since I signed on committing our team right before my senior year. For the whole year, I was trying to develop that relationship, but him believing in me to ask me to come play at Michigan I think is a big thing, high major from mid major. I asked my family and the decision was very clear to come here.”

Pippen on his strengths and areas of improvement: “I shoot it well I feel like the IQ is really high I just need to build up my strength I do feel like that’s a big part of basketball.”

Brooks on Cason: “I think what really stands out to me is that he scores the ball like a senior, I’ve never seen a freshman initiate an attack like that.” They say his shooting is nuts and those included driving leaner, catch and shoot.

Brooks on why he re-affirmed his commitment: Even just being the ‘winning’ coach. Also we have him winning, he wanting good things for his players, us players, him trying to provide for his players as to set them up not only in basketball but also in other aspects of life.

Conclusion

We know that May will be running a ball-screen heavy offense based on some set he used during his tenure at FAU and when you factor that in it becomes easier to see why May had recruited Pippen & Cason and convinced Brooks to remain committed to Michigan after initially he was pledged for the Juwan Howard coached Michigan Wolverines team. All three guys can effectively play the modern guard that can both facilitate the pick and roll, score from inside the paint and beyond, and push the ball and look to finish in transition.

May has stated that Cason is most like a lead guard of the trio and when you add that to the hype that he receives, I think he stands the best chance of getting the most playing time this season. Cason is one of this team’s best scorers and I think he can play as a freshman, as May pointed out. That’s not to say the others can’t start as well — there was a time Pippen and Brooks both started their careers as backcourt players.

They say you can never have enough good guards, and Rubin Jones, Roddy Gayle Jr and Nimari Burnett have to be hoping that the older players will help them improve. There is a lot to like about May’s first recruiting class and we will be keeping tabs on them throughout the entire course of the season.