in The Athletic\u2019s top 100 transfers<\/a>, had 31 points and 12 rebounds in an exhibition against Cincinnati, and May came away feeling like the forward didn\u2019t play particularly well.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen I heard that statement, in my head I was like, \u2018What the \u2026?\u2019\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cLike, what do you mean? I thought I played great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lendeborg clarified that he\u2019s glad May is treating him like the NBA lottery pick he can become, rather than the overlooked player who went from junior college to mid-major stardom at UAB. Lendeborg is a 6-foot-9 forward who can shoot, rebound, block shots, handle the ball and score from anywhere on the floor. Because stardom is relatively new to him, he\u2019s still learning to play in constant attack mode. As Lendeborg grows into his talent, the possibilities are limitless.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been pushed this far or this hard in my life,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cIt is something I have to get adjusted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the turnover problem fixed?<\/p>\n
Michigan won the Big Ten tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 last season despite having one of college basketball\u2019s highest turnover rates. The Wolverines thought they addressed that problem in the offseason, but it surfaced again with 22 turnovers in an exhibition win against St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to change some things,\u201d May said. \u201cIt\u2019s Year 2. It\u2019s two different teams, so it\u2019s not just the players. It is a small sample size this year, but the urgency is at an all-time high to get it fixed and figure out why it\u2019s happening now, out of the blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
May wants the Wolverines to play fast, which means living with some turnovers. Cadeau is dangerous in transition, but he also turned the ball over at a high rate last season. Some of the team\u2019s sloppiness can be attributed to a group of players still learning each other\u2019s tendencies, but the Wolverines learned last year that turnover problems can linger if they aren\u2019t fixed early.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have any pixie dust to sprinkle on it,\u201d May said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all got to be much more intentional about passing and catching, about giving the ball space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is this college basketball\u2019s best frontcourt?<\/p>\n
If not, it\u2019s on the short list. Lendeborg can do it all, and the Wolverines have a pair of exceedingly talented bigs in Johnson and Mara. Johnson can bully people in the paint at 6-9, as he showed last year at Illinois. Mara is a lob threat and rim protector who blocked 17 percent of opponents\u2019 2-point shots when he was on the floor for UCLA last season.<\/p>\n
Mara, who\u2019s originally from Spain, is still adjusting to the physicality of the Big Ten, May said. He\u2019s a smart passer who moves well for his size, and Michigan is pushing him to be a bigger factor in transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing he can make a big jump on, it would simply be changing ends,\u201d May said. \u201cI think he\u2019s leaving a lot of points on the floor by not finding that desire to go get some easy baskets in transition, because he\u2019s capable of it. He can move. He can run. He\u2019s much more agile than he gives himself credit for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does Michigan have enough outside shooting?<\/p>\n
The Wolverines weren\u2019t a great 3-point shooting team last year, and they\u2019ll be relying on a lot of the same players in their backcourt. Burnett is a reliable catch-and-shoot option, and Will Tschetter should be able to space the floor as a 6-8 wing with range.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines have a lot riding on Cadeau and Roddy Gayle Jr. turning the page from last year. Gayle had a miserable shooting stretch during Big Ten play and shot 23 percent from 3-point range for the season. The Wolverines believe he can be a solid outside shooter in addition to being a lockdown wing defender and an aggressive driver, though some skepticism is warranted after two seasons in which he shot less than 30 percent from 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe earned it,\u201d Boynton said, noting that Gayle may have felt extra pressure last season after transferring from Ohio State. \u201cNow he can just be him as a Michigan returner and be able to play with a little bit more freedom and less focus on trying to prove something about who is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadeau was a streaky outside shooter last year at North Carolina, but he has made shots in big games. Sophomore L.J. Cason and freshman Trey McKenney will also have chances to earn minutes in the backcourt rotation.<\/p>\n
How will Michigan handle the spotlight?<\/p>\n
The preseason buzz is reminiscent of May\u2019s final season at Florida Atlantic in 2023-24. Coming off of a Final Four appearance, the Owls brought back most of their team and were ranked No. 10 in the AP poll. FAU had a good season but not a great one, and May has said he could have done a better job managing internal and external expectations for the team.<\/p>\n
This is a different situation in many ways. That FAU team was returning more or less intact; this year\u2019s Michigan roster is almost entirely new. It could take time for the players to jell, and patience will be paramount if the Wolverines don\u2019t look like a Big Ten title contender in November. If everything comes together, the team has enough talent to make a deep NCAA Tournament run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be very honest with ourselves on what we\u2019re doing well and what we\u2019re doing poorly, and fix those things,\u201d May said. \u201cIf you get lost in the fight, the external expectations hopefully don\u2019t poison the group. That\u2019s on us to be aware, honest and accountable every single day, and hopefully that\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANN ARBOR, Mich. \u2014 Nimari Burnett is old enough to have played college basketball with Terrence Shannon Jr.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,1418,713,85],"class_list":["post-259714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}