Michigan basketball: Phil Martelli gives early takes on U-M freshmen
Michigan basketball went overseas to Europe for three games and a wealth of worldly experience, assistant coach Phil Martelli recapped Tuesday. Martelli joined play-by-play man Brian Boesch on the Defend the Block podcast recently to break down the trip.
RELATED
• Michigan basketball box score from exhibition game against Fos Provence Basket
The Wolverines brought four freshmen with them and had another — Lebanese forward Youssef Khayat — meet up with them on the trip to France and Greece. Martelli was impressed with all of them in one way or another.
Wing Jett Howard, head coach Juwan Howard’s son, has hit the ground running in the early going.
“Jett has like a magic in his eye, real joy when he greets you,” Martelli said. “He’s really excited about being here. In basketball, he has a wonderment despite all the basketball experiences he’s had. He’s hearing some things for the first time. And he’s really trying hard to apply them.
“He has a beautiful, beautiful jump shot. It looks great. It comes out of his hand clean. He has tremendous range. He’s a work in progress defensively, and what I like is that he recognizes that. He’s not hiding. He’s not a guy that will say, ‘yeah, I made three jumpers.’ But yeah, you gave up three layups.”
Martelli believes the folks at Crisler Center will love him.
“I can see him being a fan favorite, because when that ball drops and the ease with which it comes out of his hand … I think people are going to gravitate to Jett,” he said. “But it starts with his eyes. The eyes always tell you what’s in the heart, and that kid has joy in his heart.”
Gregg Glenn, a 6-7 forward and Jett Howard’s good friend, is a man looking for a position. But he has impressed with his want-to in the early going.
“He’s a highly competitive young guy,” Martelli said. “He’s still developing, which is a good thing, but developing … is he a wing? Is he a forward? But I think the thing that jumps out is he has a competitive edge.
“I didn’t see him much in high school. He was hurt the summer before on the AAU circuit. But the thing that jumps out to me is he competes. So … he competes on possessions, and when the ball goes off the backboard. He has a competitive streak, and that showed in the three games in Europe.”
Khayat is still getting acclimated to the team and the United States, but he proved to be a great fit from the get-go, Martelli continued.
“I think the thing to me was his fierceness. He came with this presence about him. And then recognizing that this was a young kid playing against pros, no matter what the level,” Martelli said. “He runs the floor extraordinarily well. He competes. And the first thing that jumped in your mind was Franz [Wagner]. But we’ve had to say to him, ‘we don’t want you to be Franz 2.0.’ He’s not coming here … he is coming here to be Youssef and be the very best he can be.
“When you first met him, we recognized … as soon as you see him, it’s the face of a little kid. It’s not this grizzled pro, European pro. He’s a kid … but he fit with our guys.”
He’s a very fierce defender in practice, Martelli added.
“He runs well. He has a pretty stroke,” he said. “We’re working through some nerves. Nerves away from home. Let’s understand, when people say what did you guys know … what did he know? He came here sight unseen. Literally when he got off the bus at 3 a.m. two Saturdays ago, it was the first time he’d been on Michigan’s campus.
“But he’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful young guy.”
Up next: Martelli on Tarris Reed and Dug McDaniel
