Michigan basketball: Howard Eisley on a team strength, 'looking for a huge year' from Dug McDaniel, Jaelin Llewellyn, more

Michigan Wolverines basketball is without its head coach for the time being. Fifth-year head man Juwan Howard underwent successful heart surgery Sept. 15 and has weeks of recovery in front of him. Associate head coach Phil Martelli has stepped in as acting head coach, and director of player personnel Jay Smith has been elevated to an on-floor coaching role. According to assistant coach Howard Eisley, the staff is working hard to make sure Michigan doesn’t miss a beat.

“First of all, we think it’s a true blessing that he was able to have successful heart surgery, and he’s in recovery mode, looking to get back,” Eisley said on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast with host Brian Boesch. “Things around the office have been great. Guys have really stepped up, and we are really looking forward to having him back. But while he’s out, we’re just trying to carry on the things that he’s already instilled in the team and really try to have a seamless transition for when he gets back. A lot of the heavy lifting early, as far as a quote-unquote training camp, will be done when he gets back, and he can hit the ground running.”

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The staff has all “pulled together,” per Eisley, in order to “keep the boat afloat.” A big emphasis in the preseason has been focusing on the “details.”

The Wolverines missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago for the first time since 2015, flopping down the stretch with three-straight losses, including two in overtime, before being relegated to the NIT. Four of Michigan’s 11 scholarship players this season are new — three transfers and one incoming freshman — and many of the returners have yet to play key roles in college basketball. Eisley pointed out that while those who are back are motivated by the disappointing end to last season, this year will take a life of its own and a new identity.

“I think we all are motivated — the guys that were here last year, and the guys on the staff,” the Michigan assistant said. “We’re definitely very motivated. Last year didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. But a positive note — and I don’t think anybody remembers this — maybe like two weeks to go in the regular season, we were tied for second [in the Big Ten].

“Obviously, we have some work to do, but the beauty is, this is a completely different team. You have an opportunity to really grow this team, and no two years are the same. The two teams, last year’s team and this year’s team, are different groups of guys. Some of these guys weren’t even here last year. They have a different mindset. They didn’t feel what the guys that were here last year felt.

“They’re really concentrating on being the best version of themselves and this being the best team that it can be. It’s two different reactions to that, but I think we all are motivated and competitive enough to want this to be the best team that we can be.”

One thing that’s also different about this Michigan team: it has more players who can play multiple positions. That flexibility will be crucial in configuring lineups and posing different looks for opponents to deal with.

“That’s going to be one of the strengths of this team,” Eisley said of Michigan’s positional versatility. “We have quite a few guys that can play multiple positions, but more important than playing multiple positions, they can guard multiple positions. When you’re able to do that, it just increases your opportunities on the floor. We have an athletic team, we’re gonna be long, so we can pose a lot of matchup problems for other teams. Defensively, our length can really bother some teams.”

Michigan needs Dug McDaniel ‘to take a giant step,’ Jaelin Llewellyn still recovering

Michigan is glad sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel has a lot of experience playing college basketball from the standpoint of this year’s team. But the Wolverines didn’t plan on him playing as much as he did a season ago — when he totaled 1,047 minutes, the most by a U-M freshman point guard since Trey Burke in 2012 (1,227) — after graduate Jaelin Llewellyn went down with an ACL injury in December.

Now that McDaniel — who averaged 8.6 points and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 39.9 percent on twos and 35.5 percent on threes — has been in the program over a year, the Wolverines are expecting much more from him.

“First of all, Dug is a very talented player and probably one of the most competitive guys on our team,” the Michigan assistant said. “It only helps that he had the opportunity to experience those growing pains last year. We’re looking for a huge year from Dug. Even though we are an experienced team, we need Dug to be a leader on the floor, an extension of Coach. Especially after being with him a year, he has an idea of what Coach wants. We need him to take a giant step and be a leader from that position. Coach always has a lot of pressure on that guy and a lot of accountability, because he’s our coach on the floor.

“So, Dug has to continue his growth as a player and as a leader. But I think he’s up for the challenge, and he’s really looking forward to this season He was one of the few returning guys from last year that was really disappointed with how the season ended.”

McDaniel talked earlier this offseason about his “silent grind” since the end of Michigan’s 2023 campaign, not broadcasting the work he’s putting in.

“I think he’s very motivated,” Eisley said. “He wants to become a better player, but also you look at the team success, being thrust into the fire last year, that was heavy, especially in this conference, for an incoming freshman. And we were a very young team last year.

“The fact that he went through that … I think he had a good year last year. Obviously, a freshman is going to be up and down, and that was expected considering the circumstances. So, I think he’s going to use all that experience he got last year to help propel him this year to having a good year for us.”

Llewellyn has been photographed by the Michigan social media team at practice, getting some work in on the floor, but it’s unknown when he will return for full participation, after he underwent knee surgery in January. The Wolverines are thin on backcourt depth and could use his services.

“He’s on his way back. He’s doing well,” Eisley reported. “He is really trying his best to get back on the floor and help our guys.

“Obviously, his season didn’t end the way that he wanted it to, and I think overall it impacted the team a great deal. But he wants to be back on the floor, and he has a lot of knowledge. The thing that was so tough is when he went down, I thought he was really starting to turn a corner for us. So hopefully he can pick up where he left off at and really come in and help us in any way he can.”

Llewellyn averaged 7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in eight appearances for Michigan last season, before being hurt Dec. 4 against Kentucky in London. He shot 42.9 percent from inside the arc and 18.5 percent (5-of-27) from behind the long line.