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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a huge lift to a first-year head coach in Juwan Howard, to nab a Michigan legacy as well as a player that would have likely been considered a five-star recruit had he played ball stateside. Plus, it quelled the loss of Jalen Wilson, who flipped to Kansas after John Beilein departed for the NBA.
While expectations were high for small forward and Berlin native Franz Wagner, the younger brother of Michigan standout Moe Wagner, his progress was derailed after he suffered a wrist injury in preseason training.
Wagner made his Michigan debut nearly a week ago, when the Wolverines tipped off against Iowa State in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, not just getting his first taste of NCAA college basketball, but also coming in as a newfound starter. The former Alba Berlin player has had experience playing at a high-level, but that doesn’t mean he was truly ready to go once he hit the court.
It’s somewhat showed. He had 6 points in his debut, but was held to just 3 points and 16.67% shooting against North Carolina in his second game. He rebounded nicely going 50% from the floor and 10 points vs. Gonzaga, but watching, you could sense the frustration he had as some simple shots — like layups — rimmed in-and-out.
For his new head coach, he sees the first-year Wolverine making progress, but notes it’ll take some time for him to get his bearings.
“He’s played great to me – maybe not to his own eyes,” Howard said. “Because – sometimes the fact that the ball isn’t going in all the time for him, but it takes time. It’s not gonna happen overnight where you just come right in and three straight games and you play the way you probably played in the past where the ball falls right in every time for you or your rhythm is playing, you feel so comfortable out there on the floor. Your conditioning is at an all-time high. Right now, he’s not in basketball shape. It takes time for him adjust to that schedule of change of direction and your body with those different type of movements.
“Yeah, you can run all the quarters you want without practice. You can go out there on the treadmill, prepare yourself for the conditioning. But basketball shape is totally different.
“The cones are undefeated! Well – you can score a lot versus the cones. But, when you have that arm in your hand, or arm in your face and somebody’s beating your body, that’s a different level of play right there.”
But what does he need to do to get to where he needs to be?
Howard says, just keep doing what he’s doing.
“I would say this: Franz competes,” Howard says. “He’s the ultimate competitor. You can tell how he’s defended defensively down there in the Bahamas, how he’s battled things on the board. He’s not making excuses for himself. If anything, he gets down on himself, and I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You’re not gonna have that. Next play mentality. It’s gonna fall. You’re just not feeling your legs underneath you. It’ll all come back. When it comes back, it’s gonna come back in stretches, where it’s like domino effect. Make five in a row.’ I trust and believe that.
“But it’s not all about making shots. It’s about when he plays, and he’s diving on the floor for loose balls, after having a wrist injury. It goes to show you he’s a competitor.”
He’ll have a prime opportunity on Tuesday night as No. 4 Michigan heads to Kentucky to take on No. 1 Louisville.
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