J. P. Estrella

Elliott Cadot is the only guy who can get downhill kind of whenever he wants.

I thought he looked so quick in these scrimmages and the ability to collapse a defense like that effortlessly and then have the playmaking to kick out to Trey McKinney and Quinn Costello and Joseph Hartman and J.P. Estrella and Mustafa Cham.

That alone is going to be so crucial for Michigan and a big part of how they operate.

My concern, though... is whether it's enough, of whether he can really sustain that level of creation responsibility.

Would you take TKR or Michigan right now? Me personally, I have essentially given up on the season.

I don't need to upgrade JP Estrella.

I don't think he magically swings the year.

And I don't.

I think both of those numbers, minutes per game and points per game, will both soar.

When I watch J.P. Estrella, I would love to see him play a lot like Merez Johnson did last year.

Outwork your opponent, out-tough them, outrun them in transition.

I think that J.P. Estrella has a chance to be a great leader on this team.

He's very vocal.

He could also lead the Big Ten in offensive rebounds this year.

I think we got a lot of pieces to bring together.

J.P. Estrella played great.

We got a slight glimpse at Mustafa Tiam, right? You've got Quinn Costello, you know, some stellar freshman transfers that are going to bring a lot to the mix.

And so now it's just on Coach Mike Boynton to just bring all these ingredients together in the right way at the right moment and bake this thing properly.

is awful now they are getting Roddy Gale back from last year's team on a TRO for a fifth year if obviously that holds but that is huge for them it obviously isn't a good thing in the grand scheme of things to lose Brandon McCoy even though you get Roddy Gale like they wanted to have both they wanted to have Elliott Trey Brandon McCoy Roddy Gale and then their master frontcourt obviously too so this is a massive hit for Michigan we've already talked about Michigan being like I've been saying I've I'm not sure what I can be confident in.

Can I be confident in Mike Boynton to carry on what Dusty May and that system has kind of instilled in them and the systems that they've run? Can I be confident that losing their three big lottery picks into the NBA from last year that won the national championship Can I be confident that Elliot Cadell and Trey McKinney and what hopefully would have been Brandon McCoy could carry them with a new frontcourt in JP Estrella, obviously, but not nearly as prolific of a frontcourt as they had last year.

So it's a lot of question marks for Michigan right now.

It sucks, but it kind of is what it is.

They've been through this stuff.

J.P. Estrella's been to three straight Elite Eights.

He knows what being in the trenches is like.

But having Quinn out there and Oscar and some of our other younger guys to be able to just experience that was a tremendous bonus for us.

I think our entire coaching staff is going to continue to work with everyone on our roster, but in terms of you know, when we break up into positional work in practice, outside of practice, you know, I'll be able to spend a lot of time with our front court, which is really exciting.

You think about the three transfers, Mustafa Cham, J.P. Estrella, Jalen Reed, and then our two freshmen in the front court, Marcus Moeller and lincoln cosby and they're all different you know with what they bring but uh i think they all have the ability to play inside and out uh i think that's that's really important for how we want to play um i think it's really important for spacing purposes and uh yeah just trying to help these guys find solutions to uh different defenses that we'll see trying to help them continue to um you know get us extra possessions at both ends of the court by being great rebounders and also uh being as good as they can defensively, both guarding bigs, and then if they have to, get switched on to perimeter guys, being really good with their defensive versatility.

I was

excited to see Mustafa Cam, and it never really materialized because he tweaked his ankle.

yeah head coaches don't want their coaching staff being too good it's a sign that they they maybe are playing golf instead of watching film this is true yeah um of the the new michigan players that you've had a chance to meet who's the funniest guy on the team

funniest guy on the team uh i it's a good question we've got some we've got some really good uh Guys that are smart and quick-witted.

I would say that in his own way, I'll answer J.P. Estrella to that.

I agree with that.

Mustafa Thiam looked good until he got injured the first few minutes of the first game.

J.P. Estrella had a very good second game.

He had some foul trouble the first game.

And then I got a couple freshmen that looked like they had the potential to contribute.

It's not a Daimara.

It's a little bit more dynamic.

J.P. Estrella, he's up and down the floor.

A lot of transition, a lot of pick and roll.