Bye Bye, Juwan

He inherited a decent team and then got lucky with Franz Wagner.  Then he got even luckier with Hunter Dickinson.  The rest was failure.

There really is a list, and not to overly punish the gone, it is long one.

Red lines that you aren't supposed to cross are sympathetic warnings; cross them and everyone looks bad.  If I have it right, he went after his own son in the Jon Sanderson scandal.  It was easy to predict that he couldn't handle the terrible team and would pop again at some point.  He as much admitted it in the famous quote about how things were handled in South Chicago.  There were never really signs of change.

Then there is the unforgivable selfishness of putting both sons on the team.  It seems to me that the biggest benefit of being a scholarship athlete is you get to choose your own course.  Let them grow up.  And don't use the school and team as your own benefactor.  Howard just did it as a matter of course.  One son/player was a total prima donna, i.e., a selfish and lazy teammate , and not very good particularly in the won-loss columns, to boot.  The other is in his fourth year and did not exactly help the woeful team.  Yeah, as if either of them ever had a choice.

Third, there's the unforgettable year with the faux recruiting class.  Who even remembers their names they were in and out so quickly--one was from France and the another from Houston.  Sorry, bad joke.  The departure to another college team by Dickinson was the climax of that story.

From there it has just been going through the motions and getting worse every year.  Juwan Howard was terrible in recruiting and in the portal; many recruits never made it to campus and he never seemed to learn how to succeed within the system.  It meant apathy for those of us who usually pay attention.  I can think of one name:  Nimari Burnett.  Who the hell is he and what is he doing on Michigan's basketball team?  When I looked at box scores I saw an awful lot of 2-10, 1-7, and the like.  I mean, what is the point?  Is he supposed to be someone to build around or succeed with?  There was no real team or prospect(s) for a future.   The staff is or was worn out.  Phil Martinellii?  Give me a break.  On the court the team was awful.  Hanging over all of it was an unproven coach and unstable man.

Halfway through the season it had to be inevitable.  Everyone hung on for a bit of a dignified exit.

Now it is completely starting from scratch.  It has already started--the team will scatter and recruiting has to start over.  It is a necessary thing; they are all infected.  A few might remain and even prosper.

There is no sign of a head coach.  There is nothing there.

Fab Failure is apt.