Howard is informed what’s going on and appears to be somewhere between bemused and unconcerned. When signing in the Michigan starters on this night, Martelli jotted a wonky “55” that was misinterpreted as a “51.” With that, Austin Davis was on the verge of making his first career start without even knowing it. Furthermore, despite a Catholic education, he has egregious penmanship. Martelli is new at this, though, having spent the last quarter century as a head coach. This is a wholly uncomplicated task 99.9 percent of the time in basketball. Among Howard’s three assistants, Martelli is tasked with submitting Michigan’s starting lineup to the official scorekeeper prior to each game. Hunter consults with Phil Martelli and the confusion spreads. He tells Hunter that, as of now, Davis is starting and Eli Brooks is out of the starting lineup. Davis, though he’s played well of late, has appeared in only four of nine games this season and played a total of 45 minutes.Ĭhris Hunter, U-M’s director of basketball operations, is asked by sports information director Tom Wywrot about the change.

This doesn’t make a great deal of sense, though. At first, there’s the consideration - well, Illinois is one of the few teams in the country that occasionally plays two traditional big men together (Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Kofi Cockburn). The night in Champaign begins in confusion.Ģ0:00/Pregame - Courtside, word is starting to get around that Michigan senior Austin Davis is listed as a starter vs the Illini. The only blemish comes as the game clock winds to zeros and both teams prepare for the national anthem. Somehow, his look is perpetually flawless. Howard emerges from the locker room in a well-tailored charcoal suit and a maize and blue paisley tie. The Illini were 6-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten. Illinois came in to the night through the exhaust of two recent gut-punches, a two-point loss to Miami at home and a one-point loss at Maryland. Michigan entered a near sold-out Assembly Hall with an 8-1 record, a 1-0 mark in the Big Ten and a No. The night marked the second Big Ten game of his college head-coaching career. For two hours, I watched him, not the Wolverines and Illini, and chronicled everything I could see and hear. I was back in the same seat as last year, directly behind the scorer’s table, second seat from the far end, a short chest pass away from Howard. On Wednesday, Michigan was back in Illinois. A new coach with a new mind’s eye, one worth peering into.

Juwan Howard was hired as Michigan’s head coach in May. Then, Beilein, as you may have heard, up and left. It was a one-off idea, until reader response necessitated a version for Tom Izzo.

Unhinged howard