A little over three weeks ago, Southern California coach Eric Musselman stated, with no hesitation, that forward Danny Wolf would be in the NBA next season. At that point, Wolf and the Michigan men’s basketball team had played just four games in the Big Ten.
Clearly, it didn’t take long for Wolf to burst onto the radar of mock-draft makers, professional scouts and, most notably, opposing coaches. For the bulk of the Wolverines’ season, their opponents, like the Trojans, have been keenly aware of the 7-foot ball-handler.
Unlike USC, which Wolf and Michigan dismantled, the Wolverines’ recent conference foes have not only been conscious of, but prepared to curb Wolf’s abilities.
“Danny Wolf really puts you into a bind that you’re just uncertain about, because who else is 7-foot coming off of ball screens?” Purdue coach Matt Painter said Friday after beating Michigan, 91-64. “That had us … like, ‘What should we do here?’ He’s so good at just finding that roll guy, and then he’s so good at just working downhill.”
Painter’s praise came despite the fact the Boilermakers held Wolf to just four points on a 1-for-7 clip. Because Wolf’s off night wasn’t indicative of inability, it was rather a manifestation of the growing focus opponents are placing on him.
His ability to take the ball up the court, shoot from all levels and play the five all make him a novel matchup for most teams. And pairing him with graduate center Vlad Goldin, the Wolverines’ four-five ball screen is a rabbit out of the hat that opponents haven’t played against before.
But now, they have plenty of tape to watch before facing Michigan. Purdue watched. So did Washington, Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State.
“They got very physical with Danny,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said Jan. 19 after beating Northwestern, 80-76 in overtime. “… It was a combination of when the ball did find him and he was open, he didn’t knock it down, and then the others, they defended him very well. But they did a really nice job in the four-five ball screen. They were underneath them. They challenged his catch, pushed his catch out, and then they had another defender sitting in the paint behind Vlad.”
Wolf didn’t face Big Ten-level physicality at Yale last year, in the nonconference slate this year or even against the conference’s California teams this month. To stop what made Wolf so effective then, Northwestern and the Boilermakers molded their gameplan around him.
It’s caused Wolf to suffer a rough stretch, which in turn has caused Michigan’s recent rut after a 5-0 start in Big Ten play. The Wolverines have scraped by with two wins in their last four games, but without Wolf at his best, each of those wins came from late-game heroics.
“I’m gonna have a bad game, Danny is gonna have a bad game, Vlad is gonna have a bad game,” Donaldson said Monday after beating Penn State, 76-72. “But us three, we just gotta have each other’s backs.”
On Monday, Donaldson did have Wolf’s back, his late scoring burst won the game. But the Wolverines’ aspirations far exceed an overtime win at home against the current 15th-place team in the conference.
Michigan needs Wolf to adapt to the Big Ten. Because even though May’s claims that several different guys can lead Michigan in scoring on any given night is true, Wolf is his most unique piece.
For good reason, he has the attention of opposing coaches. They know Wolf’s capabilities and have responded by playing physically against him. Now Michigan’s ceiling rests on Wolf’s response.
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