Jon Horford To Transfer Comment Count

Brian

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underneath the Banyan tree, wherever he goes

Uh

University of Michigan men's basketball head coach John Beileinannounced today (Thursday, April 10) that senior forward Jon Horford (Grand Ledge, Mich./Grand Ledge HS) will not return to the Wolverine program in 2014-15, planning to transfer for his final season of eligibility.

That is not good. With Jordan Morgan graduating, Michigan's only other post is Mitch McGary. Even if he comes back next year, Horford figured to get a significant amount of playing time when McGary was tired or in foul trouble.

While Horford struggled badly down the stretch, you could say the same for Jordan Morgan last year and that worked out okay. Fifth-year senior bigs tend to be better than you'd expect. Horford's departure opens up time for Mark Donnal and likely means a redshirt for Ricky Doyle is no longer an option. That latter is unfortunate; again, see Jordan Morgan.

The one possible silver lining here is that the reason Horford is moving on is that he feels he'll get more playing time elsewhere, a decision that implies McGary's return and maybe even Robinson's since that would increase competition for minutes everywhere. It's hard to believe he would skip town with 30 minutes a night staring him in the face. But Horford was always a bit of a different guy.

Comments

Steves_Wolverines

April 10th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^

Wow. Now who saw this coming?? Even IF McGary decided to come back, Horford would still be #2. He'd still be seeing 10-15 mins/game. And IF McGary leaves, he'd be the #1 option at the 5. 

Wow

Well good luck to Horford as he continues his journey elsewhere. 

Jon06

April 10th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^

His sister tweeted something about how he should switch to Florida 2 or 3 years ago. Brian never thought it was anything, but I've been worried lately. If McGary and Robinson come back, he's not a starter next year, and that's not good enough for a guy with NBA aspirations.

Silver lining: at least McGary must be coming back.

ETA: Here is the tweet:

I want to see Jon become a Florida Gator.

Jon06

April 11th, 2014 at 12:25 AM ^

I don't even have a Twitter account that I use, but I tend to click around for a little while whenever I check out anybody's tweets. That means I end up reading recent tweets by people who've been mentioned by the account I was originally reading. (I only managed to find it again now because it was in my outbox, as I'd sent Brian a link to find out if he'd heard any related rumblings.)

Anyway, I'm surprised more people don't protect their tweets from the public. I guess they expect more privacy than there actually is.

stephenrjking

April 10th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^

What if this makes GRIII's departure more likely, since this virtually guarantees that he'll be seeing significant time at the 4 and we know that's an issue for him?

Just trying to find the tar lining on a silver cloud.

FreddieMercuryHayes

April 10th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^

I was thinking the same damn thing and I don't like it.  I imagine that GRIII's decision will weigh heavily on if he keeps having to play as an underized 4 or if he can finally make a move to his potential pro position.  I was thinking that if McGary comes back, and Donnal coming off the RS, there's minimal time when GRIII would have to play the 4.  But now...ugh, he's still probably heavily in the rotation if theoretical McGary has to spend more time at the 5.  Unless Beifeldt, like, grew two inches in the last couple of weeks and we don't know about it.

MI Expat NY

April 10th, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^

Except that relies on Bielfeldt/Wilson/Doyle taking the majority of back-up minutes at the 4 and 5.  That might work depending on Wilson and/or Doyle being able to come in and play the majority of those backup minutes at the 4.  But if I'm GRIII, I'd like the probability of McGary/Donnal/Horford taking more 4 and 5 minutes than McGary/Donnal/Some combination of the other 3.

alum96

April 10th, 2014 at 4:25 PM ^

I know he is a RS fresh and not true fresh but outside of Randle types first year big men dont play 30 minutes.   Look at Mitch for example...again its 1 year difference but this is asking the sun and moon.  They also tend to get into foul trouble a lot as they play older guys and get no respect from refs.  They also tend to sorta suck on defense which leads to more fouls. If we get a good 22 minutes out of him a night in his first year that would be something to be happy about.

Bielfeldt Doyle and Wilson now all are in play - would have liked to redshirt both Doyle and Wilson but if Mitch doesnt come back that is literally our "4 big men".   And Bielfdelt...well is Bielfeldt.  Even if Mitch comes back you take the RS off one and maybe both.

Mr Miggle

April 10th, 2014 at 4:39 PM ^

this season at the 4? While Zak Irvin is obviously not a prototype PF, that won't stop Beilein from continuing to use him there. If GRIII is playing the 3, that's the main way to get Irvin on the floor. I can't imagine Doyle or Bielfeldt taking significant minutes away from Zak.

johnvand

April 10th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^

Technically, if all the underclassmen stay we were going to be over the schollarship limit for 14/15 (allbeit for a day once Austin Hatch was turned into a medical)...

 

...

 

maybe??

...

just maybe??

...

JLi5

April 10th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^

Best of luck to him in the next journey.  His maturity and leadership is going to be sorely missed.  I'm surprised along with everyone and was looking forward to seeing him be a valuable piece next season.

woodfeld

April 10th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^

Not to rain on the "this probably means McGary is coming back" parade, but Horford seems like a guy pretty serious about education and his future endeavors....what if UM didn't offer the best option for grad school for him and that's why he's transferring, not playing time?

Leaders And Best

April 10th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^

Based on the graduate transfer rule in order to be immediately eligible, he has to transfer to a new school that has a graduate program that Michigan does not offer and Horford wants to enroll in. If Horford was looking for a graduate program that Michigan does not already offer, I think we would have known about this a long time ago.

It's pretty easy to do if you are transferring from a small school that does not offer many graduate programs. It is a little harder to do transferring from Michigan that has a wealth of them.

mackbru

April 10th, 2014 at 4:39 PM ^

Just because the guy is into Taoism doesn't mean his transfer is related to that. If he just wanted a different academic experience, he wouldn't be transferring; he'd just attend grad school somewhere else. But transferring implies that he's switching basketball programs. And, if the guy wants to play -- or play pro ball -- the potential for dimished playing time would be a motivating force. McGary's return, plus an ascendant Donnal, suggests he'd get less PT this year. Not to mention that Horford recently said he'd be back. 

bronxblue

April 10th, 2014 at 5:37 PM ^

I guess, but then what program is out there that is so much better than one offered by UM AND has a basketball program that he'd want to play for?  If it was all about education, then either take part in Senior Day or spend one more year at UM getting some type of graduate degree and then just become a regular grad student at your preferred institution.  Not saying he can't find a better program, but this seems like a really weird way of getting to that end point.  

DowntownLJB

April 10th, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^

Good luck to you Jon, in whatever you do!

 

 

 

this makes me sad.  though I'm not really all that surprised.  I thought his article posted during the tournament signaled a guy who wasn't really where he wanted to be (something about the overall tone more than the specific words).

Dustinlo

April 10th, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^

I am going to take an educated guess and say that Beilein had some sort of say in this. I would imagine he may have initiated that talk with Horford in regards to playing time next year. If Mitch is coming back and Donnel is as advertised, there may not be much more than ten minutes or so a game next year. I doubt that Horford simply decided to transfer on his own.