Mitch McGary To NBA
Exit. [Fuller]
Well, dammit. McGary's out the door and in the end there wasn't even a decision to make:
The Michigan sophomore who turned down a prime opportunity to enter last year's NBA draft and paid a price has decided to declare for the 2014 draft, admitting that he failed an NCAA-administered drug test in March and faced a one-year suspension from college basketball.
The drug test he failed was for pot, which seems ludicrous. Since when does the NCAA even test for pot, let alone levy year-long suspensions? Especially of a player who didn't even play? The situation here is insane. If Michigan issues the test, they get to decide the punishment. If the NCAA does, it's pretty much a death penalty for your career:
By failing a test administered by the NCAA, rather than his school, McGary was subject to the draconian Bylaw 18.4.1.5.1, which calls for a player to be "ineligible for a minimum of one calendar year." A second offense, even for just marijuana, results in permanent banishment.
"If it had been a Michigan test, I would've been suspended three games and possibly thought about coming back," McGary said. "I don't have the greatest circumstances to leave right now [due to the injury]. I feel I'm ready, but this pushed it overboard.
"I don't think the penalty fits the crime. I think one year is overdoing it a little bit."
Michigan agreed, McGary said, and appealed the decision to the NCAA in early April. It was denied, however. Neither the university nor the NCAA would comment directly on the case or the appeal.
The NCAA is the worst organization in the world (that isn't FIFA). They just changed the penalty to a half-season—still ludicrously punitive for a substance that is heading towards legalization within a decade—and would still not relent, because think of the NCAA like a marching band full of assholes. Good on McGary for just talking about it. At least one party in this situation comes off like an adult.
Michigan's situation at the five is now pretty alarming. They've got true freshman Ricky Doyle and, now out of necessity, redshirt freshman Mark Donnal. Transfer Cole Huff now has a scholarship slot, though he would not be available next year.
i knew something like this had to be coming. the sports gods never let Michigan be good at bball for too long. now if only they would stop kicking our football team in the nuts.
Sorry if this has already been mentioned and not to take anything away from the issue as to whether or not this was a random test and whether the NCAA policy is reasonable, but one thing that bugs me is when an athlete or celebrity appears to "come clean" as McGary appears to have done, yet they truly have not been forthright and honest.
What I am referring to is that there are reports that he was tested two weeks after allegedly using MJ one time. I am not certain as to the type of assay, but a typical urine test with a typical cut-off level will not be called a positive test after one night of marijuana use two weeks earlier that was reportedly his only use ever.
McGary's story does not fit scientific facts.
Just sayin.
The Detroit News story mentioned that he told Yahoo Sports that he used it one time in March. I guess if you want to split hairs, perhaps he used it every day in February and that could account for a positive test; however, if this was his one and only time of use, then he would not test positive two weeks later using typical cut-off levels.
The NCAA lowered the THC cutoff/threshold by 66% (from 15 units per whatever to 5 units per whatever) before this year.
Can someone briefly explain what happend to Jamal Crawford at Michigan? I tried searching for it but had little luck. Thanks
He accepted benefits from a businessman named Barry Henthorn, who had befriended him and was acting as if he was his guardian--he fed and sheltered him, gave him gifts--but didn't have legal status. The NCAA's eventual determination was that he wasn't an agent but there was some odd smoke around the guy: Eric Metcalf was part-owner of his company and Corey Dillon claimed he'd been offered a share if he agreed to have Henthorn act as his agent.
Some background from the local Seattle paper:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000307&slug=…
That's what I meant by "acting as his guardian" but I should have been more clear.
I can't remember the exact quote but I remember Bo saying that the reason so many of these rules seem to overreach is that when they don't overreach there's always somebody driving a truck through the loophole.
Here you've got a pretty desperate kid, and the offer he gets out of his situation is from a shady businessman trying to turn a buck (as I recall, a contract was found, unsigned, that would have turned profits from Crawford's likeness over to Henthorn, whose financial situation was pretty precarious himself). If you want to keep agents out of the college game, that's a pretty big loophole to leave and it's the worst characters who will exploit it. But the only parties in reach of NCAA enforcement are the two parties not at fault, Crawford and the school that recruited him. They can't touch Henthorn.
Although, to be fair, the notoriety does seem to have driven Henthorn out of the pseudo-agent business.. I don't remember hearing any more about him dealing with athletes after that, but maybe I wasn't paying attention. So, NCAA's goal attained, maybe, but the means were less than ideal.
I lost all respect for the NCAA after the Miami FL and supporter Nevin Shapiro case a couple years ago. He was giving the Miami players handouts, free nightclub evenings and hookers on luxury yachts. Don't have time look it up again, but I believe it amounted to over $1 million over eight years.
The University proposed tournament ineligitability during the period they were irrevelant and maybe a few scolarships, which the NCAA accepted. The NCAA investigators completely botched the inquiry, when Miami should have been given the death penalty.
The NCAA can go hide in the Bible belt and let college sports evolve in the real world.
Double standards...
McGary did make a mistake - choosing to smoke when he's on a scholarship and knows that's verboten is a bad choice.
That said, I think choosing to, say, drink and drive, or steal a laptop, or assault someone are all considerably worse choices - and the NCAA seems to ignore all of that. A one year suspension is absurd when other worse crimes are unpunished at all. There's no proportion here, so yes, the NCAA has f'ed up again.
That that said, there was a non-zero chance McGary was leaving anyway - his injury put him in a really tough spot. I wish him well and hope he excels in the NBA and makes better choices in future.
As far as what this does to Michigan's 2014 hoops prospects ... I have no clue, but I trust the coaching staff to get the most out of the talent they have (and there's still quite a bit). The problem is that a game can be dominated by one player because they can play all game (unlike hockey and football) and affect the action whenever they're in (unlike baseball), and we will need an answer for the Kaminsky's and Dawson's of the world. I don't know what it will be, but if anyone can figure it out it's Beilein.
April 30th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
FIrst off, weed is legal where I live. Nobody looks down on anyone smoking it. I don't smoke it myself but who freeking cares. Mitch did not make a poor decision.
I suggest we test the top 100 salaried employees of the NCAA for weed 8 times a year. If they test positive once then an automatic year without salary.
Time to disband the NCAA.
Good luck Mitch we love you!
for a game he had no intention of playing in, would he still have been tested?
I always wish what's best for the players.
I also wish that Mitch had been choosing what's best for himself from both options, without his hand being forced.
Someone in the NBA draft is gonna get a steal.
Thanks for the National Championship appearance last year and for the sideline antics this year :)
April 25th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
It's a great line, but regarding the NCAA, my understanding is there's no there there, no decision-making staff. What I mean is, NCAA staff is just sort of minimal investigative staff along with I guess other marketing (top notch!) and what-not. But the decision making is in the committees, and the committees are made up of people from member schools.
Alas, the Wetzel story tells us only that McGary "appealed the decision to the NCAA in early April." Unless the appeal was heard by the custodial staff or by the genius who came up with that marching band commercial, I have to think it was heard by some committee. Anyone know which one?
I also did not know that Lloyd Carr serves on the Committee on Infractions.
April 25th, 2014 at 10:05 PM ^
and David Williams of Vanderbilt voted to uphold the penalty, but I guess we'll never know for sure.
http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/infractions-appea…
April 26th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
Has anyone seen anything where McGary says that he was going to come back?
Either make me feel better (with a no) or put me out of my misery (if it was a yes).
Well, I wonder, Mitch used to wear a suit to all the games. Then the team asked him to be in uniform, not to play but to be "part of the team" Seemed innocent enough. A nice gestture. If he was in a suit, instead of a game uniform, would have the NCAA tested him? is there a rule that injured players who cannot play are not tested? Did this innocent gesture for team morale, inadvertently cost McGary another year playing for Michigan?
...of reading the posts linked in the O.P., or the many comments above addressing this, here's the relevant paragraph from the Yahoo article:
McGary may have worn a uniform for the Tennessee game, but it didn't matter. The NCAA can demand a school test an injured player who remains back on campus.
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