Unverified Voracity Braces For Departure Comment Count

Brian

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ROAR [Allison Farrand/Daily]

SHERMAN'D. Congrats to Michigan wrestling, which took down #2 Minnesota over the weekend thanks to a dramatic OT win by heavyweight Adam Coon over Minnesota's two-time defending national champion Tony Nelson. Well done, sirs.

Meanwhile, Dave Brandon captured the most important part of the meet:

Kudos to you sir on your triumphant victory.

Well… that sounds not ideal. Michigan's been extraordinarily fortunate to have their supposedly-middling recruits blow up into NBA first-rounders (yes even if we assume that John Beilein is a crazy talent evaluation ninja), but also kind of sort of unfortunate that their super good players have been of the variety the NBA covets instead of terrific college players the pros are indifferent to, like McDermott/Payne/Craft/Berggren etc.

You thought Nik Stauskas might be one of those four year awesome guys, but… uh… you've probably seen him play of late. And unless Joe Dumars clones himself and gets himself appointed to every other NBA GM job, chances are the NBA will think he's pretty good. If they do, don't expect Stauskas to pull the McGary. From a recent SI profile on the most swag Canadian:

“He sees the brass ring, like three inches away from his nose,” [father] Paul Stauskas said. “He knows all he has to do is keep his nose to the grindstone for another couple of months, and there’s a really good possibility he might be able to go pro. He’s working really hard to achieve that.”

Can't begrudge the kid, obviously, but a Stauskas departure would leave Michigan a bit thin next year on the wings. Also they would not have Hypothetical Junior Nik Stauskas, which…

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The ideal is that the Uber-Loaded 2014 NBA Draft™ convinces Stauskas to return for one more year. I would brace for departure impact if Stauskas keeps doing what he's doing, though.

GRANDPA ASSASSIN. John Beilein's version of the Richard Sherman promo in the aftermath of the Wisconsin win:

"I don't care," the Michigan coach said Monday night, later adding, "It will be a good win if we have a great season." …

"Things that happen during the year, yeah, they’re cool and our guys like them. But where people are rated right now is such a projection. You can beat a team (that is) No. 1 in the country and by the end of the year, they might not even be in the top 25. So did you really beat the No. 1 team in the country?

"Here’s what it is: Any road win, I don’t care if we go to Concordia to play, is a quality, quality win. And (Wisconsin) was a quality win."

A requirement given Michigan's next two games. Me, I'm refreshing Kenpom every five minutes.

Tim Miles is okay by me. Nebraska picked up its first Big Ten win of the season last night, beating Ohio State at home. In the aftermath, Husker coach Tim Miles told BTN  that he should probably go jump around during his post-game interview, and then took a selfie with a fan on the court.

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Miles also has an entertaining-for-a-coach, actually-him twitter account and a Beilien-esque track record of success at smaller schools that led him to Nebraska. Viva Tim Miles. Viva Nebrasketball.

Lohan come back. Injured Michigan defenseman Kevin Lohan is badly needed with the Wolverines leaking goals and slipping in the pairwise. He should be back soon:

Right now, Lohan says he’s at about 90 percent — while the recovery process has been long and arduous, he’s progressing well ahead of schedule. On Nov. 5, Berenson said the injury was a “worst-case scenario” and that it would take at least three months until the defenseman had a chance to play again.

“He’s doing really well,” Berenson said. “He’s pretty close to going all-out.”

He won't play this weekend's series against MSU; the next week or the week after are targets for a return. Mike Spath reports that when he does come back, only Bennett, Downing, and Sinelli(!) are safe. This says much about the development, or lack thereof, from Clare and Serville.

Wisconsin takes. They come from the Daily, UMHoops, Maize and Brew, and MLive. Meanwhile, Fran McCaffery lays it on a teeny bit thick in the lead up to Wednesday's showdown with Iowa:

“If you look at John over the years, he’s one of the best coaches of our generation,” said McCaffery, who will bring Iowa to the Crisler Center on Wednesday. “And the numbers bear that out. He’s going to stick with his style of play. They play a certain way. They can beat you in halfcourt, they can beat you in transition, they’re going to guard you.

"His offense is really sound, it’s not easy to guard and he’s going to plug the people into those positions and he’s going to go to those guys."

Meanwhile, Beilein provided an informative update on what's going on with redshirting Mark Donnal:

"He’s increased his strength a great deal. He’s probably like Horford or Morgan as far as a rebounder. Great hands. But he’s so much stronger than he was. He’s country strong anyhow, I mean he’s strong. He’s gaining weight. The one thing he has, which I’m looking forward to coaching, is he can really shoot the ball. He can really pass the ball. When you have big men who can do that, it can really open up your offense. But this was absolutely the right decision, because in all the other things freshmen go through — learning the offense but most importantly, defense — he needed this year to develop.”

Donnal will be Beilein's first post-type substance at Michigan who might resemble Kevin Pittsnogle in any way whatsoever. Will be interesting to see how that works with Michigan's current style of offense, which I assume isn't going away even if Stauskas exits since LeVert and Walton can pick up the pick and roll burden without issue.

Etc: Stauskas on the Journey. Wyatt Shallman shaved his head to look more like a kid at Mott. Michigan much better at offense, worse at defense without McGary, correlation is not causation. Michigan continues to dominate the USA's ice dancing program. Looking at Iowa's success.

Comments

wolverine1987

January 21st, 2014 at 5:10 PM ^

For college ball that statement is obviously true and I agree. But I see Stauskus as the epitome of one of those guys that can light it up in college but lacks the overall game to suceed in the pros. I don't see him as a starter in the NBA because I don't think he is quick enough or talented enough to take it to the rim and score consistently when his outside shot is stopped. That might be the case in another year but I respectfully don't think it is now.

Having said that I wouldn't blame him at all and I hope I am totally wrong and he starts for years.

RobSk

January 21st, 2014 at 5:12 PM ^

So, just made a post on this in another thread, but quick response -

I think Stauskas would be better served (not just UM, but the kid) by staying in college another year. I'm not convinced at this point that his drive threat is strong enough to deter NBA level defenders from hanging around in his jock and killing the jumper. Also, I'm just not clear who he can guard consistently. NBA small forward shooting guards may light him up to a degree that is outside the norm.

Yes, he's my favorite college player, I love watching him play, so maybe this is self serving, and I'm fooling myself. But I still see him having a lot of trouble with quick wings defensively, and while the NBA is not a defend first league, you can't be really abysmal at staying in front of people consistently if you want a long career. That's what I'd love to see for Stauskas, a 5-10 year NBA career, not 3 years in 10-12 roster spot land, then 10 day contracts, then europe.

   Rob

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 5:19 PM ^

But if he's a 3-years-then-Europe guy, staying one more year won't change that.  So unless you want him to come back just to take 30 credits of a foreign language, I don't really see the benefit.  

This all assumes he has a first round grade in April.  If not, this conversation is moot.  

funkywolve

January 22nd, 2014 at 12:45 AM ^

I agree with what others have said about not necessarily having the defense or possibly offensive skills at this point to stay in the nba.  However, a year or two more of honing his skills and shooting and maybe he could stick ala a Kyle Korver or JJ Reddick.

Like you said though, it mainly comes down to whether he's projected as a first round pick.  Luckily for UM fans, this is supposed to be one of the deepest drafts in a while.

MichFan1997

January 21st, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^

Is possibly the best upper weight wrestler ever to come through this state. He was a 4x state champ. Twice at 215, two other times at heavyweight. Now, the football team has picked up some great heavyweight wrestlers. Mike Martin and Terrance Taylor were both state champs. They weren't on Coon's level. We have a real special one, and a real shot at having a 4x ncaa champ

Blue Bunny Friday

January 21st, 2014 at 9:59 PM ^

What does that mean for him?  I honestly don't know.  He could win multiple gold medals.   I do know that Brock Lesnar made a max of $450k (- sponsors) when he fought in UFC (2-3x/yr) and Mike Martin signed a 4-year $2.72M contract.  One was the best upper weight wrestler and marketable in the UFC, the other was a 3rd round pick in the NFL draft.  The average career length of a 1st round pick is 9.3 yrs and UFC careers are way shorter.

He may be wrestling because it makes him McGary puppy-happy or to get an education and make a living in something else.  I prefer football to wrestling, but he may not.  If both were close to equal, I would encourage him to try-out.

Spontaneous Co…

January 21st, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^

I think Beilein is drooling at the thought of a post player with a good outside shot.  Ball screen offense with a big who can not only roll to the hoop but pick and pop will just be one more wrinkle to an already hard to guard offense.

Don

January 21st, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

where all your best players are gone after two years.

The days of our most talented players saying that the "brass ring" is playing four years and graduating with a degree are long gone.

BiSB

January 21st, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^

A degree is nice, but for a first rounder, their first contract (which is guaranteed) will probably be worth more than they would ever make with their degree alone. In financial terms, a degree from Michigan for a guy like GRIII is worth basically nothing. And while there is certainly value in education generally, the normal goal of a college education is to further one's career prospects, which for these guys... mission accomplished.

Don

January 21st, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^

I get what you're saying and agree that it reflects actual reality, but to me it points out the vast hypocrisy that's at the heart of big-time college athletics.

If you asked every major administrator from MSC on down at UM whether the goal of a student-athlete's time at UM is solely to prepare for their professional athletic career, I guarantee that they will strenuously assert that their education is the primary goal, because competitive athletics is not regarded by any of them as an academic discipline. That's why they continually stress the term "student-athlete," as hypocritical as it actually is.

The fact that so many now just take it as a matter of course that an education at Michigan (or any other institution) is basically worthless is a sad commentary on where our culture is.

I'll get off my own lawn now.

BiSB

January 21st, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^

I'd say the one mitigating factor is that early-entrants and sure-fire-professional players represent a fraction of football/basketball/hockey, and a very small fraction of all college athletes. For every Burke/GRIII/Lewan, there are hundreds of other athletes who still use sports to get them to their degrees.

aiglick

January 21st, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^

The interesting thing, and something that could really affect higher education going forward, is that the cost-benefit analysis is increasingly becoming harder for ordinary students to justify. Salaries are not keeping up with tuitions and if the latter keeps increasing at an exponential rate then pretty much everybody if going to need financial aid.

I can understand your point about athletes and do think that those NBA prospect underclassmen that are not a lock for the first round should really consider staying another year. If you are a lock then you probably should go.

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^

I don't think this is hypocrisy at all.   The vast majority of student-athletes, even in the big money sports, never sniff the pros and to them, the degree is very valuable.  This is why saying student-athlete is very accurate.  A guy I work with has a national championship ring from FSU and he was a starter, but now he does what I do and you need a degree for that.  

Just because a minority of that group decides that big money is more important than a degree doesn't ruin the concept of the student-athlete. College is training for a career.  Most careers require it.  A degree just shows that you've completed that training (or one level of it).  But what if you're just better than almost everyone else and you're "trained" earlier?   If your potential employers agree, why keep training?  Why not do?

This is hard to imagine in the typical career paths, because Boeing or JP Morgan aren't looking for really smart sophomores and juniors to hire.  But if you were an art student who was offered to take on a huge art project for big bucks after your second year at Michigan, wouldn't you take it?  Or a music student who was offered a multi-million dollar recording contract at the same time?  Those students came to Michigan for their training.  If they are already trained and their employers agree, do they really need the degree for it to be true?

cmd600

January 21st, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^

But the role of college is to prepare you for the real world in a lot more facets than just education.  Stauskas is going to "further" his "career" (your words) by preparing for the NBA while at Michigan. Now, that's true for a very small percentage of even NCAA athletes, so the eggs should be put in different baskets, so to speak, and a Michigan degree is still worth a hell of a lot for many people. It's just that in this specific instance, Stauskas preparing for the NBA is worth a lot more, at this moment in time, than an education from Michigan. If some whiz kid programmer developed some great piece of software that required his undevoted attention to put out in the marketplace, would anyone bemoan the fact that he didn't finish school? Of course not. And of course, Stauskas can always come back and finish his degree when the time better suits him.

JeepinBen

January 21st, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^

and will go Brian and add one HOWEVA:

I think that being at college even a year does a lot to prepare even future pro athletes for being professionals as opposed to high school kids. Having a personal budget (even if it's the dorms), time management etc is a lot different at Michigan than it is at home in high school.

Also, I really hope the NCAA does allow student athletes' scholastic eligibility to continue to exist even if they lose playing eligibility - IE if Stauskas goes pro this coming year he'll be able to come back to Michigan for 2 years without paying tuition. While his first contract can earn him more than a UM degree will, being able to get that degree later in life can't hurt his post-NBA prospects.

BiSB

January 21st, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^

I wish schools were actually able to provide more relevant education for some of these guys. A financial planning course or a public relations course would be way more valuable to a one-and-done than PoliSci 101. It would destroy the facade of the pure "student-athlete," but it would serve these kids better.

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^

Regarding scholastic eligibility vs. playing eligibility - once a player has no more playing eligibility, the NCAA has no more jurisdiction over that student, so it wouldn't be an NCAA or eligibility issue at all.  It would just be up to the school and the AD.  It would be in the school's best interest to let these guys come back for free and earn their degrees, at least from a PR and/or recruiting view.  And this happens plenty.  

jmblue

January 21st, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^

That's just how it goes in college basketball in general.  It's not something unique to Michigan.  Beilein has at least managed to get two years out of all his recruits, if not more.

Also, with the exception of Darius Morris, every player who has gone pro under Beilein's watch has been a multi-year starter.  You can't really complain about a guy starting for two years (three in Hardaway's case) and then going pro.  Really, it's never been normal for college basketball players to start more than two years at a school.  In the old days, they rode the pine until they were juniors.  Now they simply play off the bat.

 

 

 

funkywolve

January 22nd, 2014 at 12:50 AM ^

this is the case at the vast majority of college basketball programs which are fixtures in the Top 10-15.  For years Coach K and Duke kind of steered clear of kids who might be one or two and doners, but after a while even he succombed.  He still mixes in a number of players who stay all 4 years but he's not averse to bringing in studs who he probably knows will only be at Duke one or two years.

MGoLogan

January 21st, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^

If Stauskas were to leave after this year I don't think it would be all that damaging to UM overall.  Hopefully next year LeVert can take the next step and become something close to the player Stauskas is this year, and hopefully Irvin can make a similar leap to the one LeVert has made this year.  With another dynamic wing coming in next year (Chatman), I think Beilein has this program to the point that they can lose a player like Stauskas early to the NBA and still be a Big Ten title contender year.

MGoLogan

January 21st, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^

Well, if they lose all three of those players then that is a different story.  I still think a group of Horford, Irvin, LeVert, Chatman, and Walton can make the tournament but anything beyond that would be wishful thinking, even for me.

I also think back to 2008 when Beilein took Manny Harris, Deshawn Sims and a bunch of MAC level recruits to the tournament and realize the group I listed above is leaps and bounds more talented.  I have certainly learned to never doubt JB.

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 3:46 PM ^

If McGary leaves, we're really not losing him from this team because he's not playing on it.  If Stauskas leaves, then Caris is the go-to wing, Irvin becomes the secone wing player and Chatman takes Irvin's spot as the third guy in that rotation.  That is probably not a wash, but it's a good looking group still.  GRIII is harder to replace, but that might mean we play Horford and Donnall more often or a DJ Wilson and/or Ricky Doyle need to contribute.  Ricky Doyle is a lot more college ready than Donnall was, and DJ Wilson is looking like the Beilein-special sleeper in that class.  DJ Wilson won't bring the same things that GRIII brought, but he could play the same role.  

If only one of those three come back, we're in good shape.

Prince Lover

January 22nd, 2014 at 9:34 AM ^

First DB has taken over the football team, then according to Drew Sharp, because DB was in the locker room during halftime of the Arizona game, he's taken over the bball team. And now, he's taking over the wrestling team. This man knows no bounds!!!
I mean, it would be one thing if he was a fan of all things Michigan athletics and uses his position to have court side seats, but clearly that's not it, he wants to rule the Michigan universe!!!!

jmblue

January 21st, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^

In all honesty, I think McCaffery isn't far off in his assessment of Beilein.  I think he may well be the best basketball coach we've ever had.  There aren't many coaches out there I'd take over Beilein.

 

 

gwkrlghl

January 21st, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^

In terms of coaching ability and a guy you want to be the face of your program and university (i.e. not Bo Ryan nor whiny Izzo) the only guy I can really think I'd want may be Krzyzewski. Otherwise as a guy who gets results, develops players, and represents us well, I really don't know that there's anyone else I'd want

jmblue

January 21st, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^

At this point I have faith in Beilein to deliver a solid team regardless of who leaves early.  I could see Walton and Irvin having big sophomore years.  

We may be overreacting to the quote from Stauskas's dad anyway - he's only projected to be a second-rounder at the moment.  I would guess he'll stay if he doesn't push his projection into the first round.

 

 

 

 

ijohnb

January 21st, 2014 at 2:04 PM ^

just a shooter" thing is still kind of funny to discuss here as a joke, but it is really getting riduclous when announcers say it.  Pretty much everybody that kind of follows college basketball knows who Stauskus is, he is the dude that you can find dunking on your head late in close games.  It seems like every game the broadcasters think they are introducing this new thing to the audience. 

jmblue

January 21st, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^

Televised sports is not about appealing to the hardcore fan.  The networks figure the hardcore fan is at the game (and thus isn't watching on TV).  The target audience for televised games is the casual fan who happens to have turned on the game for no particular reason and might switch channels if bored.  So they've got to tell these homespun tales to keep them fascinated: Trey Burke is from Columbus, Ohio ("How'd they let him get away?"), Zack Novak memorized Pi to 100-some digits, John Beilein has never been an assistant, Nik Stauskas can do more than just shoot, the 1989 team won on two Rumeal Robinson free throws while Steve Fisher was an interim coach...

 

 

Gob Wilson

January 21st, 2014 at 2:20 PM ^

That last match was so exciting and the meet result fabulous for UM. Congrats to all the members of the UM wrestling team!!! I totally recommend checking out the UM Grappling Team at Keen!

Ty Butterfield

January 21st, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

No Stauskas, McGary, or GR III next year will be rough. I know Beilein has a history of getting the most out of his players, but it sure would have been nice if Beilein could have landed a home run recruit for next season.

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^

But isn't Chatman that?  Chatman is the 32nd ranked player in the country in the 247Composite.  McGary was 28th and Irvin was 29th.  Weren't those guys home run recruits? GRIII at 17th is the only one who was noticeably higher than Chatman.

WolvinLA2

January 21st, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^

Yes, that last part goes without saying.  But this class is as good at the top end as most we've had in a while (though McGary and Robinson in one class was nuts).  The thing about the other classes wasn't the top-rated guy, but the not-top-50 guy who turns into a star (Hardaway, Burke, Stauskas).

Marley Nowell

January 21st, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^

Lots of rumblings about how some of the top prospects might stay in college for a 2nd year.  While I doubt that it would open up more first round slots for someone like Nik.  Also SG is still by far the least talented position group in the NBA so for that reason alone I could see Nik going in the first round.