McGary not announcing intentions tomorrow
Mitch's father has told MLive that Mitch will not be announcing his future plans tomorrow at the 3:30 press conference along with Nik and Glenn.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/04/mitch_mcgary_still_mu…
This leads me to believe that Mitch is more likely staying than going. At the worst, it means he hasn't made up his mind yet (but Jon said Mitch had already told him his decision, so I feel like he's probably staying). It would make sense if Mitch was going to leave that he would announce along with Nik and Glenn so they could all do it together. I think Mitch's decision is probably different than Nik and Glenn's though, hence the different announcement times.
Out of the 3, Mitch was always probably the most important to the team's success next year, regardless of what you thought about the trio's differing skills. Now, with the transfer of Horford, Mitch is definitely the most needed out of the 3, as he is our only player over about 6'8" or so left.
April 14th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^
If McGary stays...we're fine.
Beilein will adapt his strategy to his team. There's strengths and weaknesses to all styles of play. No worries.
On the plus side...recruits see that our coach gets players to the league. We're in good hands people. Allstate insurance style.
April 14th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
Jordan Morgan just showed you ALL that height is overrated and you need SIZE. You need weight, shoulders, chest, strength to play the position.
I can find you 6'8 guys all over the country who play GUARD!
Height is NOT everything.
I'd much rather have a J-Mo than a 6'10, 200 kid who is just going to get pushed around.
Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, Rodney Hood, Cleanthony Early, TJ Warren, CJ Fair, LaQuinton Ross, Doug McDermott...
ALL OF THESE GUYS ARE 6'7+ AND NONE OF THEM ARE COLLEGE CENTERS!
Height does not mean everything...especially for guys who are skilled enough to play other positions. Saying Mark Donnal is 6'8 tells me NOTHING other than he's tall.
I'm not quite sure I've ever heard anyone say that, in basketball, height is overrated. Just because you named 8 guys in all of college basketball who are over 6'7 and not centers/power forwards doesn't mean that is the norm. Not to mention, of the guys you listed, you have the probable first pick in the draft followed possibly by 7 other first rounders. Height is not overrated when it comes to basketball and I'm not really sure why anyone would think otherwise.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^
...it's not everything.
You all keep saying "We have x amount of guys over 6'8...we're good."
That doesn't tell you the whole story.
OSU could've said that last year and added 2 guys to the 6'8+ list that don't even play in the post.
THAT is my point. The argument doesn't tell the entire story. It's short sided.
Give me a post that is 6'7 250 over a kid that is 6'9 200 any day if it's equal skill level.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:00 AM ^
The Universities website has Donnal only 5 lbs smaller than Morgan.
April 14th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
April 14th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
2014 wing, Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman has set his official visit. Kid looks, very under the radar. Could be a great late addition.
http://www.umhoops.com/2014/04/14/michigan-consistent-contact-2014-guard-muhammad-ali-abdur-rahkman/
April 14th, 2014 at 10:59 PM ^
And we're his top school.
So looks like if he gets an offer, he's the commit. With the way we judge talent...I have no problem with this whatsoever...how could I or anyone?
Get him on campus, let him work out and see what he's got.
I hate the blind "I don't care who's on the team, I trust Beilen" comments. That's malarky.
However, in THESE situations, you absolutely trust Beilein and the staff, they know how to identify and develop talent.
So you can't just "trust" that they're going to make everyone better right away and we're always going to be good. It took Morgan 5 years to truly be a great basketball player. He played all 5 under Beilein.
However, you can trust that if they take a late commit after seeing him in person...the kid can play.
If they see him and he can't play...he goes to OSU and comes off the bench with crazy hair and then leaves for Europe.
April 14th, 2014 at 11:20 PM ^
I'm thinking that Beilein has realized that with the change in the block/charge rules, a guy who can get to the rim can have a field day in college ball now. Look at how Kentucky played. Just charge the rim on every possession and dare the refs to call a charge. The charge is gone.
A guy like Abdur-Rahkman whose game is all about getting to the rim has a chance to be quite successful under the new rules. Usually Beilein only goes for guys who can shoot, and Abdur-Rahkman isn't a shooter. But with the fear of charging gone, at least for now, I wonder if he is changing how he evaluates things?
April 15th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
I was just commenting on knowing how to take a player late and what to look for in whether he's going to be good/be able to contribute or not.
As for style...I've always said the ONE thing I wish Beilein would do more is go away from "his system" with 2 scholarship players on the team (not per year).
One long, athletic, pure driver, defender, "head down and go" type player on the wing...doesn't matter if he can't shoot 3's. And one big, wide, tough, rebounding, low post player.
Even if they're your 8th and 9th scholarship players...always have one of each on the team.
Because you need these guys in certain games. We had games last year where we flat out couldn't defend the perimeter...it would've been nice to have a guy who could match up with the Devyn Marble, Brandon Dawson, LaQuinton Ross and Lenzelle Smith types. You're not going to get a guy as good as those guys, but maybe you can find someone who can match up with them a little because the Robinson's and the Irvin's are just overmatched in those situations. Just like CJ Leslie 2 years ago.
Then, also have one guy down low who can just be tough, give you some decent minutes in a UK type game. We always have enough scoring on the perimeter...so having a guy like Jordan Morgan, even a sophomore year version is valuable in some of those games.
And maybe by their 4th or 5th year, like J-Mo, they develop into a pretty damn good player. If not, I don't think it's a waste because you weren't relying on them anyway.
Now of course if you can get a guy who can do EVERYTHING including these things, you take him, but I would just make sure natural toughness, length, rebounding is something always on the team. Not something you go into the season trying to create.
In the same way, I think Hoke always needs at least one smaller slot WR on the team. Not in every recruiting class, but just one Odoms, Dileo type guy.
But hey, that's just me. I just know if you trade Morgan for Smotrycz this year...we only maybe win the B1G and we don't get past the first weekend of the tournament...we'd just be too damn soft. J-Mo said it himself about not being punked, well, he was the only one on the team that had enough natural size, strength, and toughess to do that.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:46 AM ^
Another 2014 prospect, now expected to visit:
Unsigned New Hampton G/F Aubrey Dawkins expected to visit Michigan & Dayton in coming weeks
— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) April 15, 2014
He's the son of Johnny Dawkins. Rivals shows him with offers from Dayton and Rhode Island. Highlight video:
One note on Abdur-Rahkman: This feature article on him indicates that he's already 19 years old and will turn 20 on September 1. So he would be a bit of a departure for a Beilein recruit in terms of age at the beginning of his college career.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
Finkelstein also reports that Michigan is "involved with" Tavarius Shine, a 6-5 wing at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. Rivals has him as a 3-star. Here's video:
April 15th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
Shine needs a new camera man...
April 15th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
unless he just wants to get away from his dad for a bit.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:29 AM ^
Mitch McGary, Nik Stauskas, and Spike Albrecht would disagree with your statement regarding age.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
It's not my statement. It's well known that Beilein looks at birth dates when assessing recruits as part of his recruiting philosophy. See this article. Obviously, it's just one of many things he considers.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
Point taken. But I do think they are referring more to the birth date with respect to the cutoff date that might be used for AAU basketball or whatever. With some young prospects they probably anticipate more development so they will be willing to take an underdeveloped player with the intent to redshirt (such as Caris and Donnal).
Of course this is all speculation since the process is highly proprietary.
April 14th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
With his injuries, Mitch isn't even a guaranteed second round pick. If he stays healthy next year, he should be a lottery pick.
I think Mitch has the most to gain by staying. A full injuiry-free year where he dominates and he could go in top 15 of the draft easy. However if he comes back and gets injured again, he probably has zero chance of getting drafted at all. So he's got a really big risk/reward decision to make.
hes coming back
The mood is tense!
Pretty much yeah. I expect Irvin to pick up a lot of what Stauskas did. Not saying he will be as good as Stauskas but McGary is the more important piece for next year. Michigan will have scorers.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
While Nik is an amazing talent and we will miss him dearly, not too many 6' 11" guys running around right now to pick up, especially with his strength. Mitch is the much more important player to return to the team for next year, unless you want a your 4 to be Donnal and your 5 to be Beilfeldt.
sam webb thinks hes coming back. said on the show this morning
Sam Webb said this morning that he now believes Mitch will be back next year. Obviously if this is true that is AWESOME news for UM. Even with the losses of Glenn and Nik I think UM is still a top 10 team with Mitch next year.
Whether Mitch goes or stays, John B. really needs to recruit a tall wide body, a la Julius Randle or Brandon Dawson. As several here have pointed out, relying on shooters who can hit from beyond the arc is fine, but M struggled throughout the tournament (let alone against Sparty in the BIG title game) from a lack of a true inside, rebounding presence. J-Mo did his best and we're all grateful to him for that, but he couldn't handle Randle (!) by himself. Mitch would have had his hands full as well if just he and Randle were under the offensive glass. GRIII (I guess we now speak of him in the past tense) at 6'6" or so could never rebound like Randle at 6'9".
I know we have (or we've had) Mitch, but he's one guy. Has John B. tried to recruit another such player or two or has he focused pretty much exclusively on finesse shooters such as Stauskas and Irvin?
April 15th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
Michigan made it to the B1G Championship game and went to Elite 8 before losing to eventual NC runner up, Kentucky, who are more talented than Michigan?
I'll take those "struggles" if that's the case.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
In fairness, we happened to hit a stretch of insanely good rebounding teams in the tournament and we lost a ton of our rebounding ability when McGary went down. Some of that is because McGary's a damn good rebounder and some of it is because having McGary would have made us bigger up and down the roster (e.g., with Robinson at the 3 instead of the 4, where he got killed on the glass).
April 15th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
Reports on Twitter say it'll be broadcast live on both BTN and BTN2Go.
Here's a link to the mgoblue.com live stream: http://www.mgoblue.com/allaccess/?media=444619
April 15th, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
I always figured one would stay, and you get a sense that if all three were making the same decision they would do it together.
But it will be an interesting day to say the least.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
Why do people assuming Doyle will get minutes over Biefeldt? Sure, Max doesn't appear cut out to get more than 10 minutes a game in the Big Ten, but I haven't read one thing about Doyle being a floor-ready player at this stage.
If McGary does leave, would Horford possibly reconsider?
No. The guy already said McGary's decision has nothing to do with it.
In my opinion his return is make or break for next years team. We have to have bigs. We found that out the hard way.