Rewatching Livers in Maryland Game
I zoomed through the game today on the DVR to see if I could spot anything and I am putting these notes here to try and provide more information than I've seen online.
-Livers starts the game and looks fine? There may be a slight hitch in his step but I'm not sure if I'm just seeing that because I think he may be injured, or if it is nothing.
-Focusing on running, cutting, defense, etc. There is nothing that looks out of sorts. There are a few times in the first and second half where he appears full speed. I see him cutting, shooting deep jump shots normally.
-It appears he is standing on the 3 point line a lot. Not really being an aggressor. But I do not see him land on a foot, fall awkwardly or have any single incident or any apparent injury.
-In the second half he mixes it up inside and grabs a rebound. Looks fine, does not land on any players. Shoots a deepish three like normal.
-He gets pulled a few minutes into the second half. At this point he has no points. He does not return.
-Howard gets tossed and he walked behind Howard, but has no boot. He is not in warmups, is not with trainers, is not wincing.
-Later on he is pictured behind Martelli - and is sitting on the bench. He has no warmups on. No boot.
-After the game, he is standing in the bleachers (as the team is spread out due to covid). He takes a step down and may appear to be favoring a foot or leg. It is inconclusive. He eventually slowly goes down another step before the camera goes out of frame.
-He is not seen at any point in warmups, in a boot, working with a trainer or wincing in pain.
It is my non-expert opinion that this is inconclusive. But the absence of a boot, medical staff, going to the tunnel leaves hope. It is certainly posisble this is precautionary, or that he just had a bad game and they can keep someon fresh for the rest of the weekend. Or maybe it is a small overuse injury and he's getting a week of rest.
While inconclusive, I hope you find this informative and helpful.
Beat the Buckeyes,
Sam Webb confirmed he suffered a foot injury, cannot confirm the seriousness yet.
Hope it's not a stress fracture. I got one in my foot last summer from running. It was the weirdest thing, I only felt small sharp pains on side of my foot when I ran, never when I was walking normally or even when I rode bike. I finally went to get it checked out after a trying to run a few times and the pain would come back after running for about 1/4 mile.
Ended up basically just not run on it all winter, and it's finally healed.
Livers will give anything to his team and Michigan basketball. Only a mandate from an authoritative physician will keep him off the court. I pity the physician who tries to tell Isaiah he can’t play.
Just thinking if he hurt it pre game, he probably tried to play through it. Thinking he could at least shoot some threes instead of driving to the hoop. Didn’t work, so maybe same thing happens again today or they just shut him down.
I dunno about that. The past 4 games he's scored 6ppg on 27%, and only had double digit FGAs once in the past 7 games.
I think whatever is ailing him has been for a while but it's been hiding in plain sight.
March 13th, 2021 at 10:28 AM ^
Yeah, his production has really come to a halt unfortunately. Based on stats it does appear to be a nagging issue.
This is awesome fandom - I love your hustle to investigate the primary source (game footage). Well done Mercury!
Go back and check the sequence at the 13:30 mark of the first half.
March 13th, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
That doesn’t look like nothing to me.
March 13th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
Yep. After his terrible miss on the 3-pointer, he got back to his own basket and picked up a foul. In the process, he was running and planted to stop, and you can see his ankle roll. Then he kind of limps out of bounds. I watched him after that, and he was favoring that ankle and trying not to make any hard cuts.
Is this you?
Thanks for the effort. At very least, this suggests that whatever it is isn't too serious.
Edit: didn't age well. This is why I don't even play an orthopedist on television.
Adrenaline is a hell of a thing. I dislocated my kneecap during a football game in high school (it popped back in immediately) and kept playing another 2 series before it swelled up and made it impossible to walk. Ended up missing the next game and then played sparingly in the game after that - had to wear a brace the rest of the season. He might have played through something until he sat down for some time and the adrenaline wore off.
March 13th, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
The line moved from M -6 to M -6.5 this morning. If the oddsmakers know everything, are they thinking M will beat OSU without Livers? Seems like those guys always have the inside intel. I know there are rumors about Young being out so maybe they're thinking M will dominate the paint and glass.
March 13th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
Lets hope Brandon Johns can show us a little of what he can do next season. He's in line for a starting job next year but will have to beat some talented freshmen to earn it. He's the best 1 for 1 replacement for Livers on the current roster. They're both fantastic athletes and similar size though Johns is a bit taller and heavier.
March 13th, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
Good work, Mercury. Much better than the rumor mill stuff being hashed and rehashed.
Until probably warmups or even game time, I really doubt anyone outside the Michigan program will know for sure.