Rivals "strongly believes" McGary will play on Sunday
Mitch McGary is believed to be playing this weekend against Iowa State.
EDIT 2:43 PM: A few people have pointed out that I posted too much paywalled info, and after secondary consideration I agree. I should have done a quick paraphrase and left it at that. The copy/paste was certainly too much.
Obviously he wouldn't be 100%, but I think even an 80-85% Mitch for 20 minutes would be a large boost to Michigan's chances on Sunday at Hilton Coliseum.
November 15th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^
This makes no sense. We aren't allowed to have nice things anymore.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:23 PM ^
McGary will quit basketball in pursuit of a professional unicycling career, sponsored by Ohio State. Gardner will transfer to Arizona for his final year. Jabrill Peppers will decommit to join Hand at Alabama. Hockey will lose in the first round of the playoffs to Bemidji State. And our alumni chapter on the moon will be dissolved as MSU's agriculture program takes over the whole floating rock to build a giant solar powered farm.
Oh, and Denard stops smiling.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^
I was becoming progressively more horrified about these possibilities until you got to Denard stops smiling, at which point I knew it was all an impossible nightmare and all is going to be ok.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
smiling when Devin pulled up short of the sticks against Michigan State. I almost cried.
November 15th, 2013 at 12:53 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^
Yea thanks, just could've sworn ESPN was advertising it for tonight, and someone commented earlier about looking forward to it tonight. Weird.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:37 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
he aint playing till puerto rico at the earliest. Not even doing contact drills yet.
November 15th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
We'll find out soon enough, but hard to believe MM goes from not doing contact drills to a road game in November.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
Actually, they're usually pretty well-informed, especially about issues relating to the team itself (as opposed to recruiting). There is no reason to doubt them; why would they come up with this out of the blue?
November 15th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
they aren't as wired as UMHoops--when they tell me, I'll know when Mcgary is playing.
EDIT: should have gone there before posting. UMHoops: "Mitch McGary Not Ruled Out for Iowa State".
November 15th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
Yeah well 24/7 strongly believed Hand would commit to Michigan.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^
Everyone did.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:06 PM ^
It's one thing to try to predict where a high school student will go to school and another thing to report information relating to the current team.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
What they didn't elaborate on is that he has invoked a loophole that will allow him to suit up for Iowa State, so long as he finishes the season with them. He's always had a strong interest in corn and heard their farming program was manageable with an athlete's schedule. We will lose the game because on offense, all we will do is run around and throw half court lobs. Welcome to Michigan Fandom, 2013. Have a shitty week because that is what you deserve. Why do you deserve it? Because you are a Michigan Fan and somehow that's all that matters.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
I know that we went to the NC Game in basketball but even that ended in completely unforeseen heart break after being up 12 and seemingly in complete control. How does that happen? It was like God wasn't paying attention during our run to the title game and when we got up 12 on Louisville his right hand man came to get him to let him know that something good was actually going to happen to Michigan and that it needed to be stopped ASAP.
My wife knows very little about sports but when Burke made the 3 against Kansas she said "Oh my good, that went in? Wow. nothing good ever happens for us. No way."
I used to think that all of these shit sandwiches that I have been eating for the last 15 years were going to pay off somehow, someday. Now I am just pretty sure I am doomed to a life of pain.
November 15th, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
Several teams that played Louisville last year had sizeable first-half leads and went on to lose (often by double-digits). It happened in both Final Four games. They were a team that wore down its opposition and went on huge runs, often toward the end of the half. There was nothing really shocking that it happened to us.
November 15th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^
it was because we are cursed.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
However, it's increasingly good news to me that people are optimistic about his return. It changes it from "I hope this isn't something possibly career ending" early on to "we will have Mitch back for this season"
November 15th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
I haven't heard a single person suggest that it could be a career ender.
November 15th, 2013 at 3:29 PM ^
It was mostly speculation not too long after getting the first tidbits of McGary's back condition. There's a chance it is/was a congenital type of condition and that was the speculation because we had nothing early on to contradict that. Again, nothing substantiated, but my personal mindset has gone from that bad place in a consistently positive direction since then based on what we've heard.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:12 PM ^
Well I strongly believe this is not going to happen!
November 15th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
would happen suddenly.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 1:43 PM ^
Hopefully he'll be back by the time we head to Duke. That's the one imminent game that I look at and say that, without McGary, our chances of winning are slim to nil.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
You read my mind. :) We will also need him against Arizona after Duke.
November 15th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
The schedule is loaded. Aaron Gordon and Kaleb Tarczewski will be too much for Michigan's frontline without McGary. Michigan did destroy VCU last year, but a big part of that is them having absolutely no one to match up with McGary. Horford won't exploit that as well. Even if we get past VCU in Puerto Rico, Georgetown awaits, bolstered by Joshua Smith and a traditionally strong frontline. Iowa State boasts a very potent offensive attack.
Do I expect us to lose all of these games, even without McGary? No. But it's not like Duke is the only tough opponent we face.
November 15th, 2013 at 6:13 PM ^
Burke and THJ also were huge in the VCU game last year. It remains to be seen if our current team can break their press as effectively.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
I just hope he's fully healed and they don't rush him back. I think the team could probably survive without him Sunday and in Puerto Rico, even if it means dropping a game. The Duke game December 3rd is where we really need him. So I just hope he comes back 100%. I'd hate to see him reaggrevate it against a team like Long Beach State.
November 15th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
I had thought there was a story that Beilein had said on the Puerto Rico Tip-Off teleconference that John Beilein said that McGary's return was potentially going to be quick, but he was still hesitant to give any real specifics. Sunday would qualify as quick, however, but to know that the road to health for Mitch might be ending sooner rather than later is definitely the sort of news that this board needs.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
...how Rivals paywalled content can just come straight over here.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^
Because you touch yourself at night.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:24 PM ^
Well then it's definitely not going to stop.
But it *is* stealing and I think it sucks.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^
See my response below.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
I try and walk the line of adhering to the paywall at Rivals and wanting to share info with the mgocommunity, but this time I went too far in how much I shared/how I shared it.
I've edited my OP.
November 15th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Wait till he's 100% and then sit on it for another week or two. We're going to need him way more during Big Ten season and (hopefully) the NCAA tournament, we don't care about no Puerto Rico tip-off and if he gets reinjured coming back too soon, we're all going to rage and panic
November 15th, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^
Because this is not a meaningless game. It's a key road win that'll be key if we want to maximize seeding. Also Iowa State is not a pushover (in fact KenPom has them as a slight favorite)
November 15th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 3:28 PM ^
Well, I don't think they'd expect him to log starter's minutes right off the bat or anything. I would imagine that his return would just be for 5-10 minutes a game, and that his minutes would gradually increase over the coming weeks.