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 3:39 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
Even if McGary plays for just a few minutes, he can make a big impact. Similar to VCU, Iowa State boasts a stable of athletic wings, but nobody in the rotation over 6'7"/6'8". Horford has the size but not the skill to exploit this; McGary could go HAM, for lack of a better expression.
If McGary can't play, this is a tossup. Iowa State is one of the few teams that has the shooters and athletes to go toe-to-toe (and perhaps better) Michigan in a high-octane track meet with lots of three's. Michigan will have to win this glass by winning the turnover and rebounding battles to generate extra possessions, because it's likely that both teams are going to shoot pretty well.
November 15th, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^
The other thing is that McGary and his teammates need to develop chemistry. Our primary ballhandlers are guys that didn't play much last year or weren't even here (LeVert, Albrecht, Walton), so they need some game experience playing with McGary. And if we're going to continue to play two big men, McGary needs experience doing that, too, since he almost never played alongside another big last year.
November 15th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
I'd be shocked if Michigan went with two bigs much against Iowa State. Iowa's tallest starter is 6'7" and they are a bunch of athletic wings who can shoot like crazy. GRIII and Irvin will get most of the minutes at the 4, regardless of who's at center.
November 15th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
Weren't we hearing that he only recently started doing things in practice other than shooting drills? The eternal pessimist in me worries that it's too soon.
I trust the coaches, but fergodsake, if not having Mitch in November/December means definitely having him in February/March, I'm all for resting the over grown puppy.
November 15th, 2013 at 6:22 PM ^
It sounds like you don't really trust the coaches, then.
November 16th, 2013 at 7:52 AM ^