Mitch McGary: Happening? Probably Comment Count

Brian

mitch-mcgary-picturemitch-mcgary-roar

right via Indy Star

In the last 24 hours the belief that Mitch McGary will end up at Michigan has spread from local guru Sam Webb to large hunks of the basketball recruiting world. McGary just announced he wouldn't be visiting Kentucky or anywhere else and plans to come to a decision in a month.

While his blog post on ESPN mentions a desire to run and (fairly) leaves Michigan out when discussing the teams that do run, that hasn't stopped the train of positive mojo Webb kicked off on a WTKA recruiting roundup a couple days ago. Dave Telep:

If I set the odds, I'd install Michigan as favorite w/McGary at this juncture. College recruiters concerned about UM the most.

Scout's Brian Snow:

Word on the street is that Michigan has emerged as a leader for 2012 big man Mitch McGary, who was supposed to make an official visit to Kentucky for Big Blue Madness. Scout.com national analyst Evan Daniels reported on Sunday night that he was hearing Michigan was a "major favorite." There is also some speculation now that McGary, a native of Indiana, won’t make any more visits.

The twitter feed of one Bacari Alexander:

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy, I hope that's about recruiting and not baseball.

Comments

connecticutblue

October 3rd, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^

I went to almost every michigan mbb game between 2006-2010 when I was a student, and am ecstatic at this news. This would put us close to contending for a title if he could have a big freshman year impact

Hardware Sushi

October 3rd, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^

Goddammit...how am I supposed to get any work done this morning?

I saw this on Scout and told myself "eh don't get too riled up about it." BOOM front-paged by Brian.

By law, I must now axiously await for the good or bad news to emerge in the next two weeks...My F5 key will probably need replaced by the time this thing is over and basketball is my #3 favorite M sport...

I can only imagine what the Brionte Dunn watch will be like that will of course happen in January.

superstringer

October 3rd, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

You say he'd be "one of" the biggest pickups ever.

Undoubtedly not "the" biggest ever.  Chris Webber -- IF he had officially attended UM, which officially, he never did, or, we cannot confirm or deny if he did, at least until 2013 or something -- was consensus #1, IIRC.

Looking back in hindsight too, I think Glen "Sarah Was Quite Friendly" Rice was probably the biggest.  I don't recall his recruiting stats but he was a very, very coveted sharpshooter and Frieder was trying very hard to get him.  And obviously he was THE cog in the '87 championship.

turd ferguson

October 3rd, 2011 at 1:37 PM ^

As excited as I am about McGary, I don't think this is true.  That's not McGary's fault; it's college basketball's fault.  Super elite recruits tend to stay for only a year or two, so they're worth considerably less to the schools that get them than they were 10-15 years ago.  You could make a case that really talented kids barely lacking early entry NBA skills are worth about as much as the true big-timers these days.

In other words, the value of college basketball recruits has flattened in recent years.*

*BUT DAMN, I WANT McGARY AT MICHIGAN SO BAD

Noahdb

October 3rd, 2011 at 10:55 AM ^

As far as highest-ranked commitments, McGary would be the highest since Jerrod Ward, I think.

Lavell Blanchard was a top-10 guy...so you might consider him the last superbigtimeomg recruit to commit.

The Shredder

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:01 AM ^

I can't help but think we are jumping the gun. Even Brian is pretty reserved until it looks official. I don't think anything on the net has gave us enough to think this thing is over and we landed McGary. "Yes!!!!!" I mean that could be anything. Maybe his favorite plain cheese pizza just got delivered... Who knows. I dunno maybe just the loom of Duke has me doubting. 

raleighwood

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:07 AM ^

I've read before that McGary is a likely a "one and done" player.  Has anyone else seen this?

I would think that Michigan is a much better option than Duke if you're only going for one year.  Ann Arbor > Durham.  If he's going to be there for three or four years, then Duke is more likely to win a national championship during his career.  However, if you only get one year to experience college life (campus, football games....), Michigan is the much better option.

 

Bb011

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:07 AM ^

The first time I read his blog I read it through a Michigan point of view. I got a little worried because it didn't really seem like he was favoring us. I then reread it and realized that it doesn't sound like he's favoring any other team either from the way he wrote it (including duke) so that is a big positive. I know he probably will never declare a leader until he commits and I really hope its us. With that said, I also really hope someone doesn't break the official news before he does, he deserves the spotlight for his big decision. Go Blue!

RobSk

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:58 AM ^

The blog entry, to me, has the most positive statements made about Duke. That is certainly worrisome.

OTOH, it seems to be down to Michigan and Duke, and that's awesome! While McGary's own words somewhat favor Duke, it's certainly interesting that every commentator talking about this has McGary leaning Michigan. So perhaps the "I want to get out and run" thing is not as big a deal as it appears in the blog.

Go Blue!!!!

        Rob

Jivas

October 3rd, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^

Sam said that if Michigan's recruitment of McGary were a blackjack hand that he'd "double down" on his bet.  He reiterated that it was just his opinion, and *not* a gut feeling or based explicitly on information given to him by McGary or those close to him.  Just an opinion.