Jon Horford To Transfer Comment Count

Brian

large1[1]

underneath the Banyan tree, wherever he goes

Uh

University of Michigan men's basketball head coach John Beileinannounced today (Thursday, April 10) that senior forward Jon Horford (Grand Ledge, Mich./Grand Ledge HS) will not return to the Wolverine program in 2014-15, planning to transfer for his final season of eligibility.

That is not good. With Jordan Morgan graduating, Michigan's only other post is Mitch McGary. Even if he comes back next year, Horford figured to get a significant amount of playing time when McGary was tired or in foul trouble.

While Horford struggled badly down the stretch, you could say the same for Jordan Morgan last year and that worked out okay. Fifth-year senior bigs tend to be better than you'd expect. Horford's departure opens up time for Mark Donnal and likely means a redshirt for Ricky Doyle is no longer an option. That latter is unfortunate; again, see Jordan Morgan.

The one possible silver lining here is that the reason Horford is moving on is that he feels he'll get more playing time elsewhere, a decision that implies McGary's return and maybe even Robinson's since that would increase competition for minutes everywhere. It's hard to believe he would skip town with 30 minutes a night staring him in the face. But Horford was always a bit of a different guy.

Comments

Bambi

April 10th, 2014 at 4:36 PM ^

If you want to be very positive about this...

If McGary, GR3, and Stauskas were to all return, we would have been 1 scholarship over the limit with our recruiting class that's coming in. Someone would have had to leave, so this opens up that possibility

/silver-lining'd

But yeah not good. Horford would have gotten some substantial minutes next year, he would have been a key piece. And now, once again, we have no seniors on the roster for next year

ClearEyesFullHart

April 10th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^

He has been considering this at least since the 30'th. I guess Jon's trainer said he wasn't thrilled with Jon's playing time. Lots of possibilities now. Does Booker stick with Kentucky if Calipari leaves? Does Beilein take another late bloomer?

mackbru

April 10th, 2014 at 4:52 PM ^

No, he was looking at no more than his standard 12 minutes per game. Think of it this way. You're subtracting Jordan Morgan but adding both McGary and Donnal. This spells fewer minutes for Horford -- especially so if you consider that a couple other young bigs might also chip away at Horford's time. Horford was okay, and he definitely contributed. But he's also quite replacable. 

BlueCube

April 10th, 2014 at 5:13 PM ^

all kinds of players were coming to Michigan and being extremely successful.

I will always appreciate what Horford contributed but he wasn't doing anthing during his playing time to tell me he deserved more or at least not this year. I thought he took a step back rom what he was beginning to show last year.

Wolvmarine

April 10th, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^

This is bad.  This just hurts the depth for next season so bad.  All of the freshmen had better get in the weight room, cause they are going to play. 

TheJuiceman

April 10th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^

From the times I've been around him I don't get the vibe that basketball is all that important to him. Granted we're not best buddies, but I wonder if this has more to do with him having graduated and maybe not wanting to go to Michigan for grad school in lieu of other offers. In a nutshell, I wouldn't be surprised if Horford is all like "f*ck basketball, I'm probably not going to the NBA anyway, and I really want to enroll in this _______ grad program at _________ so I can become the 52nd Prez one day. Just a stab in the dark.

rice4114

April 10th, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^

...him knowing that Mitch, Nik, Gr3, and of course Morgan are all gone made him want to start fresh somewhere else as well. Good god that would suck.

bronxblue

April 10th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^

Good luck to him.  Seems like a curious decision, but watching him struggle late in the season and tournament, perhaps he realized it wasn't going to be a good fit at UM and he might find a better situaiton somewhere else.

Raoul

April 10th, 2014 at 6:42 PM ^

The Freep's Shawn Windsor got some quotes from Horford that shed at least a bit of light on his thinking:

"Feels like the right time to make a move," Horford told the Free Press this afternoon. "I accomplished a lot of the goals I had. I don't know where I'm going yet, but I'm going somewhere else to get an opportunity to play the game the way I know I can play. There is a better fit for me out there. I just have to find the right fit."

...

"My teammates know what my goals are. I hated to have to leave them being as close with those guys as I am. But they know I have to do what I have to do."

RoxyMtnHiM

April 10th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^

Did not see this coming. I've been assuming Nik, GRIII and MM were gone, just to get used to the idea. Churning out early entries is good for the program, at least by the current yardstick, and it's good for those players that can make the leap. But, the great things we won't see them do in a M uniform...

Nobody wants to be a five-year guy except the guys who wondered if they woud be able to stick for four. Thought next year might be Horford's year; his time has been a bit star-crossed. I've always been in the guy's corner. Off the top of my head I can't think of another Capital Area guy who's played at UM in my lifetime.

DrewGOBLUE

April 10th, 2014 at 6:56 PM ^

I said this pretty much as a joke in the other thread, but the more I think about, the more I really, honest to God envision Horford going on to one of the most elite academic schools in America that also happens to have a solid basketball program (Harvard would be most obvious or possibly Stanford or Cal) where he'll study something along the lines of philosophy. This will help him reach his greatest potential for producing some of the most complex and abstract thoughts ever pondered by man. He will them reach a level of enlightenment unfathomable to virtually all others.

mackbru

April 10th, 2014 at 7:05 PM ^

Shawn Windsor reports, accurately: "Horford wasn’t likely to get as much time next season with the ascension of freshman forward Mark Donnal. If Mitch McGary returns, then playing time would have been even scarcer."



The transfer is no big deal. Stop worrying.

Mr. Yost

April 10th, 2014 at 7:15 PM ^

You can't worry about ANYTHING on this site without someone chiming in telling you how silly you are for thinking "uh oh."

Devin looks like shit..."don't worry, he never does well in the spring."

Michigan football looks like shit..."don't worry, it was a young offensive line."

Horford transfers..."don't worry we have a sweet RS Freshman who redshirted this year."

Donnal has played like 2 minutes as a D1 player...I'm not going to rely on someone like that to play 30 all of a sudden. If he was that good, he would've shook the RS like LeVert did last year because if you didn't notice...we were VERY thin in the post this season. Max B was playing important minutes in the tournament!

Regardless if Donnal is great or not...having just he and McGary...assuming McGary returns is still thin.

Also, you lose the senior leadership. J-Mo brought that this year and EVERYONE saw how it helped this team. He was our glue.

Jon isn't that type of personality, but still, his experience is going to bring SOMETHING that Mark Donnal just doesn't have yet.

It is perfectly okay for anyone to worry...unless someone on this site right now can tell me Donnal is ready to play 20 minutes a game at the C position at an All-B1G level.

Mr. Yost

April 11th, 2014 at 9:23 AM ^

Based on what information can you make that statement?

You have no fucking idea what you're talking about. He played 14 minutes a game this year...what can you show me that says he was going to play LESS next year?

Gosh, people like you are completely ridiculous. They just make shit up and think because they put it on the internet, it's true...because everything on the internet is true.

mackbru

April 11th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^

We could show reports in the News, Free Press, and Daily saying that he was looking at less playing time due to the emergence of Donnal and the likely return of McGary. Plus whatever contributions the incoming freshmen made. Now he's behind at least two more talented players, rather than just one. It's a given, dude. He's leaving because of PT. He said as much. So maybe you should calm down and learn to read.

Mr. Yost

April 11th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^

...and I can read that he played 13.8 minutes a game this year and you're nostradamous and know he'll only play maybe 10 next year.

You also know that Donnal and Doyle are better than he is even though Donnal doesn't play his position and Doyle isn't even on campus. Max B is the only other player on the roster that plays the post besides he and McGary.

McGary-Horford-Doyle-Max B...those are your 4 guys that can play C. You start putting Donnal at C and he's off at some school like Maryland just like Smotrycz and complaining that he's out of position. He's a stretch 4.

So Doyle and Max B are going to take all these minutes from Horford? Come on.

You're assuming things. You would've had to assume the exact same thing about Morgan last year and you would've been 100% totally wrong. Which you are now.

 

AlwaysBlue

April 10th, 2014 at 8:14 PM ^

playing a lot of minutes. Burning a red shirt for those minutes would have been ill advised. Horford, on the other hand, played himself into fewer and fewer minutes. Sure it's worrisome that he won't be there because at least then there is the hope of improvement. It was as worrisome though that Michigan was going to rely on him next season. He showed very little consistent proficiency on either end of the court. Hopefully he transfers to a school with a more traditional offense.

Mr. Yost

April 11th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^

They were important in a sense because they were against KENTUCKY in the ELITE 8 and we weren't up or down by more than 10 points.

He had to play because our bigs were in foul trouble.

They were very important minutes.

It's not just because it was the tournament or because it was the Elite 8.

I'm sure he played the same amount or even MORE minutes vs. Florida last year in the Elite 8...those were not important minutes. We were up 20 points...it was completely different.

So I'm sorry, but you're wrong.