MBB: What to do about Jace?
Continue to find it strange Jace Howard has yet to put his name in transfer portal and can’t find any info about his status other than he, Will, Nimari and likely GW remain on the roster.
While Dusty May has yet to put a foot wrong, this is one seems like on of his earliest thorny issues he inherited and a big roster challenge given the baggage this player comes with. Not a key player to retain but not perhaps bench depth (?), behavior triggered staff beratement and coach altercation scandal resulting in loss of Sanderson, former coach’s son which makes it super weird, but arguably was misdiagnosed and one of the few hustle guys we’ve seen recently when not injured.
I am in the “give light gratitude but also a firm handshake out the door camp” particularly if what was reported by Sanderson was true, but I wondered if that is even an option if he decides he wants to stay and what folks thought here.
Just seems odd he’s still on roster unless he sees no viable transfer options available.
Isn't he a graduate? He wouldn't need to enter the portal, right?
Maybe he wants his degree from Michigan which would seem important for a non NBA talent.
The Howard still means something to me
Well, he doesn't quite live up to these Howards....that is Moe, Curly, and Shemp Howard.
If you're going to offer something utterly stupid, and clog up the upper portions of a thread. . . maybe think twice? There is so much garbage of this kind here these days that I often drift away after a quick search for intelligent commentary.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:05 AM ^
Amen brother
I got flamed when asking a simple question about M sections for the frozen four.
A lot of useless drivel clogs up space here
April 12th, 2024 at 10:27 AM ^
Oh please. You didn't get flamed for innocently asking a simple question, you got flamed for starting a thread in which you angrily demanded straight answers from all and sundry, with no funny business. It was one of the more petulant displays in recent memory.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:27 AM ^
Ditto
Thanks for bringing this up budg. Gave me a chance to neg you a few times
This was his 4th year at Michigan. Not to mention many athletes take summer classes and are done a semester or two early. Him getting a degree shouldn’t factor into this because he should already have one by the end of this semester. If he for some reason doesn’t graduate Juwan has more than enough money to pay for a semester or two of college for him.
He really shouldn’t have ever been on scholarship in the first place but I digress.
Always love seeing someone tell someone else how they should use their money, especially when it doesn’t impact them at all.
April 11th, 2024 at 10:26 PM ^
Are you new to the internet?
April 11th, 2024 at 11:58 PM ^
Oh, gimme a break. This isn't me telling Juwan to donate millions to some charity. His son isn't a P5-level basketball player. He had him on scholarship taking the spot of someone who could've been much more useful(god forbid this team has an extra ball handler).
Juwan made $100 million over his playing career. The university paid him tens of millions to be a bad coach. Plenty of families pay for their children's school on a fraction of the earnings that Juwan has had in his lifetime.
Save me the sanctimonious "telling someone else how they should use their money" bullcrap. I'm not asking him to end world hunger. I'm saying he should pay for his sons education. The son who isn't a good enough player to have a scholarship at Michigan.
Yeah, but I’m still mad!!
April 12th, 2024 at 11:36 AM ^
You should buy me a new car and get off your sanctimonious horse about using your money to buy expensive things for complete strangers.
Most of the roster last season wasn't good enough to deserve a scholarship, to be fair.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:42 AM ^
He may not be an all american, but a warm body with 4 yrs of college experience is worth something.
It’s a kind gesture to the Howard family and a Michigan legend, let the kid stay unless there is a roster number crunch. Seems like a class act by May.
Right. And Juwan has been nothing but gracious about the outcome of his coaching at Michigan and has not left town or hidden. I spite of it all he remains a Michigan loyalist. It's a shame that coaching didn't work but there is no reason to turn our back on the Howard family. Jace should stay if he wants to and get his Michigan degree.
I’m all for being gracious, but Jace never would’ve been on the team in the first place if his dad wasn’t the head coach. Having a non-scholarship-caliber player continue to take up a scholarship isn’t the best use of a limited resource (not like Michigan is going to be competing for a title next season, but generally speaking), and that’s not even getting into team-building dynamics.
May just got the job. He’s taking over a pretty big roster rebuild and it’s unlikely he’s going to be strapped for space. Barring something crazy happening with the portal and our NIL system, there’s room for him. You boot him if he shows any signs of being a distraction, but at this point you keep him. Easy decision.
Yeah, I don't expect a roster number crunch happening when we basically have to build an entire roster. Let him share with the newcomers what Michigan is about, not the team but the school.
Seriously. People here can't wait to get rid of TWill, Jace, and GWIII. We don't have any players, so why is this a thing to worry about? Maybe because many here are irrationally optimistic that every good FAU and Oklahoma St. player is knocking down the door to come here. Jace isn't keeping Johnell Davis from coming.
I have t seen much evidence that people want get rid of GWIII. Good news he said today he is coming back out of the transfer portal. Happy to see what he can actually do now with a fresh start and one year of college under belt.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:44 AM ^
You do know we had 2 open scholarships last year right?
What do you do?
You honor his commitment and his scholarship.
His scholarship was already honored. He played 4 years at Michigan with no redshirt. The only reason he could come back is because of the Covid year.
Of course. Thank you.
Trash take. Running any kid out the door after a coaching change is dirty, let alone the son of the former coach.
100%.
All things being even (role model scholarship player of ex-coach whether contributing or not on court), I totally agree, but are you presuming the information about his role in the Sanderson departure and his treatment of the staff is not accurate, no? Sanderson was a huge part of the program's success and he is not here largely because of this player and the ex-coach (who I still love and respect as a fan). The behavior the player is accused of also seems very real, very entitled and very problematic for culture building. Very real risk that the classy move here (which I agree it is) invites some uncertainty and toxicity, and exit ramps are ethically available given background.
That said, my "trash take" is not totally congealed and I think the debate here is the reason I raised it..super torn on it and feel for the new coach and the player (and player's fam).
I guess if May is comfortable he'll treat new staff appropriately and that he can manage any toxicity...its not only classy, buy maybe a sign of how confident May is about his coaching/roster management abilities. So cool. If he is not, then I am sure he will honor scholarship minimally and figure it out (perhaps on bench or otherwise).
Regardless of what I think of the player (as noted I think he has more to add than others on thread), I also think its incredibly awkward for Jace, a young person playing for another coach who is replacing your dad of whom you probably thought should not have been fired and who was fired in part because of some of the drama you caused. I don't wish that weight/burden on any young man, Michigan man or otherwise.
Tough situation all around, largely of the player and ex-coaches doing.
No player is greater than the team. No coach is greater than the team. No man is greater than the team.
Sanderson is gone. That should have no impact on what happens with Jace at this point.
April 12th, 2024 at 11:03 AM ^
Logging in to say the Sanderson thing was weird, but Jace has been regarded as a great person with a great attitude since he arrived. I know Seth spoke highly of him after his kid met him while at Mott.
I’m confused by this side of the argument. I personally don’t care what happens to Jace. It’s Dusty’s decision not mine. With that being said, why would this be “running him out the door”.
He got 4 years at Michigan. That’s the usual amount of athletic eligibility and the time it takes to graduate. The only reason he could come back is because his freshman year was the Covid year and doesn’t count against his eligibility.
What happens if he gets hurt this year? Then do we also have to honor his scholarship the next year and give him a 6th? As far as I’m concerned he was already done solid. He got a free education at one of the best public universities in the country even though he was nowhere near good enough to have been a scholarship player and his dad is rich and should’ve been paying for him in the first place.
I don’t know why burning a scholarship spot so a bad player can get a 5th year of free college is so acceptable?
Need to learn how scholarships are used in basketball first off. Second pretty sure he redshirted one year and was a walk on. Some conferences are a year by year in honoring them and some honor all 4 years or until graduation. Most places once you graduate, schollys are a year by year or even semester by semester basis. If we fill all 13 scholarships with players other then Jace I am aure he will still be on the team not using up a scholarship as they are know like in football no limit to them. Sanderson also stuck up for Jace because of how hard Juwan was on Jace. Yea the kid made a mistake and said something and as far as I know that was the only time he ever stepped out of line. Maybe he did it more then once but I haven't heard of anything
April 11th, 2024 at 10:51 PM ^
LMAO. This is why arguing with people on the internet is a fruitless endeavor. Literally every single point you made was wrong. Jace never redshirted (He got a Covid year which isn’t a redshirt). The B1G does not make you honor a scholarship until they graduate. Jace was not a walk-on. He was on scholarship.
Also, if you use it the way football has. Not using a scholarship on someone means that they are having their tuition covered by NIL. So either he is wasting a scholarship or he is wasting our NIL.
Please enlighten me on how I don’t know how scholarships work even though you don’t seem to have even the simplest understanding of the Jace situation.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:43 AM ^
Wow so confrontational when you are the one who is incorrect.
The big ten started guaranteeing scholarships for 4 years in 2014. Its wild that a decade later people don’t know that. Also the NCAA passed a rule that went into effect this season guaranteeing scholarships for 5 years or graduation which ever comes first. Although that doesn’t apply to Jace since he started before that rule was changed.
You keep claiming he isn't good enough to be a scholarship player, and yet you've offered no data to back up that claim. Hell, for all we know, your basketball knowledge is the sum total of all you learned sitting on the bench in junior high.
So maybe, just shut the fuck up?
We wont burn any scholarships, we're not getting 13 scholarship worthy players in one off season, it just aint happening. Hell we had two scholarship spots open last year.
What's so confusing about that?
Let alone the son of a former legend when you know half of the basketball world is looking on to see how you handle such issues. Showing Jace the door could buy a LOT of ill-will. And be terrible karma, to boot. Anonymous fools playing god, that's what message boards are for, I get that. But this is a dumb, dumb take.
Absolutely. This is a stupid, stupid post. There's not even a plausible scholarship crunch to justify thinking about it. If Jace wants to stay we're lucky to have a guy with deep Michigan roots and some experience in the program. If he tries to start shit with a trainer, you address it. Super easy to address in this situation even in the worse case scenario, since "your dad's not the coach anymore" would shut anybody up, and we have no reason to think Jace is that much of a jerk to begin with. Moms should delete it.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:03 AM ^
Not to mention that word was he always killed it in practice, perhaps because he was anxious to show that he wasn't a prima dona. His blow up may have been terrible manners, incredibly bad form, but the book on Jace was always that he was a great kid. I mean, you know there are a LOT of fairly critical people looking on--long connected to the program-- wanting to know how Dusty handles things like this.
This would be more the "5th year handshake" than running the kid out the door.
There were plenty of guys Harbaugh didn't offer a 5th year to and transferred out .
April 12th, 2024 at 11:07 AM ^
Your Harbaugh analogy doesn't hold water, you have to see that. t's apples and oranges.
Why?
Jace doesn't get any special status because of who his dad is.
We had two unused scholarships last season. We will also have unused scholarships next season regardless of how good a job May does recruiting.
Stat guy …
Worst case scenario you let him finish his degree and contribute to the team as a bench player.
May seems to be too classy a guy to send him on his way.
Can't force him out. Nor should they. He did a stupid thing but would have been nipped in bud by the adults, and wasn't. He chooses to stay, then fine.
Fair point...I think I moving off my "trash take". Putting my trust in the Dusty one to figure it out.
He's gotten the 4 years of scholarship he is guaranteed.
They can just not renew his scholarship for next year.