A UM roster without early NBA departures.

The NBA teams on TV last night and tonight included 4 former UM players who should still be in school.  Would they have stayed if not for the NCAA prohibitions on student pay? What would have happened with McGary if the NCAA hadn’t pushed him out the door while unable to perform but positive for a non-PED which is now legal or decriminalized in at least 14 states?

Whatever the answers, UM’s early NBA departures do seriously question the NCAA’s stated intent to promote equity.  While UM now misses 4 otherwise eligible NBA departures, the B1G favorite, Wisconsin, misses none.  It keeps 80% of its 4^th or 5^th year starters---including the B1G POY favorite, Frank Kaminsky.  Similarly, MSU loses only one otherwise eligible player. 

Of course, UM's early departures are an indication of the program's greater strength.. But I can’t help wondering what the roster would be if all the eligible UM players stayed.  In addition to the current players (assuming no attrition and the same recruiting classes, my roster would include:

Trey Burke (Sr)  NCAA national POY, B1G POY, NBA lottery pick, NBA fresh-so All star

Nick Stauskas (Jr) B1G POY, NBA lottery pick

Mitch McGary (Jr) NBA first rounder

Glenn Robinson III (Jr)  NBA draftee

And Caris Levert  (Jr) current B1G POY/Wooden award candidate.

FOOTNOTE: My reserves would include

Zak Irvin (So) five star recruit, Parade All American, Indiana’s Mr BB

Derrick Walton (So) Parade All American, most first place votes for Michigan’s Mr BB.

Kam Chatman, five star Scout, US national under-18 training camp roster

Spike Albrecht (Jr), who scored 17pts in an NCAA championship game and tweeted Kate Upton.

and Max Bielfeldt (Sr). 

I include Max over others not because he buries 3 pointers.  Admittedly, he looks less coordinated than Donnal, is small for a 5, and—in other ways also-- has a lower ceiling.  Nonetheless, I include Max because he is, literally, an inspiration. 

After careful research (?) >/sarcasm, rolling eyes, (-:  I have concluded that he inspired the creation of Max at Bielfeld University (?sp).  Max is an artificially intelligent machine with human communication abilities.  He "understands" what we want him to do and can take on the role of a social partner. Ok, as you’ll see from the link, he’s not exactly a party animal. He looks a bit stiff.  He blinks a lot, which could impair his long range shooting.  But should the real Max be injured, it would be easy to change his digital purple color into maize and blue.  And if we did insert him into the lineup, he demonstrates an admirable degree of self-control, which would help him resist taunting about size from other bigs.