MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[Da Geezer]

I think another model will become prevalent and that is to recruit the transfer portal as much as the HS kids. Coach Howard won the transfer portal wars this last year, getting a much-needed point guard and the 6th man of the year.

Next year we project to have a sophomore and two freshmen at the guard position. That's it. We really need Brooks or Smith to return. Better yet, Minnesota's all-BIG guard is in the transfer portal now. This guard situation that has to be addressed this offseason.

I can also see top-flite talent "transferring together" to one school in order to make a run at a national title. The only difference between this and the Duke/Kentucky model is that the transfer players will have collegiate experience at the college level.

[lineygoblue]

So some college players may get together like the LeBron James model, and all head to one school to take a run at the title?

Interesting.

And in today's environment, I could see it happening.

[Cody_Russell]

Isiah Livers had surgery today to repair the fracture in his foot. The post-surgery report said he will be out of action "at least" six months. This has immediately spurred rumors that he might return to Michigan for another season, seeing that he will miss the pre-draft workouts, and the draft itself, and not be able to even begin practicing until October at the earliest. Even though Livers is a senior, he has a "covid year" should he decide to use it.
It may just be some Michigan fan wishful thinking. Some NBA team may take a chance on him even though he's laid up.
I'm not up to date on where he was projected in the draft, should he have been fully healthy.

Livers returning would surprise me, but would love it.
5 players have to leave. If one of them is NOT Nunez, that would suck.
Davis, Livers, Smith, Nunez, and Wagner gone... I'm ok with it. If Wagner or Livers somehow return and someone like Zeb or Terrance Williams leave... that would only raise the ceiling of next year's team. Icing on the cake.

Hoping for Brooks, Brown, and Dickinson to return at minimum. These three players returning would set the foundation to build off of.
- Brooks is the glue that holds everything together.
- Brown is your energizer bunny and can provide great defense.
- Dickinson is a presence in the post.

[lineygoblue]

I'm not sure of this, but the NCAA may be allowing some sort of accommodation in the form of allowing extra scholarships for anyone wanting to use a Covid year.

Again, I'm not sure of that, but the NCAA did say that "anyone" who wants to come back an additional year, can do so. Seems like they would have to allow extra schollys if several players on a team took them up on it.

All speculation on my part.

[Da Geezer]

Liney:

This is the best article I've seen on how the covid year works.

The key takeaway is that any senior returning does not count against the 13 scholarship limit.

That is a really big deal when you have a large recruiting class

https://247sports.com/college/michigan/LongFormArticle/Stay-or-go-Assessing-the-upcoming-decisions-of-Michigan-basketballs-seniors-and-NBA-Draft-hopefuls-163575978/#163575978_20

[Cody_Russell]

Huh, I missed that information.
So Davis, Smith, Brown, Brooks, or Livers coming back doesn’t impact the 13 scholarship count.

That’s big. I guess the pressure is off Nunuz to transfer.
Might have enough room to go after the transfer pool too!

[froot loops]

Yeah MSU has an issue with scholarships incoming transfers and the possibility of Emoni Bates reclassifying as a senior. In those articles it mentioned if Langford came back it wouldn't have counted.

The one thing about Livers is that surgery can be bad news. It took Langford two full years to recover from that injury. Some people never recover. My daughter danced with numerous dancers that had to retire due to stress fractures. Dancing is much harder on the feet but the point remains, that injury is trouble.

[Whitley]

https://www.ncsasports.org/coronavirus-sports/ncaa-eligibility-coronavirus

snipped:

Here is an example of how this could play out for a college team:

• A fully funded NCAA D1 FBS football team has a maximum of 85 scholarships. All D1 FBS scholarships are full-rides.
• For the 2020-21 season, the team has 25 seniors on scholarship. Let’s say all of these seniors get an extra year of eligibility.
• For the 2021-22 school year, this program could bring back up to 25 seniors and all of those seniors are eligible to keep their scholarships.
• If the school is able to fund the maximum number of scholarships it can for the 2021-22 school year, they could have 110 athletes on scholarships. That means 25 returning seniors and 85 others.

I imagine it is the same for basketball.

Given that I would expect Livers, Brooks and Brown to return.

[Hannibal]

Per mgoblog forums, Brooks will be back next year. I sorta would have preferred Smith, but I'll definitely take anyone who wants to stay. Brooks is an important glue guy at a position of need.

[Whitley]

So Brooks stays

Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown and likely Livers and Austin Davis gone.

[lineygoblue]

The Livers situation could get interesting. He's not going to be able to work out for any pre season NBA camps, and if drafted, (and signed) he'd go straight to an injured list until at least October.

It might be better for him to come back for the extra year and work his way up in the draft.

[WM Wolverine]

Think an NBA team knows his game well enough to draft Livers. Brooks will be a huge help with the lack of guard development by the underclassmen...

I like Frankie Collins a ton but luckily we don't have to rely on a true freshman PG with Brooks returning. Zeb Jackson I like as a combo guard but would like to see him next season as a reserve.

[lineygoblue]

You're right. Livers is gone.

Next one up.

[Mike]

I Brown leaving official? I was hoping he’d take the extra year.

[hack]

Brown is out. Next call: hit the transfer portal for a PG? Brooks isn't ideal there fulltime. The frontcourt is absolutely elite. Probably need to find a transfer even if it pisses off a young guy like Zeb or Collins and triggers an exit. Chase those banners *now*.