The Wolverine

April 2020

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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APRIL 2020 THE WOLVERINE 5   FROM OUR READERS FROM OUR WEBSITE On the cancellation of NCAA winter and spring sports, spring football and more, including recruiting, due to coronavirus … • Dang, this is a huge hit for football and the building of the OL and a new starting QB. thedude2403 • That's the proper thing to do at this juncture. bluetown • Have to wonder how the end to this season affects guys like [Isaiah] Livers in terms of him returning for his se- nior year. I think he'll be back, and I'm actually more concerned about Franz [Wagner]. Blue_J • No College World Series too. Sucks for the baseball team. bg0424 • Why let the teams go warm up [at the Big Ten basketball Tournament before it was cancelled]? Big Ten has been really bad the last two days in their decision making. blue_in_chicago • Yeah … can't have the guys practic- ing together if they can't play. Would make it through a team in seven days. GR_Blue3 • I know it's early and plans are not in place yet, but how will football in particular deal with the loss of spring practice? Spring is an essential part of the development of the following fall's team. Are players allowed to get to- gether on their own? Do they extend fall practice? This will be interesting to see unfold. What about recruiting? The cynic in me suspects the envelope will be stretched beyond belief. k2kal3 • It will be very interesting to see what they decide [in terms of granting win- ter athletes an extra year of eligibility, like the NCAA is doing for spring-sport athletes]. On one hand, it's terrible for all the players involved, but they all almost got to play a full season and still had a chance to achieve accomplish- ments during the season and show- case themselves for the next level. It's a very unfortunate ending, but it's just one of those crazy situations that happens in life that reinforced the fact that life isn't always fair. Louisville had their title stripped from them, but that didn't give us the title. According to the NCAA, there was no official champion that year — it sucked, but there was nothing we could do about it. md2020wolverine On the presumed, premature end to the careers of senior point guard Za- vier Simpson and classmate center Jon Teske … • Really unfortunate this is how it ends. Can't believe what I'm seeing, and obviously there are more impor- tant issues than a basketball tourna- ment, but these guys gave us every- thing while they were here. Hope they have a ton of success in their personal and professional lives. hobart48 • Glad they both had a chance to play in a Final Four. sane1 • Thank you for your four years, three Sweet 16s, most wins of any U-M player and many records. It's a shame it ended this way. Hope you will be making money playing the game somewhere. ladron • Was in tears watching [Simpson] be the last guy on the court when the game was cancelled. Just brutal. Chris Calloway • Was a touching moment when the teams were leaving the court and X asked for the ball from a Rutgers player and shot one more time and made a hoop in his M uniform … like he knew he wouldn't do it again. HUGE M FAN • We all feel for these guys now. But in the end this disappointment will be a minor bump for most of them. They have their whole lives in front of them. Possibly pro contracts, a career, mar- riage, kids, etc. Right now, sports are their life. That will change. Maybe not right away. Maybe after they retire from the NBA or the European league. But it will change. And when it does, they won't focus on the tournament they missed, but the friendships they made and the lifetime impact Michigan had on them. ladron • Yep. It sucks, but things are getting cancelled that people rely on to pay their mortgages and buy food. It's hard for me to get too worked up that they missed somewhere between two and nine games. TDFever • [Simpson] has future coach written all over him. scheins • Agree 100 percent. Seems like he has the perfect personality for it — serious and demanding, but still very engaging and personable. I'd love to see him back on the sidelines for U-M at some point. BlueSwede94 • Loved [Juwan Howard's statement]. And, as a friend reminded me, our en- tire team almost died in a plane crash three years ago this week. Perspective is important. andrewhfine • Juwan has really impressed me as a leader. The team is in great hands. I feel sorry for the seniors and team. It would've been nice to get that 20th win and more, and to try to make an- other run at it. X and Teske leave as the all-time wins leaders but didn't get a chance to build on their totals/ accomplishments. Nonetheless, their 30-5 neutral-court record is insane. Safety first. Best of luck to them for whatever the future holds. Thanks for the memories! CtBlue03 • Very impressed by the handling of this and the comments made by Juwan and [director of athletics] Warde [Man- uel]. Also impressed by the comments of Simpson and Teske, two fine young men and representatives of our university. I do feel so bad, not just for this team but for all of our teams affected by this. It has to be a blow, but they're young and resilient and will move on and do well. Amaizingblue Join The Conversation - 30 Day Free Trial, Use Code BLUE30

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