chaundee brown

Less than a week after Michigan dominated the NHL Draft, the NBA Draft rolled around and presented the Wolverines with another opportunity to show out. Though the basketball team isn't oozing the pro talent of the hockey team (because what other college team of any sport does?), it was a solid showing for Juwan Howard's team. Franz Wagner was picked early in the first round, while Isaiah Livers went in the mid-second round, making Michigan one of just two B1G teams to have multiple NBA draft pick this year. That'll help sell the program to recruits. 

How do Wagner and Livers fit with their new teams? And what about Michigan players who didn't get drafted? Let's run through each and examine the futures of our departing Wolverines, as well as take stock of how other familiar names and rival programs fared at the NBA Draft: 

[AFTER THE JUMP: a few dudes got drafted, a few dudes didn't] 

More Alston takes. This is not a sponsor note, but Richard Hoeg is a law-talking guy with an hour long podcast episode on the NCAA's "slow-motion suicide":

At the Ringer, Rodger Sherman:

Time and time again, the NCAA refuses to budge, even as its position becomes more untenable. They fought NIL to the bitter end, determined to keep athletes from receiving outside money even after it became clear that the NCAA’s side would lose. They fought in the Supreme Court to keep athletes from getting money for academic purchases, even though their argument was clearly legally doomed. The NCAA’s board of governors recently gave president Mark Emmert—a man who has dug in deep to keep the NCAA’s model alive, while also making a lot of other mistakes—a contract extension until 2025. (Like the Supreme Court’s decision, the choice to extend Emmert was also unanimous.) The NCAA remains fatalistically committed to its dying business model. They will happily drown, dragged to the bottom of the ocean with the last pennies they took from this system, rather than share a lifeboat with the athletes who play the games.

At CBS Sports, Matt Norlander:

The decision itself is not surprising. After the appeal for this case was heard in March, the questions and tones of the justices toward NCAA legal counsel indicated an anti-NCAA approach. The belief among the legal experts CBS Sports spoke with was that a 6-3 or perhaps even 7-2 decision in favor of Alston was most likely.

Instead, the NCAA got swept.

[After THE JUMP: Devante Jones floater time]

Premature but okay. Joe Lunardi's bracketology is in the way (way) too early phase but yeah okay I'll mention this:

The other 1s are Gonzaga, UCLA, and Kansas. I think way too much is being made of UCLA's tournament run, especially given the possibility Johnny "Contested Twos" Juzang stays in the draft. Other Big Ten teams in this projection: Ohio State (2-seed), Purdue(2), Maryland(3), MSU(5), Illinois(6), Indiana(7), and Iowa(11). Northwestern(!?!?!?) is listed as the first team out, Wisconsin second team out.

The previous sentence makes me doubt the usefulness of linking this at all.

I am skeptical this happened. Dennis Dodd recently asserted on a podcast that Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell turned down an eight year, 68 million dollar contract from the Detroit Lions this offseason. This seems unlikely for one main reason: this is an entirely sensible thing to do if you are the Detroit Lions, and the Lions never do anything sensible. (On the other hand, failing to hire Matt Campbell and turning to some other guy named Campbell, who seems a little deranged, does seem like a Lions thing to do.)

If that did actually happen and Campbell didn't take the job that is a major indicator he's aiming for a terminal college job instead of the NFL. Michigan may be in the market for a coach after this season.

[After THE JUMP: Ol' Murderface returns to the column]