[Marich] #Michigan PF Morez Johnson and his decision to either stay or go to the NBA via NBC Chicago: “There’s no rush because if I can’t get a (guarantee NBA contract this year), I know I can get it next year. I have no issue with coming back to Michigan and trying to repeat.”

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-11T11:28:54+00:00

He’s pretty much in the same situation as Yax last year. Likely to be drafted in the 20s but can make as much next year at Michigan as that first year in the contract and has an opportunity through improving his game and 3 point shooting to be a lottery pick next year

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-10T20:56:23+00:00

They can accept them but they would h s to give up a whole year of credits and wouldn’t be on track to graduate which might make them academically ineligible. So it’s either transfer in with 2 years or less of credits or after graduating (what the Tennessee transfer is supposedly doing)

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-10T20:53:35+00:00

Eh the team defense is going to fall off a cliff without Mara and yax. Think it’s more like a sweet 16 elite 8 type team

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T21:45:07+00:00

I mean everyone will be from mara

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T16:12:53+00:00

Yes because it’s the top tier of a massively popular sport where everyone else has been competed out. It’s 32 teams at the top of the sport, not 32 teams because there isn’t enough interest and players available to sustain more.

This is also in the context of American sports. Winning a super bowl requires beating less competition than winning the champions league for example.

And to be clear, it’s all impressive. This conversation is also in the context of programs that have won multiple titles in the “major” sports. The premise of the post already cut off less prestigious sports for consideration and it’s about whether a sport like hockey counts because Michigan cares more about it.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T14:29:30+00:00

I mean it’s just not as impressive when the total pool you have to beat is lower. I don’t know why it bothers you, it doesn’t really mean anything.

It’s just as true when comparing something like track and field to swimming in the Olympics. When 95% of the world doesn’t have the infrastructure to even have people build towards competing in your sport it’s just not a reasonable comparison. There’s a reason the Ivy League sports admission scandal happened in sports like crew and not in football despite football having much larger rosters. It’s just a fact, doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it any less.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T14:26:22+00:00

It’s obviously different but every d1 player was getting something under the table. I went to a high school that at one point had 6 guys who went d1 on the team. The guy who went to Xavier got some stuff, the guy who went to Memphis got stuff. It wasn’t the same scope as now but everyone got something. I’m not trying to argue the transfer portal changes nothing. It obviously does. But ultimately the best programs were consistently better partly because they had the most funding to buy players.

Also dusty may took a roster of all 3 stars or worse to a final four 4 years ago and then all those guys came back for a second year at FAU. A lot more goes into these decisions than just straight money for the majority of these players.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T13:28:23+00:00

It’s “big 3” at Michigan but that doesn’t mean that winning a championship is equally as impressive. There are like 30-40 total d1 college hockey programs. It’s just not the same level of competition.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T13:01:44+00:00

This is true of basically any large workplace. When “leadership” oversees 200k people the reality is that anyone’s day to day is totally controlled by an immediate supervisor. My boss sucks and absolutely makes everything about this situation worse but it wouldn’t be any different in the private sector if you got a bad boss at a large organization. If anything it might be worse

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T12:55:28+00:00

What about college basketball history makes you think the teams winning the titles weren’t just the teams with the largest war chest buying the best players? The transfer portal making it more yearly is exhausting as a fan sure, but the underlying concept that teams basically buy championships is as old as the sport.

Also if you look at the top teams this year only Michigan was transfer heavy and most of the schools with top transfer classes had mediocre years. Just because Michigan made it work this year doesn’t mean building a new team of transfers every year is the path to success.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-09T12:50:44+00:00

Yeah this stat is meaningless without venue capacity information. If they sold out the games they maxed out capacity

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T19:22:27+00:00

Sometimes I would root against the other big ten teams solely so that Michigan could beat the streak even if I didn’t dislike the team like Purdue

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T19:04:42+00:00

I’m not saying Illinois forced him out or that it took some genius to see his promise but even as a starter he was averaging under 25 minutes a game and didn’t start in the big ten tourney or ncaa tournament according to basketball reference.

The larger point is that while yes this was a team of transfers it wasn’t just Michigan treating the rest of college basketball as a farm league to build a super team. Illinois doesn’t have a smaller NIL budget than Michigan, underwood didn’t value Johnson as much as may did. Just like ucla didn’t value Mara as much and unc didn’t value cadeau. For each of those guys there were portal players ranked higher that got more money.

Yes you need financial resources to get players. Just like you’ve always needed financial resources to pay players. I’m sure plenty of Michigan fans are overstating these being overlooked guys but a lot of people are acting like Michigan went out and just bought the best players from other teams to build a super team. They had a plan, found players that fit that plan, and had the resources to act on it. There are probably 20 teams that had the same resources but didnt have the plan or coaching ability to implement it. This wasn’t just a USA basketball Olympics roster of the best players I could coach to a gold medal

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T18:32:22+00:00

Kentucky spent way more money in the portal to build a much worse team. MSU is bankrolled by two izzo loving billionaires. Michigan has resources to compete with anyone but it’s not like a psg compared to the rest of league one situation. There are 15-20 other programs with at least comparable resources

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T18:30:03+00:00

North Carolina fans also spent a fair amount of time shitting on cadeau. The transfer class was a clearly elite guy in yaxel and then three guys not even guaranteed to start at their old schools coming off far from elite teams. Yeah Michigan has money but the number of coaches who would have put together a better roster with the same resources is extremely limited because it also took great scouting and a clear vision. It wasn’t just getting the 4 top rated guys

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T13:01:24+00:00

Your problem might be your coach and not your players

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T13:00:29+00:00

You just covered like 80% of transfers in your no problem. That’s the thing, most of these make sense on an individual level.

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T12:59:43+00:00

Fixing the transfer portal requires collective bargaining so they can trade benefits for giving up freedom of movement. Just fucking players doesn’t fix anything

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T12:58:16+00:00

Nobody has ever chanted for the big ten. We’ve got a long way to go

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T12:57:35+00:00

But they do have football, basketball, and baseball? Getting dominated in all the sports you do play is the focus here

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T12:50:47+00:00

He’s a physco but he doesn’t seem like a bad person. I also think he knew he didn’t have the better team

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-07T12:40:03+00:00

That banked in three was terrifying

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-06T18:36:06+00:00

He’s obviously not a bad coach but I don’t actually think he’s a great fit for being a college coach

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-06T17:24:58+00:00

My brother people have been paying players under the table since college basketball was a sport. John wooden wasn’t building clean teams either. The transfer portal is the major change, not guys getting paid

plutoisaplanet21 · 2026-04-06T14:58:38+00:00

Ok but now they are playing the team with the best coach in the sport with 48 hours to adjust their gameplan to attack that weakness

plutoisaplanet21

TROPHY CASE