Wouldāve been nice for Johns to get more center reps against the mid majors in hindsight. Oh well.
Welp I guess Dickinson is starting now
Bummer for Davis. Thankfully we donāt play much the rest of December. Silver lining is that this forces the coaching staff to start Dickinson.
A quick google search says 9-12 weeks for recovery, but I am not a doctor and have no idea how accurate that timeline is and how it changes with severity.
Oh man. Feel terrible for the big man. Fifth year and all. Thatās a painful injury. Recall Adreian Payne suffering through this some years ago.
Just glad itās nothing permanent that would require surgery and/or extensive rehab
B1G schedule appears (at least right now) to be pretty back-loaded. I guess Iād rather have him at the end than right now, if we had to choose.
Atleast this board can claim a lot of foresight on this too
I donāt want to say that āUMHoops forum coaches a basketball teamā would win the national title by year 3, but Iām also not counting it out 
Damn that sucks. Really feel for Davis. Iāve had plantar fasciitis before and patience is the key. I reinjured it twice trying to push myself too early and it ended up taking over 6 months to fully recover.
Eli Brooks was named Michiganās third captain this week after Austinās injury.
Maybe I am just a gloomy gus but I think we will feel his absence badly
So it was pointed out on Reddit that the report describes a āplantar fascia injuryā, which isnāt necessarily plantar fasciitis. Still not a doctor, so I donāt know whether that implies a potential quicker recovery timeline, but itās something to note.
Yeah, Juwan said plantar fasciitis (although kind of mispronounced it) so a bit unclear what he was trying to say.
Video is here, first question:
harmon, I absolutely agree with you! I think everyone on here knows how much respect I have for Austin Davis, and I feel terrible for him.
I feel bad for his teammates and the coaches, too, though, and hereās why. AD is a very important part of this basketball team. I can assure you, Juwan offered him a fifth year for a reason, and a very good one at that. Regardless of who starts or doesnāt start there are 40 minutes to be played at the five. Hunter Dickinson will now have to play 28-30 every gameā¦in the B1G. While heās very talented and had been impressive, that is no easy task. There are just not many freshmen at 7ā1 255 who can play that many minutes, consistently game after game. AND Brandon Johns will have to play at least 10-12 minutes at the five against B1G caliber post players, and possibly more, as well. And there is really no one elseā¦unless Jaron Faulds can help out a bit, a few minutes here, a few minutes there. Strap 'em up, fellas!
But thatās only part of the problem. One of the great advantages of having AD on the team is his ability to bang in practice against Hunterā¦everyday. Having a fifth grad year player who knows the B1G, who has played against B1G caliber post players, and has played against some of the very B1G post players Dickinson will face is an enormous asset. Player development for this young freshman WILL be affected. Having been in a lot of gyms and having conducted a lot of practices, I can tell you, important stuff happens there! Who on the team has the size, strength, and savvy to bang against Hunter Dickinson in practice everyday, and help him get better?
So, yeah, I feel terrible for AD, and it breaks my heart to think that he may not get to play, well, at least for SEVERAL weeks, but also I feel bad for his teammates, too. As for recovery time, he may be back by the middle or end of February. Plantar Fascia is a tough injury. He may not be back at all. So, yeah, fifth year grad student and this could be it. Letās hope notā¦for AD and for the team.
Edit: OK, I just now listened to Juwan and my assessment doesnāt change. āAll hands on deck.ā Guess what, there isnāt an AD left on deck. We have good players and they WILL step up, we just donāt have another AD. Iām not trying to be a downer, but this kid is more important to the team than most anyone on this forum has ever given him credit for. And you heard Juwan talk about his LEADERSHIP, well heāll still lead from the bench, heāll be like another assistant coach, but he is so valuable in practice AND in games and he will be missed.
He can still strap a big boot on and body HD in the paint during practice. Kick him in the shins for good measure. Get him good and callused for the B1G season.
Plantar fasciitus is not fun to have and there is no predictable time frame. For those of us who have had it (or those of us who are dealing with itš„) know what a painful condition it can be. I feel really bad for AD. He will make a terrific cheerleader.
Thatās too bad for Austin, but also our team. Iām probably one of the only people on here who didnāt mind him starting over Hunter and thought he brought a lot of good to our team in the limited minutes he played. I think this just means Johns will play more at center. Hope recovery goes smooth for Austin, but for now weāll have to find a way to Make-up for his veteran presence. The good thing with Austin was we always knew we could get very solid minutes from him every night.
I disagree that you always knew youād get good minutes from Austin Davis on any given night. That might have held true in the non conference against much smaller players but against Big Ten players Iād say his minutes are far from a guaranteed plus. Historically heās had games whereās heās just unplayable due to foul trouble.