If they don’t renew his scholarship, I assume it’s theoretically possible that he could walk on. Is there any reason he couldn’t? If so, he’d have a bit of a dilemma, maybe 5-8 min/game on a Final 4 team or solid minutes at Columbia (or wherever) while he works on a master’s. He’s a limited player, but he is really improving quickly. In his own way, Austin is as much an endorsement of Juwan’s big man teaching chops as Bam.
Last year on the football team, Jared Wangler walked on for a 5th year after being on scholarship for 4 years. I don’t know of any rules in basketball preventing this.
That said, this off season could get a little crazy with all of the comings and goings on UM’s basketball roster / scholarships.
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Seriously?! Come on guys…
Also this should be in the thread for Roster Speculation
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Hard to see a scenario where Juwan wants Austin Davis and Jace Howard on his team and Davis is the one who walks on.
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Unless Austin Davis’ dad once signed a 9 figure deal at his job it would seem odd, yes
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Why would he walk on? He’s going to have a Michigan degree, a trip to the Final 4, and 2 BTT trophies, and the way he has played recently is going to pay for a year of grad school at a smaller school where he’s likely to play 20-30 minutes a games. You think he’ll choose to pay a year’s tuition to be a back-up again?
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A back-up at Michigan? Perhaps.
Yeah this is getting too cute. He either stays and is a valuable teammate with experience, or he goes to a smaller school to play guaranteed minutes. Walk on isn’t going to be one of his decisions.
I think his decision is more based on what Colin decides to do (or vice versa). There are minutes to be had at the 5 next year for one of them.
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IMO, I think there’s room for both (and would prefer both if possible, I don’t feel safe with only two true centers). Still a lot to shake out. April is gonne be a super interesting month.
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People don’t like the idea of Johns playing a pick and pop 5 as needed?
I’d think both Johns and Todd would be viable backups at the 5–not every matchup but most. I think that makes carrying three true centers more a luxury contingent on how the rest of the roster shakes out rather than something to aim for, imo.
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I think it would have to be Jace Howard as the walkon. One of the few times you can game the system.
This is exactly my question. Thanks. I’m not asking for a psychological evaluation of AD or for people to lay out the pros and cons — those elements are pretty obvious. Just is it NCAA possible.
If I were Davis, I would be so tempted to try my lot at a MAC school to put into play the hard work I did here. But I don’t think I’m on his short list of advisors.
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