College Basketball: 5-On-5 With Maxwell Ogden And Nathan Giese

2. Is Michigan better off without Mitch McGary this season?

Nathan Giese: Mitch McGary entered the year with a lot of expectations after exploding during the NCAA Tournament last year. However, he lost Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., two guys that helped open the floor for McGary to flourish without much attention on him. He also dealt with back issues all off season, forcing him to miss the first two games for the Wolverines.

It didn’t take long for McGary to return to the injured list, eight games to be exact. Michigan went 4-4 in those eight games McGary played in. They have gone 14-3 since then, including 12-3 in the Big Ten, putting them on top of the conference standings. The Wolverines have swept Michigan State, perhaps their greatest accomplishment of the season. All of this has been done without McGary.

But does that mean the Wolverines are better without McGary on the floor? Yes and no. They are better off without him because in those games McGary was playing he wasn’t his normal, aggressive self like we saw in the tournament. In one particular instance I recall against Duke, McGary got the ball on the low block when Michigan had the player advantage. Instead of working his way into the post deeper, McGary turned around, faded away and shot a brick when he was about three feet from the rim. He was also being guarded by a much smaller player.

In McGary’s absence we’ve seen the maturity of Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III before our very eyes. Both have established themselves as stars and the team itself is playing, well, like a team. Obviously the Wolverines would love to have McGary out there with them, but they don’t need him. This allows McGary to sit back, learn a bit more and it essentially guarantees he’ll be back next season, which is a huge boost for them.

Maxwell Ogden:  The Michigan Wolverines are the same team without Mitch McGary as they were with him. What I mean by that, of course, is that the Wolverines are heavily-dependent upon jump shooting and will live-and-die by that approach.

Unfortunately, McGary was the main reason that the Wolverines had a realistic shot at getting back to the National Championship game.

Outside of a 63-61 neutral site loss to the Charlotte 49ers and a 63-52 meltdown at the Indiana Hoosiers, every Michigan loss has come against a ranked opponent. That’s five quality losses on paper, but three of those defeats were by double-digits.

The reason is simple: when Michigan can’t sink jump shots, the game has already been decided.

McGary was the source of balance for Michigan, allowing shooters to dump it inside for quick-and-easy buckets. He was also the only player on the roster averaging more than 4.5 rebounds and a never-say-die athlete with an outstanding motor.

Michigan will be a team that excites and contends, but McGary’s absence will be felt in March.