Michigan Wolverines forward Mitch McGary was expected to return to school this year and be the focal point of another competitive squad, but a recent marijuana suspension has turned those plans upside down.
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McGary is admitting to having smoked marijuana at a party in March, and because of his poor decision the NCAA suspended him for a whole year. Rather than sit out another year, McGary is headed to the NBA.
"I always turned it down," McGary told Yahoo Sports of being offered marijuana. "But that night I didn't." McGary is clearly disappointed in himself, but understands that rules are rules.
"The penalty is a year," McGary said. "It's just with the NCAA and their strict rules, they don't show any mercy. They take their things seriously." McGary's numbers don't jump off the page through his freshman season and a handful of games as a sophomore, but in the 2013 NCAA Tournament he exploded with three double-doubles in six games.
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Michigan head coach John Beilein expressed shock at McGary's transgression. "[That's why] this was a surprise," Beilein told Yahoo Sports on Thursday evening. "This is not Mitch McGary. Not the one I know."
While a one-year punishment for a first-time marijuana offense seems harsh, the reason for the lengthy ban is for failing an NCAA-administered test rather than a team-issued one.
"If it had been a Michigan test, I would've been suspended three games and possibly thought about coming back," McGary said. "I don't have the greatest circumstances to leave right now [due to the injury]. I feel I'm ready, but this pushed it overboard.
"I don't think the penalty fits the crime. I think one year is overdoing it a little bit."
What's even more frustrating for McGary and the Wolverines is that the NCAA changed its rules days after his appeal was denied. The penalty now is a half-season, and the NCAA released a statement more in accordance with common sense.
"Street drugs are not performance-enhancing in nature, and this change will encourage schools to provide student-athletes the necessary rehabilitation."
Is this NCAA ban way too long? @SportsWN
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