Michigan’s path in the Big Ten just got a whole lot steeper.
Brandon McCoy, the freshman who was supposed to be the Wolverines’ most explosive piece this season, is done for the year with an ACL injury, according to news that broke Tuesday afternoon. The injury came last week in the first 20 seconds of an overseas exhibition game against Croatia, when McCoy picked off a steal, pushed the ball in transition and slipped awkwardly in the paint on the way to the rim. He stayed down for a couple of minutes before being carried off the floor.
For Michigan, that’s a brutal blow. McCoy was expected to be a first-round NBA draft pick next year and the most talented player on the roster this season, and his loss changes the entire conversation around the Wolverines.
There had been some early optimism in Ann Arbor that the injury might have been a hyperextension or another issue that could be managed before the season started. Instead, the update on Tuesday confirmed the worst-case scenario and sent Michigan fans into full panic mode.
It also changes the Big Ten picture.
Michigan was already facing a tough road after losing the three-headed monster from its national title team and Dusty May, while also dealing with uncertainty about getting Roddy Gayle back for a fifth season. Elliot Cadeau returns, Trey McKenney is back, and Michigan added Moustapha Thiam and JP Estrella, but there were real questions about how much scoring punch this team would have even before McCoy went down. Now those concerns are impossible to ignore.
The Wolverines were in the favorites conversation before the season. Now they look more like a team trying to hang onto contender status.
That shift matters because the Big Ten was already shaping up as a top-heavy league, with Illinois, Michigan and Michigan State expected to set the pace. With McCoy out, that race may have narrowed even more. USC, Nebraska, UCLA, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio State are among the other teams that could push into the mix, but Michigan no longer feels like it belongs in the same tier it did a week ago.
The note that McCoy’s injury is being labeled an “ACL injury” does not specify a tear, but with him already ruled out for the season, that’s the obvious reading. Either way, the result is the same for Michigan: the Wolverines now have to find a way to replace a huge chunk of projected production, and the backcourt is suddenly looking a lot thinner.
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