Monday-, May 9, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 11 FOOT ALL Stonum suspended indefinitely for drunk driving By TIM ROHAN On Saturday, Hoke announced Daily Sports Editor Stonum's punishment through a statement. For the second time in his four "Darryl made a poor decision years at Michigan, senior wide that is unacceptable and won't be receiver Darryl Stonum was arrest- tolerated," Hoke said. "He will be ed over the weekend for operating a disciplined for behavior that is vehicle while intoxicated, resulting unbecoming of a Michigan football in Michigan coach Brady Hoke sus- player. pending him indefinitely. "This is a serious situation, we According to Diane Brown, a are disappointed and any athletic spokesperson for the University's department discipline will be han- Department of Public Safety, the dled internally. We will provide the traffic stop occurred at 2:25 a.m. on appropriate support and counseling Friday at the corner of Maynard and in order for him to learn and grow William streets in Ann Arbor. Sto- from this mistake." num was pulled over by University Stonum's first drunken driving Police and subsequently arrested arrest came on Sept. 28, 2008, less and taken to Washtenaw County than a month into his freshman Jail. year. He was driving more than 60 miles per hour down State Street, and nearly hit other cars before he was arrested. As a result, Stonum could have faced up to 93 days in jail, $300 in fines and up to 360 hours of community service. Instead, he was placed on 12 months probation among other minor penalties. Then-coach Rich Rodriguez sus- pended Stonum for only one game, for a "violation of team rules." Earlier this season, Rodriguez talked about how Stonum had matured since the incident. "When a guy messes up and everyone wants to throw him out to the wolves ... it's pleasing to fans and certainly for coaches when you see a guy grow and mature and he gets it," Rodriguez said on Sept. 21, 2010, a few days after Stonum grabbed two touchdowns against Massachusetts. "You see that matu- rity kind of kick in. Sometimes they grow up and they get it. " Stonum's Michigan career was supposed to have followed a dif- ferent trajectory, having entered the program as the No. 41 overall player, and a four-star recruit out of high school, according to Rivals. com. But Stonum posted modest numbers during his freshman and sophomore seasons - failing to catch 15 passes or more than 200 yards receiving in either year. But in 2010, as quarterback Denard Robinson came into his own on offense, so did a few of the other receivers, Stonum included. He finished the year with 49 catches for 633 yards and four touchdowns. And he averaged seven catches for 92 yards in three games against the cream of the crop of the Big Ten, in Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa. Stonum was expected to be a member of a deep receiver group, all returning in2011, featuring red- shirt junior Roy Roundtree, red- shirt senior Junior Hemingway and senior Martavious Odoms. Hoke did leave room for Stonum to return at some point during the Stafford, Texas native's senior year. "If he fulfills all of the commit- ments he has to the legal system and our program, we will make a determination regarding his return to the team," Hoke added. What does Darius Morris's departure mean for Michigan? or Michigan fans, the end- ing to the 2010-11 men's bas- ketball campaign was the definition of bittersweet. Minutes after Darius Morris missed the game-tying shot in the final seconds of the tournament matchup with Duke, the then- sophomore point guard LUKE walked back PASCH onto the court to relive the moment. He used an invisible ball to re-enact the floater that he missed - the same floater that he sunk nine times out of 10 during the regular season. Wolverine fans who hadn't yet emptied out of Time Warner Cable Arena watched on, not knowing how to react. Such a narrow loss to the top-seeded Blue Devils stung, and watching Morris cling to that moment made it harder to forget. But the future was bright - so bright that it seemed as though Morris was practicing that shot for next year. There's always next season, right? There wasn't a single fourth- year player on the team, after all, and Morris would be back with a chip on his shoulder. Incoming freshman guard Trey Burke, wide- ly regarded as the top player in Ohio, would back up Morris. And that meant Stu Douglass would finally be able to stick to his natu- ral shooting guard position for his senior year. Jon Horford would nurse his knee this offseason and develop into a viable back-up for Jordan Morgan at center, which meant that the relatively undersized Evan Smotrycz could revert to his natural position at forward. There would be no more Jared Sullinger- Smotrycz mismatches in the post. Tim Hardaway Jr. would work on his ball-handling. Morgan would work on avoiding fouls. Matt Vogrich would try to grow a few inches. And Morris would lead the charge to the 2012 NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. Well, as we now know, that probably wasn't what Morris was thinking when he took the court again after that heartbreaking loss against Duke. As he relived those final seconds, maybe he was wondering if that was his last shot in a Michigan uniform. Maybe he needed closure because he knew he wouldn't get that shot again. Maybe Morris knew then that he'd never make it to the Final Four. On Wednesday, he made it offi- cial - he's keeping his name in the 2011 NBA Draft to fulfill his life-long dream of playing at the professional level. And in all hon- esty, Darius Morris made the best decision for Darius Morris. It's easy to say that another year with the Wolverines would have improved his draft stock, but it's a lot harder to actually come back and perform better than 15 points and 6.7 assists per game (his soph- omore-year numbers). Morris was simply selling him- self high, and he'll likely be picked in the first round because of it. But it was more personal for Michigan fans who, on Wednes- day, said goodbye to the 2011-12 season that could have been. Although Morris's announcement was not apocalyptic, there's no doubt it was a significant blow to the team's postseason expecta- tions. Michigan still has talent, but last season, the Wolverines were only as good as their floor general. My look into the crystal ball has next year's squad making it back to the NCAA Tournament. But after Morris's announcement, Michigan dropped from Final Four potential to an early-round exit. Burke will probably earn the starting job at point guard, having to fill in some very large shoes. And although there's no doubt that the Columbus-native has talent (he averaged 24 points and seven assists in his senior sea- son), it's hard to rely on a fresh- man running the point in such a guard-heavy offense. Just ask Morris how his rookie year went, when he averaged 4.4 points per game while starting much of the 2009-10 season. If you're searching for a real sil- ver lining from the announcement, you have to look past next season. You have to look at the coaching staff that built a mediocre point guard into one of the top playmak- ers in the nation. And you have to CHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily Sophomore guard Darius Morris announced this week that he would remain in the NBA Draft, where he is projected to be a first-round pick. look at the high school stars that raised their eyebrows when Mor- ris made his decision official. As much as we'd like to think that players come to Michigan for the school's tradition and winning attitude, the top recruits want to play at programs that will help them become NBA-ready. And on Wednesday, Beilein became a coach that does just that - after two seasons inAnn Arbor, Morris may become the program's first first-round draft pick since Jamal Crawford was taken eighth overall 11 years ago. Maybe that's why the Wolver- Ines' roster features three sons of former NBA players - and a fourth committed for two seasons from now in Glenn Robinson III. Maybe their fathers genuinely believed that Beilein could turn their boys into men - the same kind of men they became in their college years. So, maybe Michigan effectively traded next year's expectations for long-term recruiting success, and it maytake time for usto see if it actually pans out. But for now, fans can only hope that eventually, the sweetness will outweigh the bitterness.