8 — Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Simpson violated team policies, 
won’t travel, Juwan Howard says

The 
Michigan 
men’s 
basketball team has suspended 
senior 
point 
guard 
Zavier 
Simpson for one game, coach 
Juwan Howard announced on 
Monday.
“While we are disappointed 
with what has transpired with 
Zavier, we know there are 
always lessons to learn and 
grow from,” Howard said in 
a statement. “We take these 
matters and consequences very 
seriously. Moving forward, we 
will continue to handle this 
matter appropriately within our 
program and basketball family.”
Simpson informed the team of 
his suspension via text message 
on Sunday night, according to 
senior center Jon Teske. He 
will not travel with the team to 
Lincoln.
While the exact cause of the 
suspension is currently unclear, 
it was labeled a “violation of 
team policy.” Brendan Quinn 
of The Athletic reported that it 
is related to a weekend traffic 
incident.

The Wolverines will now 
be without the nation’s assists 
leader when they travel to 
Nebraska on Tuesday night. 
The length of the suspension 
will be “re-evaluated” following 
Tuesday’s game, according to 
Howard.
Howard declined to share a 
timeline of events, noting it was 

going to be kept “in-house.”
Mired 
in 
the 
program’s 
longest losing streak since 2015, 
Michigan sits in sole possession 
of 12th place in the Big Ten 
standings. When the Wolverines 
attempt to right the ship on 
Tuesday, they will now be forced 
to do so without a player who’s 
given them at least 37 minutes in 
five of the last six games, leaving 

a major void in the rotation.
Beyond 
Simpson’s 
ball-
handling capabilities, Michigan 
is losing its loudest on-court 
voice. Simpson’s leadership has 
been lauded throughout his 
tenure in Ann Arbor and, most 
recently, Howard has made a 
habit of likening him to Tom 
Brady in that regard.
On Tuesday, the Wolverines 
will be tasked with filling the 
void. Howard, Teske and junior 
guard Eli Brooks all voiced 
a desire to take a collective 
approach in doing so.
Though 
Howard 
told 
reporters on Monday afternoon 
that he hasn’t selected a starting 
lineup replacement, sophomore 
guard David DeJulius seems 
to be the likeliest candidate to 
start in Simpson’s place against 
the Cornhuskers.
Tuesday’s 
game 
will 
be 
the first time the Wolverines’ 
starting backcourt does not 
include Simpson in more than 
two years. 
“(Simpson) was disappointed 
for many reasons,” Howard said. 
“Overall, he knows the team is 
going to miss him. He knows he 
let his teammates down.”

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

Suspension doesn’t spell season’s end
B

efore Monday, the 
circumstances of the 
Michigan men’s bas-
ketball team could probably be 
categorized as run-of-the-mill 
adversity. 
A star 
player goes 
down with 
an injury.
The team 
loses four 
straight 
games — its 
longest los-
ing streak 
since 2015 — 
and five of its 
last six. The 
star player comes back and suf-
fers another injury. A series of 
unfortunate events culminating 
into a bleak situation. And that’s 
all it was supposed to be.
Until senior guard Zavier 
Simpson was served with a sus-
pension.
While the details of the sus-
pension are still unclear and 
coach Juwan Howard is keeping 
the details in-house, Simpson 
will be sitting out Tuesday’s 
game at Nebraska. The Wol-
verines’ identity is crumbling 
before their very eyes, they’re 
seemingly losing their compo-
sure and everyone and their 
mother is throwing out the 
word crossroads.
The question now becomes 
whether or not to slam on the 
panic button as quickly as pos-
sible or take a more measured 
approach to the whole affair. 
Since sports fanatics are 
famously known for making 
long, drawn-out decisions on 
how to feel about a given situ-
ation, I’m sure the public reac-
tion will be more reprehensive, 
akin to simply saying, “Well, 
that sucks.”
Except it’s not. Everyone’s 
going to be screaming and 
Tuesday’s game in Lincoln will 
serve as a complete and utter 
indictment on the team and its 

postseason hopes.
Win and your hopes are alive. 
Lose and you’ve booked a one-
way ticket to the NIT. 
Granted, with a healthy ros-
ter and no self-inflicted wounds, 
the Wolverines trounce Nebras-
ka. With the Cornhuskers 
sitting comfortably in the base-
ment of the Big Ten and ranked 
131st on KenPom.com, Michigan 
has the talent and experience to 
get the job done nine times out 
of 10. 
This game shouldn’t be a 
question.
But the fact that it is now 
doesn’t mean the team is 
cooked. There is a monsoon 
of factors working against the 
Wolverines. Perhaps things 
should be taken day-by-day. 
Take it from Howard himself.
“We’re not drowning in our 
own tears or drowning in a 
lake,” Howard said. “It’s not 
the end of the world. The mood 
of our team is we’re solution-
based. We’re gonna roll up our 
sleeves, figure out how we can 
get better as a group and guys 
are in the gym working hard, 
and they had a great practice 
yesterday, and we expect to have 
a better practice today to prep 
for Nebraska.”
Sophomore guard David 
DeJulius — expected to be the 
starter in Simpson’s wake — 
could very well step up and 
prove to be as effectual as the 
missing leader. After all, it was 
in Simpson’s sophomore cam-
paign that he emerged as the de-
facto leader of his squad.
Simpson could come back 
stronger than ever, having used 
the suspension as a lesson and 
ready to lead his team from the 
bottom to the brink.
DeJulius has shown flashes 
this season and could be a 
perfectly apt placeholder for 
Simpson, averaging 7.7 points 
per game and a much-improved 
player efficiency rating of 14.3. 
Look as far back as the game 

against North Carolina when 
Simpson went out in foul trouble 
— DeJulius stepped up and 
led the Wolverines on a game-
deciding run.
“Dave knows how to get to his 
spots and make shots, and that’s 
something that he does really 
well,” junior guard Eli Brooks 
said after mentioning the game 
against the Tar Heels. “So I just 
try to help him with being able 
to lead the team and getting 
people in the right spots.”
Currently, there are too many 
unknowns to make a definitive 
statement about this season, so 
don’t believe anyone who would 
tell you otherwise.
What is known, though, is 
that Simpson made a mistake, is 
being punished and will show 
the world what kind of person 
he is in his response over the 
coming weeks.
But in the meantime, treat 
the 2019-2020 basketball sea-
son as Howard is treating this 
suspension — witness its events 
day-by-day and reevaluate after 
Nebraska.
Freaking out over a late-Jan-
uary game in a season in which 
Duke lost at home to Stephen F. 
Austin, the Big Ten seems com-
mitted to not having a single 
one of its teams enter the NCAA 
Tournament and college bas-
ketball’s best player is sitting 
out solely to spite the NCAA is a 
fool’s errand.
Look at this game for what it 
is on paper — one of the confer-
ence’s worst teams attempting 
to steal a win from a sorely 
short-staffed, high-potential 
team.
Because if everyone comes 
back healthy and educated, a 
road game against the Corn-
huskers may look more and 
more like a low point rather 
than a crossroads.

Kopnick can be reached via 

email at jkopnick@umich.edu 

or on Twitter @jkopnick.

JACOB
KOPNICK

SENIOR POINT GUARD WILL MISS
TUESDAY’S GAME AT NEBRASKA

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Asha Lewis / Daily

SIMPSON
SUSPENDED

We know there 
are always 
lessons to learn 
and grow from.

WHAT MICHIGAN IS MISSING WITHOUT ZAVIER SIMPSON

33.7 MINUTES PER GAME

12.8 POINTS PER GAME

8.3 ASSISTS PER GAME

Design by Jack Silberman

