In four years at Michigan,
Isaiah Livers has scored 987 points,
collected 453 rebounds and assisted
110 baskets. In
the
process,
he’s won 94
games,
each
one
helping
to
earn
the
University
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
from
ticket
sales,
advertising
revenue and TV deals. None of it has
gone to Livers.
“I just feel like I’m being used a
lot,” Livers, who wore a shirt with
the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty
throughout the NCAA Tournament,
said in an interview with ESPN’s
Rece Davis on March 24. “I feel
like a university or the NCAA or
a conference can make so much
money off of one name, and the guy
who’s putting all the work in to get
to that point gets nothing out of it.”
That much has been true for the
last four years with Livers and of
college athletes for decades. Even if
Livers goes on to a successful NBA
career and makes millions of dollars
playing the sport professionally,
he’ll still have been prevented from
making the money he earned for
four years. That’s bad enough in its
own right.
This week’s news made it
even worse. On Friday, Michigan
announced that Livers underwent
successful surgery on his right foot
after a stress fracture caused him to
miss the entire NCAA Tournament.
Buried in the press release was
Livers’s timetable: “Recovery is
expected to be a minimum of six
months,” the statement said.
For four years, Livers — unlike
thousands of other college athletes
— had a money-making light at the
end of the tunnel. As an athletic
forward with a 41.2% career 3-point
shooting percentage, Livers was
widely projected to be a second-
round NBA Draft pick a month ago.
Now, few mock drafts predict
Livers will be selected at all. One NBA
executive said via text that Livers’s
draft expectation was “all over the
second round” before his injury. Now,
according to the same executive,
Livers is less likely to be drafted
because of how long he’ll be out,
though, it was added that Livers going
“late second round (is) still in play.”
Before the season, Livers said
that the primary feedback he got
from NBA teams in the pre-draft
process last summer was to stay
healthy. More important than any
improvements in his play, he did
exactly that for four months.
Then,
on
the
morning
of
Michigan’s Big Ten Tournament
semifinal against Ohio State, it was
announced that Livers had suffered
a stress fracture, sidelining him
indefinitely. If that had been the
extent of Livers’s injury, it would’ve
been sad enough — a senior, in his
final college season, losing the event
he’s worked toward for four seasons.
With surgery required, Livers
will now miss pre-draft workouts
and the NBA Combine. He’ll
also miss the Summer League
and potentially the beginning of
the regular season, reducing the
likelihood he’ll find a Duncan
Robinson path into making millions
of dollars if he goes undrafted.
The fragility of sports careers
isn’t exclusive to college athletes.
Every year, dozens of professional
players have their careers derailed
by injury. But at least they were able
to make money while they were
playing. Livers couldn’t.
Right now, the Supreme Court
is debating the legality of college
players being unpaid by their
schools. In Congress, Sen. Chris
Murphy, D-Conn., introduced The
College Athlete Economic Freedom
Act earlier this year. If passed, it
would allow players to profit off their
name, image and likeness — a move
the NCAA could also make on its
own.
Either solution would change
college sports forever. A player
like Livers would no longer spend
four years unable to profit off the
financial value that he provides to
his school and to the NCAA. As a
beloved athlete in a sports-crazed
college town, Livers would have
had no shortage of sponsorship
opportunities. The same goes for
his teammates, many of whom
will never play in the NBA.
Junior guard Adrien Nunez, for
example, played just 3.2 minutes
per game this year. But with over
a million TikTok followers, he
would probably have a chance to
make more money than any other
Wolverine.
“It doesn’t even have to be
about how good of a player you are
compared to this other player and
you’re getting paid just because you
average 20 points a game,” Livers
told ESPN. “Now, guys could focus
on art, music, selling clothes. …
We’re not just basketball players,
we’re human beings too.”
None of this is to say that there
isn’t value in college sports. Livers
needed his four years at Michigan to
develop into an NBA prospect. But
even a player like Gonzaga’s Jalen
Suggs, who has used this season to
jump from a low-lottery prospect to
a consensus top-five pick, is being
exploited by the NCAA.
Against UCLA on Saturday,
Suggs hit a shot that the NCAA
will use in advertising campaigns
for generations. On CBS, 12
million people watched along. If
the NCAA would allow him to,
Suggs could go back to Spokane
on Tuesday morning and sign
an advertising deal with every
business in town.
Fortunately for Suggs, though,
his multi-million-dollar payday is
only a few months away. Thanks
to an unfortunately-timed stress
fracture, Isaiah Livers isn’t so lucky.
With one rule change, it wouldn’t
have to be this way.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 — 15
With a one-goal lead and two
minutes left on the clock, the
Michigan women’s soccer team
prepared to defend a corner. Rutgers
lined up in the box, leaving only one
player forward, and the Wolverines
assembled to protect their precious
lead. The ball fluttered into the near
post and bodies flew toward it. In
the middle of the scrum, Scarlet
Knights forward Nneka Moneme
headed the ball into the back of the
net. Tie game.
Neither team scored in overtime
and the end result was a 1-1 tie
between Michigan (5-3-3 Big Ten)
and No. 24 Rutgers (6-2-3) after
double overtime.
The
Wolverines’
offense
operated
smoothly
during
a
scoreless first half. They easily
passed
through
the
Scarlet
Knights’ press, especially from
the back. The defensive line
maintained
their
composure
and found the passes needed to
move the ball up the field. After
passes from the defenders broke
Rutgers’s first line of defense, the
Michigan midfielders had plenty
of space to turn and find the next
pass, creating several scoring
opportunities.
The Wolverines’ best chance
came in the 17th minute after a
throw-in
combination
between
sophomore
forward
Danielle
Wolfe and senior midfielder Nicki
Hernandez gave the latter time for
a shot that hit the far post. A few
minutes later, Hernandez drove
down the left flank and set up Wolfe
with a chance just in front of goal,
but a frantic block from Rutgers
kept the score level at zero.
In
the
second
half,
the
Wolverines had more difficulty
breaking down the Scarlet Knights’
defense. Rutgers marked players
more closely, making it harder for
Michigan to find space with the
ball. However, in the 60th minute,
after giving the ball away with poor
first touch at the top of the box,
Hernandez quickly won it back,
spun to her left and scored.
“I
figured
out
where
the
defenders were, and since they were
both on one side, I could just do
one move,” Hernandez said. “With
the goal being wide open, I always
love going far post, and luckily that
worked.”
With a strong defensive effort
through the first 60 minutes,
Michigan looked likely to hold onto
that lead. In addition to helping
Michigan build out of the back,
senior defender Alia Martin was
crucial to keeping Rutgers contained
with multiple clearances and tackles,
constantly communicating to help
the team keep their shape.
“We’re
continuing
to
try
and improve on our defensive
organization to make sure that we
make it difficult for other teams
and predictable for ourselves,”
Michigan coach Jennifer Klein said.
“We want to find our opportunities
to regain the ball.”
But the defense started to show
some cracks after the Wolverines
took the lead, with senior goalkeeper
Hillary Beall needing to make
seven saves. Effective crosses from
the Scarlet Knights threatened the
back line, and in the end, Michigan
conceded the tying goal off a corner
with two minutes remaining. The
game
remained
deadlocked
in
overtime, and after a dominant first-
half and an early second-half goal,
Michigan had to settle for a tie in its
last game of the regular season.
“Unfortunate to give up a goal
in the last little bit,” Klein said.
“Hopefully it will be a learning
experience for us now going into the
postseason.”
MATTHEW CHANG
Daily Sports Writer
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Senior forward Isaiah Livers injured his foot during the Big Ten Tournament.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan senior midfielder Nicki Hernandez scored in the 60th minute.
Throughout
the
Michigan
men’s lacrosse team’s season, the
Wolverines have often relied on
only a few players for scoring.
Sunday told a different story.
Eight different players reached the
back of the net, including hat tricks
from sophomore attackman Josh
Zawada and sophomore midfielder
Jake Bonomi, making it an all-
around team effort, as Michigan
(2-5 Big Ten) used strong second
and third quarters to propel it to
a 13-10 road victory over Johns
Hopkins (2-5).
The first quarter was evenly
matched with both teams finding
chances. Scoring came in spurts,
including one 15-second stretch
during which the Wolverines
and Blue Jays combined for three
goals. The game looked to be a
back and forth scoring affair after
a 3-2 Blue Jays first quarter lead.
The first five minutes of the
second quarter followed the same
script, with each team scoring two
goals. But Michigan took over the
remainder of the quarter by scoring
the next two goals while junior
goaltender John Kiracofe made five
of his 16 saves in the quarter.
“I give John a lot of credit,
he’s really grown into that role,”
Michigan coach Kevin Conry
said. “We always knew John had
the talent and the intangibles.
His leadership is why we went
with him in the first place. And
now you are starting to see the
confidence kind of come out. He
has worked incredibly hard to put
himself in a position to be a high
caliber goaltender, and he showed
it today.”
Going into halftime, Michigan
led the Blue Jays 6-5. But with
14 turnovers in the first half, the
Wolverines wanted to reinforce
their game slightly.
“I give a lot of credit to Johns
Hopkins as they were doing some
nice things that they were able to get
to our hands,” Conry said.
Michigan’s halftime adjustments
worked as it was very effective
with the ball, committing just six
turnovers in the second half as
well as converting on all nine of
its clearing attempts. In the third
quarter, the Wolverines added three
more goals to make for a 6-0 scoring
run, resulting in a 9-5 Michigan
lead.
“The guys played not to lose, but
to win,” Conry said. “When you
start playing to win you just kind
of feel the mojo. You snap the ball a
little bit more and you run to space
and so it was just more efficient.”
Johns Hopkins settled in, going
on a 5-2 scoring run to cut the
Michigan lead to just one with four
minutes left. But Michigan regained
the momentum, scoring the final
two goals to secure the victory.
“(Junior attackman Bryce Clay)
didn’t really show up in the stat
sheet that much, but his ability to
move off the ball was a big reason
why Jake Bonomi gets open or
(grad student midfielder Avery
Meyers) gets a shot,” Conry said.“It
is more about our unselfish play
and how hard we work. I think at
the first meeting, we felt offensively
we were very stagnant, and I give
(assistant coach Justin Turri) a lot
of credit for getting these young
kids to good spots where they are
moving effectively.”
Michigan hopes to learn from
this win as it goes up against
Maryland next weekend and looks
to establish a winning streak.
“The biggest thing is to learn
from a win,” Conry said. “I think
this young team’s handling of
success is something that we haven’t
been great at. Learn from a win.”
MARK PATRICK
For The Daily
Late equalizer leads to double-
overtime draws against Rutgers
Wolverines ride mid-game stretch
in win over Johns Hopkins
SportsWednesday: Livers’s injury epitomizes need for NIL reform
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan junior goaltender John Kiracoffe protected the net in its win.
The Michigan football team’s
underwhelming
2020
season
didn’t
sit
well
with
senior
linebacker Josh Ross.
Since arriving in Ann Arbor
in 2017, Ross helped establish
a
winning
program
under
coach
Jim
Harbaugh.
He
was an All-Big Ten selection
when Michigan came within
a game of the College Football
Playoff in 2018, and he made
three starts in 2019 before an
injury sidelined him until the
Wolverines’ New Year’s Six
bowl appearance.
Then came the disastrous 2020
season.
Ross was a senior captain
on last fall’s 2-4 team that lost
as a three-touchdown favorite
against Michigan State, fell to
Indiana for the first time in
three decades, suffered its worst
halftime deficit in Michigan
Stadium
history
against
Wisconsin and lost to an 0-5
Penn State team by double digits.
Before last year, the Wolverines
had never finished a full season
without a home win. That
changed, too.
Ross wasn’t going to let his
career end on that note.
“My decision on coming back,
it was unfinished business. That
was pretty obvious,” Ross told
reports via Zoom on Thursday.
“Last year was not good enough
for myself, not good enough for
our team. I felt I had to come
back. I had to come back, and we
had to prove something and have
a chip on our shoulder and go get
it. That was my main reason.
“I didn’t know what coaches
we were getting yet. Before all
that, of course it was a blessing to
get the guys we have in the staff
now, but at the same time, for me,
coming back was about proving
myself and proving ourselves as
a team and getting better, just
building our football knowledge
and building everything cause
last year wasn’t good enough.”
Ross is returning for a fifth
year to try to prove that Michigan
is better than its 2020 record. But
after Harbaugh hired an almost
entirely
new
defensive
staff
during the offseason, Ross now
finds himself at the center of a
schematic overhaul.
Gone are the days of former
defensive
coordinator
Don
Brown’s blitz-happy aggression.
Harbaugh
brought
in
Mike
Macdonald from the Baltimore
Ravens
and
Mo
Linguist
from the Dallas Cowboys as
co-coordinators
to
replace
Brown, signaling a shift toward
an NFL-style defense.
To Ross, that change offers the
chance to immediately improve a
unit that allowed the third-most
points in the Big Ten last season.
It also presents an opportunity
to build on a career that has seen
him rack up 136 tackles across 35
appearances.
“As far as myself, I feel like I
haven’t really shown everything I
can do yet,” Ross said. “But more
so not about myself — as a team
we haven’t shown what we can
really do yet. This year is gonna
be big for us.”
There’s no guarantee he’ll
return to his 2018 All-Big Ten
form after a dropoff in 2020, but
Ross could become a centerpiece
of the Wolverines’ defense this
fall. Whether that translates
to
winning
will
ultimately
determine if Ross is happy with
his decision to return for a fifth
year.
“Last year wasn’t good enough
as a team,” Ross said. “It wasn’t.
I felt that for myself a lot, so I
had to come back. There was no
option, to be honest, for me.”
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
‘Last year wasn’t good enough’: Josh Ross return to Michigan to win
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan senior linebacker Josh Ross’s return to Ann Arbor was for one reason: winning.
THEO
MACKIE