Michigan basketball recruit Mitch McGary will be allowed more than five official visits
Power forward prospect Mitch McGary will kick off his highly-publicized official visit tour Saturday when he makes his first stop at Michigan.
The visit was believed to be the first of five possible official recruiting trips that the 6-foot-10, 225-pound McGary will take in the coming months. But as is the case on the court, the country's top power forward prospect comes with a special set of circumstances away from it as well.
ESPN.com recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein reported Friday that McGary will not be regulated to just the usual five official visits allotted by the NCAA.
Mitch McGary
Courtesy Brewster Academy
According to NCAA regulations, all prospects are afforded five official visits -- trips paid for by the university -- that must be taken after the first day of class during their senior year of high school.
Brewster Academy coach Jason Smith told Finkelstein that McGary's first three official visits to Michigan, North Carolina and Duke will take place before Brewster begins school and will count toward the five officials he's allowed as a senior.
However, McGary will officially be a post-graduate student on Oct. 15 - meaning he's allowed up to five more if he wants them.
In an interview with AnnArbor.com last month, Smith said that the chances of McGary taking all the official visits he's allowed are slim -- but that doesn't mean he won't.
“I think he’s definitely going to take at least three official visits," Smith said. "Maybe he takes all of them, but in my 12 years at Brewster we’ve had maybe one or two kids that have taken all five.”
Now, the question becomes whether or not he'll take all six.
Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.
Comments
Megan Greene
Sat, Sep 3, 2011 : 6:06 p.m.
Don't waste your time Michigan fans. He's going to North Carolina or Duke, probably NC.
burton163
Sat, Sep 3, 2011 : 12:39 p.m.
Time for some deep pocketed booster, er I mean "mentor" to step up and give this kid the platinum card handshake. I'm sure they'll be lining up to do so down in Lexington and Chapel Hill...
81wolverine
Fri, Sep 2, 2011 : 11:13 p.m.
All this article points out is that McGary CAN take more than 5 visits, but not that he WILL. So, let's all take this piece of news for what it is. Nonetheless, I know he's been on campus before, so this official visit is BIG for Michigan. And this is the 2nd time I've pointed this out on this website, but Mitch is now officially listed as 250 pounds. If you see him in any of the videos out on the Internet, this can be verified. Please correct the article to reflect this. (Don't believe me? Look here: <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Mitch-McGary-86150" rel='nofollow'>http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Mitch-McGary-86150</a>
riverraisin
Fri, Sep 2, 2011 : 6:05 p.m.
I don't know if we have a chance of landing this young man. I'd like to think that we are at the top of his list. But look at that list of schools he's interested in. It's good to see that top recruits are once again putting Michigan on their wish list.
Nick Baumgardner
Fri, Sep 2, 2011 : 6:47 p.m.
That's a great point raisin – if McGary ends up at Michigan, obviously that's a huge get. But considering previous circumstances, the fact that a top-five national prospect is taking a Michigan basketball official again has to be considered a sizable win for John Beilein and company in terms of recruiting perception.