Daily Brews: NCAA winter sports eligibility update

The Michigan Wolverines basketball season came to a screeching halt just moments before the start of the Big Ten Tournament. Unfortunately, it appears to be the final time we see Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske in a Wolverines uniform:

Since the NCAA made their decision to cancel the NCAA Tournament and the remainder of all collegiate sports for the rest of the academic year, there was hope a special exception would be made to grant players an extra season of eligibility. However, it seems those hopes are quickly coming to an end for the winter athletes. It will be a tragic ending to several players careers across the country.

However, for all spring athletes there is still a glimmer of hope. For most the spring season had barely begun, including only 15 games for Michigan baseball and only 23 games for Michigan softball. Both had yet to even begin conference play.

To a degree, I can understand not granting winter sports teams another year because the majority of the season had already been played out. But if there is no reason spring athletes should have the same punishment with less than half of their season completed. We will see how the never player-friendly NCAA reacts.

Don Brown in line for big bonus

The Michigan football program is about set to pay defensive coordinator Don Brown a big-time bonus on April 1. According to Aaron McMann of MLive.com, Brown will receive a $600,000 retention bonus if he is employed at Michigan through that date. To put things in perspective, his salary for 2020 is $1.1 million, so the bonus is over half his yearly salary.

Brown earned a $500,000 bonus on the same day last year, making his salary $1.6 million in 2019. He is on pace to be the highest paid assistant coach at Michigan for the fifth straight season.

Wolverines make Top-8 of 4-Star DE Quintin Somerville

Somerville is the No. 70 overall player and the No. 4 strong-side defensive end in the 2021 class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

Other Brews:

• Michigan’s women’s water polo team finished No. 7 in the country in the AP Poll after the NCAA cancelled the remainder of their season:

• Former Michigan quarterback Chad Henne has re-signed with the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. Henne injured his ankle in the preseason of the 2019 season, but has earned enough respect from Andy Reid and his staff to be brought back on a two-year deal to be the team’s backup.
• Former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ discussion on a deal will continue into Thursday, according to Adam Schefter. At this point it seems to just be the formality of working out the details of the deal and both sides still want it to be done.
• In a BPI simulation ran by ESPN, the Wolverines were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round by the No. 12 seed Yale Bulldogs. But don’t be too alarmed, Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans fell to No. 14 Bradley, and the Wisconsin Badgers won the dang thing over BYU so I don’t think their system was very accurate...
• Eli Herskovich tweeted the odds for the 2021 college basketball season:

Stunningly the Wolverines come at 35-1 odds, tied with Arizona State, Florida, and Oklahoma State.

National Brews:

• Adam Silver did an exclusive interview with ESPN Wednesday night saying the NBA will try to find creative ways to get back on the court sooner rather than later, including playing televised scrimmages to entertain the public during this rough time. The proceeds of the game would go to charity. He has not even begun to think of cancelling the season and the playoffs altogether.
• The WWE seems to be playing on despite coronavirus concerns, as they announced Wednesday they will host a two-night Wrestlemania event April 4-5. It will be hosted by former New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski. (Yes, it will be done without fans in attendance).