MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed: Jalen Reed, longer and switchable. Thiam: Shot selection is abominable. He's mobile, not fully a switch guy, can hedge. Offensively intriguing, takes fadeaways but was 48% away from the rim. VERY strong—gave as good as he got against Krivas—but didn't post up very much. His left hook looks more natural than his right hook. Closer to switchable than Mara. Craig: four guys on the roster not playing. Reed: Think as the season progresses he is going to make a difference, because he can give you a lot of different things. A 6-10 guy who can guard guards: yes please! JP Estrella: Noticeably positive impact as an offensive rebounder on the #1 OReb team when he was rotating with offensive linemen. Sam wants Trey to watch Late Michael Jordan the post player, which will make him more dynamic in the mid-range. Cadeau is the guy who gets you good shots, McKenney is the guy who makes your bad shots. Swing guy: McCoy. Shooting is questionable but instantly project him to a Roddy role. Gets downhill, has that wingspan. Could be the starting three: Yaxel-like ability to guard up and down the roster. Ceiling? If Reed can be healthy for a season they're another 1-seed, otherwise 3-seed? Think other basketball teams have gotten much better. Quinn Costello: Year as a bench shooter, needs that year to learn to play defense. This is the least popular idea in sports history. NOBODY likes it except the major conference commissioners who've never filled out a bracket in their lives. Hockey: no updates, except Denver picked up a defenseman. Michigan preseason #1 likely, except voters just vote the order of last year's F4. There will be guys on the 4th line who are like 3rd round+ picks. Cockamamie ideas for renovating Yost.

1 Hour and 15 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Enjoy your retirement, Anže Kopitar. Kopitar was one of the most consistent and underrated players of his era. The Avs swept the Kings but lets recap some closer NHL matchups (NOT Sabres vs Bruins). The Oilers are underperforming with their star power, there are some fundamental issues within the program. Anyways, who's back for Michigan? Is Hage the favorite for the Hobey Baker award? There will be so much talent and you hope everyone can find their own niche because there's only one puck. Perron's still on the spreadsheet until he isn't. Garrett Schiftsky is going to be a dude going into next year. Slot Cole McKinney in as your 4th line center. Jack Nesbitt and Cameron Reid are coming in from the OHL. Expect JP Hurlbert to come in from the WHL. All four lines have depth and competition opportunities.    Segment 2 Projecting the 2026-2027 defensive roster. Need Henry Mews to take on a huge role, but can he be an elite defenseman? Ben Robertson, Asher Barnett, Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen, and Drew Schock will give the team an unusually high amount of depth. Michigan might add one or two more players on defense to round out the roster. Expect Jack Ivankovic to remain the starter at goalie but Stephen Peck has at least earned some starts. This team should be stacked going into next season, but this time with more maturity.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "We'll Meet Again" -- Vera Lynn Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed: Spring Game standouts: Hiter obviously. Buchanan, Tatum looks like a safety, Patterson, Edokpayi, and Palepale. Concern about Bryce? Nah, the situation was not conducive to seeing what Bryce can do; if you play Cov2 back all day for real we'll run like 2021 Washington. It was a better situation to show off what Carr can do. QB run game: rehash last year's issues: tactically it was there; strategically they hadn't run it so they screwed it up). Hoops transfers: Juke Harris or John Blackwell? For this team: Harris. Needs work on defense but Juke makes his own shots. Craig: how do the pieces fit together? Craig thinks Juke is a three. Is he coming? Sam was close to a gut feeling, but why have things dragged out? NIL numbers? Tennessee numbers embellished. Is it a bidding war? Don't know. Sam thinks Liburd is good enough that they don't need all their eggs in that basket. Thiam? Going against Pitino for him so that's big boy battle. Rez: Opt-outs might be moving him up the Draft; the Florida guys coming back has bumped him. If he's in the teens he's in the Draft for sure. Landon DuPont: first-ever status (can play younger) player in CHL, #1 overall potential, Denver/Michigan battle. Michigan hockey summer: Hage is coming back.

1 Hour and 37 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Which NHL match-up are you most excited for? Ottawa vs Carolina is intriguing. Avs vs Kings will probably be non-competitive and un-watchable.  Evaluating the offense: TJ Hughes - Hobey Baker level season.  Jayden Perron - Dramatically exceeded expectations. Led the team offensively in the post-season.  Nick Moldenhauer - Previously minimal production, huge breakout season. Michael Hage - High-end playmaker, season cut short due to injury.  Malcolm Spence - Up-and-down freshman season, started hot.  Adam Valentini - Limited in size but played a bigger role as the season progressed. Cole McKinney - Strong in faceoffs but underwhelming offensive production.  Will Horkoff - Highly productive, highly streaky.  Aidan Park - Depth freshman, lacked consistent impact. Keenan Draper - Praised for role mastery, leadership, and penalty-kill value. Josh Earnesty - Depth player who improved on offense and defense. Kayson Musket - Exceeded expectation in limited minutes.  Teddy Spitznagel - No meaningful playing time before leaving the program.   Segment 2 Evaluating the defense and goalies: Luca Fantilli - Unexpected breakout senior year. Became a reliable leader. Tyler Duke - High effort and physical despite his size. Took too many penalties. Ben Robertson - Dependable, steady presence on the blue line. Garrett Shifsky - Elevated his game late in the season, gets a special shout out. Drew Schock - Limited as a freshman, grew throughout the season. Dakota Raemel - Inconsistent with turnovers. Asher Barnett - Excellent as a freshman. Everyone else didn't contribute enough to get a fair grade. Jack Ivankovic - Delivered high-level all season when not hurt. Steven Peck - Exceeded expectations as a backup.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "One Thing Leads To Another" -- The Fixx Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 54 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Spring Game - Offense Starts at 0:51 Seth has a hypothesis that you can define running backs by the sound you involuntarily make when they carry the ball. You can practice this in the shower. Ohio State had a high scoring spring game, also a lot of rain. Bryce's play was concerning. He didn't look comfortable in the pocket and scrambled a lot. The defense wasn't allowed to do anything fancy or blitzed, they mostly played in a Cover-2. That said, not ever having the starting offensive line together does not help the quarterback. Tommy Carr was able to sit there and do some three step drop stuff, which are throws that Underwood didn't throw. He doesn't have the arm strength but he was making better decisions. Who would you compare him to, Tate Forcier? Dylan McCaffrey? Alex Smith? Did Michigan lose a year of Bryce Underwood's development? Kyle Whittingham has a track record of developing good running quarterbacks, so maybe what we saw in the spring game was not super relevant. Maybe Bryce is like a freshman Cam Newton or redshirt Freshman Vince Young. Even if they don't have a great passing game they can still run a good offense with the running tools they have. Some of the scrambling may have been a result of pass rush and playing against Cover-2. Poor Jordan Marshall getting ruled down after four yards. Savion Hiter is absolutely going to be the real deal. It was an up and down game from the wide receivers but they also didn't get many opportunities. There has never been an elite wide receiver who has worn #3 at Michigan. Browder had a ball bounce off his face mask but then got a nice catch later. Hogan Hansen has barely been able to play football for the last year and a half. The gang argues over fullback snap counts. Guys getting wrecked against defensive tackles is fine because we want to see progress from the defensive tackles (in the spring game).  2. Spring Game - Defense Starts at 43:54 It was generally encouraging that the defensive line beat up the offensive line. Sprague lost to Edokpayi a couple times. Cam Brandt beat Frazier at one point. Nate Staehling hasn't been available at all so there's still some hope that he'll be really good when he arrives. All the linebackers are defensive backs right now. Palepale really stood out. Benny Patterson was a defensive end to keep an eye on. What did we see from the linebackers? Uhhhhhh. Taylor Tatum might be a real safety? Corner has four names for three spots which is a good spot to be in. A kicker missed a 29 yard field goal, they should've faked a field goal for the game winning touchdown since they weren't trying to block kicks.  3. Hot Takes and Basketball/Hockey Portal Starts at 1:06:36 Takes hotter than the Kitchener Rangers GM after the Michigan hockey team stole from them. The portal has been slow enough to include both basketball and hockey. The roof of Yost fell off to conserve the vibes of the roster. Perron remains the only question mark. They're also about to get the top two picks out of the CHL. The roster is pretty much done, they don't even need to go to the portal. This team should be the #1 team in the pre-season poll next year. Michigan men's basketball turns its attention to Cincinnatti center Moustapha Thiam. A 7'2" rim defender who could replace a likely Mara departure. Apparently there is a situation with a handler from Senegal. It's looking more like Mara is gone and Morez is back. Is there a chance Mara returns? Probably not, but he needs to make a decision. Brian doesn't want to throw the whole bag at Juke Harris. Overall it's been quiet and they need to start making some moves.  4. Gimmicky Top Five Moments of Basketball Season Starts at 1:48:33 Everyone's top five moments of basketball season, plus Seth's 74 honorable mentions. Elliott Cadeau going 2-15 and controlling the Arizona game, undefeated on the road, and Dusty sitting in front of the Michigan State bench. They didn't just boat race those teams in Vegas but they broke the point system. Oscar Goodman thunder dunks. Scooping up confetti is like the fan version of raising a banner. Jeremy Fears kicking a Minnesota guy in the balls signified that it was not just a Michigan thing. Then Izzo fouling Michigan for ten minutes and complaining about Michigan getting more free throws. The Arizona win stamps this season as "one of the best teams of the last 25 years." You can just sit on a couch in a certain way and piss off Michigan State fans now. McKenney's mid-range jumpers in Breslin were the coldest mid-range jumpers ever. What have been your favorite tournament blowouts? Michigan's mascot should be Mitch McGary in an oversized Mitch McGary suit.  MUSIC: "Spring Game"—Biz Markie "Going Shopping"—The Srokes "Baby Steps"—Olivia Dean “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Best Michigan team ever? Seth: This team would destroy any previous Michigan team. The game gets better, the training gets better, the strategy gets better. They played together like they were together four years. Championships are not easy. This team vs Fab Five: Fabs had to score at the rim, and you can't do that against this team. 1989 team? The way Rice was shooting they could beat anybody, and they had more shooting. 2013 team? They were so good offensively but they'd need a ridiculous shooting day from the backcourt. Remember they didn't let Terry shoot threes, but perhaps he developed that in the NBA. The refs hated the Fabs so much more than this team too, and they didn't really have a developed post game until Juwan was a junior. But imagine if you could put college C-Webb on a modern team, making him a switchable five? Oh man he'd be so good now. This is the next evolution of hoops: consistent twos are better than threes, because threes will die on you. Hunter S. Thompson: Sports journalist. Loy = Morez? No. Program golden age? They're going to continue to be very good, but this year will be among the best. It took a lot of luck to have a guy like Mara going unused by Mick Cronin and have a guy like Yaxel who's the best player of last year who wasn't in the NBA this year. It gets harder to rebuild this team, because even Izzo is in the portal for rim protectors. The market at the rim has gone way up after they saw this team. JP Estrella will help them on ORebs: he was one of the best on that team of bears. Break: Our what-might-have-been team: Sam's is Kelly Baraka, Seth's is Antonio Bass as Rich Rod's 2008 QB. Football: Hiter hype is off the charts. Sam thinks he's going to be an amazing zone runner. Reliving Najee Harris: there were two flights; he was sitting next to Tua Tagovailoa on the other one, so you can't criticize him too much. Sounds like a really good OL: Sam takes his Frazier victory lap. Gwar and Sprague and Norton, LG is Link, Efobi or Gach. How much will they run the QB? 1) They flipped an Illinois commit, and 2) Whittingham's an Urban Meyer assistant.

1 hour and 58 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Hockey - Recapping the Frozen Four Starts at 0:51 We gotta talk about the hockey tournament. The fake hockey tournament. Whether they won or lost, it doesn't change anything about who this team was. Michigan played well enough to win, but one shot in nine minutes ended it. Almost every year it's not the best team that wins, it's usually Duluth or Denver. Denver is like the UConn men's basketball of hockey. There's no emotional story to apply your fandom to when it's just randomness. Denver's lack of penalties that were objectively bad no-calls just doesn't make it feel fair, especially the way they called Michigan's penalty in OT. even Alex and David think it was egregious, the players that poured their hearts into this deserve better. There is something wrong with this tournament, there would be a lot more respect for Buccigross if he would say something along those lines. There's not something wrong with Michigan, there's something wrong with the tournament. Imagine if in basketball they just stopped calling fouls in OT.  2. Hockey - Looking Ahead Starts at 27:50 Moldenhauer and Hage have announced returns. Apparently players have been informed to avoid the AHL if they can, college is a lot more enjoyable. Jack Nesbitt is the 12th overall pick and could be coming in, he's a TJ Hughes replacement. He's in the OHL playoffs and might not make a decision right away. Cameron Reid could also be coming in from the OHL, 21st overall to Nashville. Perron is the biggest one on the fence, if you get him then all your holes are plugged. JP Hurlbert is coming in regardless but he might wait a year to contribute. Nick Seaman is coming in as a 4th liner, Cooper Dennis might get deferred (and is Alex Drain sized). A lot of teams will be better next season, but Penn State had Gavin McKenna and weren't that great. Michigan State isn't missing a beat. There are a lot more, and better, options than just going to the NHL these days. They should be a pre-season top three, or maybe even top one.  3. Hot Takes and Basketball Portal Starts at 59:16 Takes hotter than the Denver Pioneers. The Red Wings need to make David Carle their head coach so they can win while being out-shot 2:1. This information might be outdated by the time you hear it! What is happening in the portal right now? Not much. Michigan gets JP Estrella out of Tennessee. He's a high efficiency but low usage player which is weird. He's a moneyball play vs getting Flory Bidunga. Otherwise there's not a lot of chatter. We're starting to expect Morez Johnson to return. Michigan needs a true rim protecting center and could probably also use a starting three. Juke Harris is worth going after but not worth the big bag, give that to the Seton Hall center, Najai Hines. Freshman Brandon McCoy went to a camp and looks like a guy you could have for 20 minutes a game. There's a trust of Dusty in the portal that the fanbase didn't have with Juwan. The Big Ten runs college basketball now. How would Beilein have done during this era?  4. Spring Game Preview Starts at 1:38:41 Spring Game is this weekend at 2pm, 12-18 starters will be sitting out. Bryce will probably play since they don't have enough quarterbacks, we better see Savion Hiter. Position groups are going to be split into balanced squads rather than have a draft, making it more like a controlled practice than a real game. In years past it was frustrating to see future NFL linemen with a walk-on running back behind them, you can't learn much from that. We expect to see a more evolved version of the offense with more quarterback runs. There is Travis Johnson buzz at wide receiver. Brian doesn't want to hear about Kendrick Bell. Hogan Hanson is generating excitement and the offensive line has intriguing positional battles. Evan Link is back and might play, Babalola is not playing yet. Whittingham is good at running the quarterback, it won't be the 2011 offense but it should be effective. The coaches apparently like the depth on the defensive line and think it's the strength of the team, which, ehhhh. Brian breaks down why this is not true. They trust Palepale. Do you prefer EDGE or ED? Linebacker depth is a concern, they don't really have anyone to back up the three main guys. The secondary should be settled in. Shamari Earls is making a move at corner. Who's at nickel now? If Rod Moore isn't on the field in the spring game then enjoy a nice coaching career. Kerry Coombs brings a lot of old guy energy and gets mic'd up a lot. Jay Hill is like the mormon kid from South Park. Don't blame us if it rains. MUSIC: "I Root"—Michael Nau "Sitting Still"—Michael Rault "Sails Across the Sea"—Boz Metzdorf “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

1 Hour and 21 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Do you gamble? Being a sports fan is just betting with emotion. As it turns out, Vegas offers a lot more than actual gambling. And it has THE SPHERE. We'd revisit despite initial skepticism. It's tough to continue emotionally gambling on a team that never wins the Frozen Four. Somehow Michigan keeps coming up against elite goaltending. Despite the disappointment, the team was resilient throughout the season. But still, sigh. Denver got frustratingly few penalties in this game, and some were objectively bad no-calls.    Segment 2 Dave talks about the game until Alex tells him to stop. Denver controlled the opening minutes and scored off a Michigan turnover. Michigan scored twice in a minute. Michigan was taking control of the game while holding a lead into the 2nd period. It was a third stringer for Denver that ended up tying it. Denver goalie, Johnny Hicks, was insane, though. Shots were 52-26 in favor of Michigan. The eventual game-winner in OT came from a Michigan break-down. Michigan always plays well enough to win but just can't win in the Frozen Four, it's emotionally taxing. Player returns are already being announced. Jayden Perron is the main unknown. A pair of first round picks from the CHL are incoming! If Michigan gets everyone they want in the offseason they'll be a top three team.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" -- En Vogue Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed: Seth shares his story in the hotel lobby: Thank you to Champions Circle!!! How this team was built: Michigan cared about fit and personality. If you're trying to copy this and you spend more in the portal you're doing it wrong. Would any of these guys be as good if they stayed at their old schools? Will Izzo hate this team more, or when Flint product Trey McKenney leads them to a repeat? Dusty May future: perfect for this era where you pick whom you play for. Portal: Can they get John Blackwell through admissions? If he can graduate from Wisconsin. Portal: Juke Harris? Craig said he's a four; Seth says he is not a four because he's 200 pounds, and Wake was wrong. Hockey preview: It's random, but the story is USNDTP won hockey this year. Best goalie, best route, best seed, get the nice locker room for both games. NCAA took CHL players and it turns out NCAA hockey is stronger. Denver's goalie is super hot, their goalie is the Hurley of college hockey. Who's favored? Nobody. 1/4ths.

2 hours and 9 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Just Won a Natty/Indianapolis Vibes Starts at 0:51 No crying this time, but we do think we can have nice things now. You get out of it what you put into it; the UMHoops guys are probably experiencing the highest of highs. The 2023 football championship was a thing no other fanbase has experienced; this is what a normal natty feels like. Some of us survived the 2023-24 team. The story begins with the Ellerbe years, the Beilein era absolutely helped build this. Don't resent the Fab Five, but they unfairly had to represent what Michigan could be. Reconsidering the Juwan era, the heart condition, how badly he needed a GM. Beilein was spiritually (and literally) present for this team; loudest the stadium got before Michigan hit a three was when they showed him. Very unselfish team. Built through the portal—Cronin was never going to be a good fit for Mara, Rez wasn't going to have a role after Illinois got the other Ivisic, Cadeau was struggling in a bad system at UNC, Yaxel used the portal to get here from JUCO via UAB, Roddy Gayle was the national glue guy of the year, Nimari was here three years through two coaching changes, and Will Tschetter was a five-year player who took a smaller role: nobody can make a good faith argument that any of these guys don't belong here. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. The UConn Game Starts at 27:50 Takes hotter than the rims during the final last night. Story of the game was UConn fouling the crap out of Michigan from literally the tip. Miss the first Cadeau and-one, then hit 24 free throws in a row to offset the terrible threes, until Roddy missed his pair. Snakebit shooting because Rez/Mara/Yax kept getting mismatches down low, but Michigan was able to play their bigs together, and that just made it impossible for UConn to score. Felt like Lendeborg was himself on defense; offensively he was obviously hobbled. Their communication was fantastic, and there weren't mismatches for UConn to hunt. A time or two they got Mara versus Karaban on the perimeter or something, but they didn't get backcut once. Tarris was basically shut down by Mara. Only thing they got were those ORebs, which were hat tips to them and also related to Michigan taking way the three. Next year Trey McKenney; graded on a curve he made 2 of Michigan's three jumpers, including the dagger. The Rube Goldberg three. Cadeau vs the Cadeau we thought we were getting. 3. How this Team Came Together Starts at 59:16 Revisiting how the roster came together, May's eye for talent, because every guy he got at FAU wound up a star somewhere. You can't actually build from the portal; if that's the lesson they're taking from this team they're going to get lit up. Cadeau cleaned up the TOs (but still commits them at the end of the game his banana peel). On the human to athlete personality spectrum, Mara is a normal human being, who never should have been paired with Cronin—all little guys who play basketball are born killers because you have to be, but it's common for bigs to be like that. Mara was the best player; he developed into a beast by the end of the year. Transfer teams: if you look at the rest of the top ten four didn't make the Tournament; Michigan was the only protected seed that took a lot of transfers. St. John's and Louisville were the others. Once you're been at a school a year you're not a transfer anymore. Cig vs May: Cignetti relied more on his JMU transfers. It's especially hard to recreate what Michigan did defensively, because at the end these guys won a title by doing the best job of anybody of playing with each other. Introducing the Bobby Hurley Index: How many photos do you look like Jim Carrey in The Mask? 4. Next Year Starts at 1:38:41 Are they looking at the portal list or the list of guys projected to the late 1st/early 2nd round? Mara and Rez are probably done—small chance they get Rez back. Cason going to redshirt. Gayle, Burnett, Yaxel are out of eligibility. Cadeau and McKinney: best backcourt in the country next year? McCoy is Charles Matthews-ish, going to be a major defensive presence; if you get two years out of him he's a big get but he doesn't have a deep shot, might be freshman Darius Morris or what we wanted Rubin Jones (PG who can guard 1-4) to be. Recruited lots of SFs: Grady? Liburd? Brown? All going to be 6'5" gumby-armed switchable guards. Backup PG: can McCoy or McKenney can play point for 10 mpg. Do they have a wing? Want that guy to be switchable; Seth thinks they're going to have a big war chest to find an NBA four who can play the three in addition to two bigs. Goodman will be next year's Tschetter. Need three portal bigs. Is Dusty May the #1 coach you would want to have if you were looking for one right now? UNC search was Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May right? MUSIC: "La Di Da"—Heavy Weighs the King "Don't Be Mad"—PiranhaMob    "Up and Away"—Cursive        “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

1 Hour and 18 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Between college hockey and the NHL playoff race the past few weeks have been exhausting, but worth it. The Eastern Conference is an extremely tight race, the Western Conference is the Avalanche, the Stars, and then everyone else competing for third place. The Red Wings have a weak rebuild and a lack of young star power like a lot of other rising teams. Previewing a red-hot Denver team with exception goaltending. Both Michigan and Denver have similar metrics. At one point this season the Denver goalie gave up 17 goals in 15 games. Is this sustainable against Michigan? Michigan should prioritize shot quality over quantity. Denver has an experienced defense but not as explosive of an offense as Michigan. If Michigan can exploit Denver's goalie early they may finally break their Frozen Four curse.    Segment 2 Previewing Wisconsin and North Dakota. North Dakota is a more consistent, well-rounded team with strong possession metrics, balanced scoring from a core group, and solid special teams. Their goaltending is good not great. Wisconsin is more volatile: they can compete with anyone if they get strong goaltending and finishing, but their inconsistency, weaker penalty kill, and reliance on high-end performances make them less reliable.North Dakota is more dangerous overall, but Wisconsin is higher variance and can use that to compete with anyone. Both opponents would be difficult for Michigan for different reasons - we've seen what Wisconsin can do to Michigan.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Arrhythmic Glow" -- Mortimer Nyx Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 3 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Final Four vs Arizona Starts at 0:51 Dave has a new nickname. Was this game... a let down? You could have maybe predicted that Arizona would struggle to score based on their over-reliance on twos. You probably could not have predicted that Michigan would put up over 90 points without Yaxel. Arizona was extremely physical which resulted in foul trouble, but when they got away with it they could score. Michigan forced Arizona into an ungodly number of two point jumpers off the dribble. They were 10-of-32 from mid-range. Arizona missing a dunk felt like the dagger. Michigan's maturity showed, they didn't seem blinded by the lights of the big stage. Elliott Cadeau had the greatest 2-of-14 half of basketball. Yaxel goes out the first time because of foul trouble and Arizona couldn't be more physical than Michigan's guards. Arizona has one way of playing that nobody else could stop, except for Michigan, and Arizona didn't know how to react. When shooting was tough, Trey McKenney stepped up. 16 points on 6-9 shooting, he has changed how we feel about mid-range shooting. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and National Championship Preview - UConn Starts at 33:42 Takes hotter than ADAY MARA. Connecticut is #9 in Kenpom which feels like a relief, but they do have weird tournament joujou. That's better than having to play Duke at least. Michigan vs Tarris Reed for a national championship is crazy. Tarris has matured into a hoss and is their center, his backup, Eric Reibe, is a freshman and a drop-off but still a good player. They don't really play a second big. Alex Karaban is their second biggest player and he's been around college basketball for forever but he's a big wing. This is a game where Tschetter can play. Michigan can play two bigs and put one of them on Karaban but it might only be for 15-20 minutes of the game. Should Michigan make this into a shooting fest and maximize possessions? Tarris Reed is very difficult to ware out. Braylon Mullens is a freshman 6-6 195 lbs wing that Michigan can overwhelm. Silas Demery is a transfer from Georgia, the point guard, top 25 assist rate, top 100 steal rate. Gets to the line a ton, not that great from two. Solo Ball takes most of his shots from outside of the arc, he has also been seen wearing a boot. Expect UConn to show a lot of different coverages. How much Yaxel will we get? Expect it to be a Blake Corum vs Ohio State situation. He came to Michigan to play in this game so you gotta feel for him if he can't play much. UConn's biggest advantages are blocking two point shots and assists, which Michigan should be able to take advantage of. Their path to victory is to replicate what Purdue did in the Big Ten Championship game. Once again, the difference in this game will be Aday Mara. No Paul Szelc won't be officiating this game!  ADDENDUM - Solo Ball was reported as being in a boot while this was recorded. If he's not able to play that is a huge drop-off. Even if he plays he's not going to be 100%, much like Yaxel.  3. Hot Takes and Gimmicky Top Five Commercial Takes Starts at 1:20:48 You know AI companies are running out of money because they can't even get Snoop Dogg on their commercials. Charles Barkley will say anything. Has Jennifer Garner acted in anything besides Capital One commercials in the last decade? AT&T did predict the Michigan Tennessee game. Are they putting the cocaine back in Coke? Tall Boozer looks like a normal Boozer, small Boozer looks like an AI recreation of a Boozer.  4. Potpourri: WBB, Hockey, and Football Bits Starts at 1:34:22 Women's basketball was dumptrucked, but at least we now can empathize with all the teams that played MBB. The game has gotten two chalky; it's the same four one-seeds, repeats of the same games. Is there a ceiling on this team, unless they suddenly double the money they put into it? David's hockey takes: Denver is not like or MSU who's going to take the puck off your stick, and those are the teams that Michigan struggles with. He likes Michigan with four lines and snipers versus a smaller goalie—shot quality game. Brian hates that it's Denver in the tournament. Is there a team that's looked better than Michigan in the Playoff? Wisconsin-NoDak is a pick 'em but matchup-wise Wisconsin would rather be playing Michigan. North Dakota got walked to the Frozen Four. If we lose Seth has to wear Denver jersey to the podcast. Football bits: We're in the ping-pong table removal phase. It's okay that Underwood's throwing interceptions, because he's trying them. Non-insane QB run approach. Next QB is Carr. Hiter hype continues, Salesi Moa is popping. Eli Owens fullback talk. Brian doesn't buy the talk of Babalola starting when he's been hurt, but Sprague at RG can only mean that because Frazier is securing a spot. Defensively the DT situation is good on Palepale and not good that Lea'ea is "smart" vs "much larger." Seth loves the Edokpayi talk, Benny Patterson is a Mike-Mo. Kind of a good sign the three young LBs are getting a lot of talk (albeit with a simplification). Good sign that Bracy is getting talked up for his coverage. MUSIC: "The Wino I Know"—Jimmy Buffett "Ruby"—White Denim "Long Weekend"—Cut Worms “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Has Michigan found that November stride? More that Tennessee and Alabama didn't have the size; difference was Bama's PG went off. It's a two-point game now. There's never been more than two teams that shot 60%+ from two; this year there are eight.    Looking at how size matters (I recap yesterday's Jimmystats). The perfect guy to defend Arizona is Moussa Diabate. Note that Zona's main weakness seems to be extremely athletic rim defenders who can make them less efficient at the rim. Utah State, Cincy had those guys. Matchups: Should they put Mara against Krivas? Not sure that will be efficient, but Mara in the 15 mins that Krivas sits should be a MAJOR advantage because Peat is a freshman super-wing and Awaka is a Tennessee big. Zona will play drop coverage, M should have some offense planned to get lops off that. Peat: you can push him from the basket; he's taken 165 shots at the rim and 130 pullup Js and there's a MASSIVE difference in efficiency. Kharchenkov another outstanding freshman who can be pushed off his shot. What Zona does is rebound and get free throws, and Michigan is set up to stop that. What Michigan does is oversize you and overmatches Yaxel vs guards, and Arizona is set up to stop that. If Yaxel vs Kharchenkov or Peat is our big matchup win Brayden Burries vs our guards is theirs. He may be one step too fast for Nimari, think this is a March Roddy Game. Super impressed with Cadeau's defense; he anticipates screens and that has saved Michigan from getting into bad matchups. Bradley: Weird thing is it doesn't even matter where he's taking his twos from. Would be good on a Will Wade team. Tschetter: salute to his play vs Tennessee in the 1st half. Sometimes you need that kind of effort. Illinois or UConn: We disagree. Illinois is a better team, UConn can switch 1-5 and beat them in MSG, though that was back when it wasn't abnormal for Wagler to score 3 points. Duke vs UConn: Biggest choke play ever? Hockey: What's different? Sam asks if we have the best goalie in the Tournament: yeah, by a little. What's different about this team from the ones that didn't win? Brian: Nothing. Seth: Not as talented up front but they hit on all of their USNTDP guys; the United States' ability to develop hockey players has been the story of the year, and we're a part of that story.

1 Hour and 50 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Alex is a consistent sleeper who naps easily unless exhausted. Early start times negatively effect students. Who else has slept in an airport rather than get a hotel? Anyways, hockey trip time, the gang meets a Bentley grad. Michigan beats Bentley in what you'd want to see in a #1 vs #16 matchup while also being able to bench injuries and rest starters. Bentley traveled really well, the loudest moment of the game was their one goal.    Segment 2 Penn State vs Minnesota Duluth was one of the best games of the opening round. Which team would you have preferred? Gavin McKenna hype was overblown. Duluth was always dangerous and capable of a big run. A 3-0 lead was nice but felt dangerous. We like when Michigan scores short-handed goals. Despite holding a 4-1 lead in the third and being the stronger team, Michigan nearly collapses. Should it have been goalie interference on one of the Duluth goals? Duluth also had too many men on the ice for a solid 15 seconds. Garrett Shifsky's goal line stand might've been the play of the year. A "Sparty Nooooo" is one of the worst collapses in the history of the tournament. Next year's Michigan roster looks really strong. Denver is almost a mirror of Michigan. Would you rather beat up Wisconsin or North Dakota in the chamionship game?   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Deceptacon" -- Le Tigre Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 56 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight Review Starts at 0:51 Almost a stress-free weekend. Michigan overwhelms a pair of top SEC teams that couldn't be any more different from each other. Brian credited March Roddy a little, Alabama preview a lot, as they got worn out. Labaran Philon was a hero: 39 minutes, 35 points, kept them in it. They didn't have bigs; they had one Morez Johnson-like object who got worn out. Wrightsell was hitting tough threes early but as he exhausted they were falling shorter and shorter until airball. 1st round picks Amari Allen and Nate Ament are freshmen not highly valuable college players, like Diabate, and can't get anything vs Michigan's size. Lendeborg is nailing threes since Dukes started going under screens; they're practice jumpers...against top-25 teams. Tennessee very different game: ball sitting on the floor for a minute and Lappas is so confused (how does he have this job??). Officials call bad foul on Mara then have to call everything; they get three incidents of goaltending or cylinder violations and went 0/3. Gillespie couldn't be Labaran Philon and that was it. Brief spasm of irritation when Vols are getting ORebs and Mara gets a 2nd foul, then 21 balanced points; it's over when JP Estrella tries to thunderdunk on Tschetter. Everyone was complementing Yaxel. Happy when Trey McKenney shoots a three. Salute to these seniors. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Final Four Preview Starts at 33:00 Meta game: Everyone is at the rim now because there's a much higher floor so you aren't (like Beilein) subject to the triple gods. Arizona is a lot like Michigan but they're even more extreme, and their jumpers are usually twos. When they do get a three (rarely) Bradley and Burries can knock them down. Concern is whether they can bully Mara; NBA people will be watching his battle with Krivas, defensive impact is understated because he's a mountain you can't move. Lost to Kansas because KU was able to muscle up and push them away from the rim. Everyone packs the paint against them; if you can actually push them away from the rim they're in the 100s in 2PT distance and they're not good at 2PJs, especially Koa Peat (34% on 130 attempts). Also: Jaden Bradley (46% on 157), Ivan Karchenkov (42% on 62), and Brayden Burries (46% on 92). Difference: Arizona has three freshmen, Michigan has one, and Michigan's three-big lineup can probably make Peat inefficient to be just enough. Burries is McKenney.  Game of the century? Illinois we know; they're huge and they shoot, and they play the wrong Ivisic. Alex pulled off one of the great jinxes to get UConn over the line. Tarris Reed's final form is the switchable five who is a monster shot blocker and scorer, could be major trouble defensively for Michigan because they don't have to go under screens, takes away Yaxel's threes. The rest of those guys though? Karaban is a 6'8 version of Nimari Burnett, have some shooting guards in Braylon Mullins and Solo Ball; Solo has gone full sophomore THJ from the arc; he can't hit one in the Tournament. Silas Demary was injured to start the Dance but is a wonderful creator. Illinois question: Andrej Sotjakovic is going OFF! Is that because he found something or because he can take advantage of space as a driver against unathletic teams like Iowa? 3. Hockey Starts at 1:11:12 Bentley game: didn't dominate them but once they got the free goal (Brian was even a little upset) at the end of the 1st period; the only way Bentley wins this is if Michigan gives that up. UMD game: Alex didn't like this draw—North Dakota got an engineered free trip to the Frozen Four and Michigan had UMD. Alex also dislikes going up 3-0 early leads because you stop trying to score, and UMD was getting a lot of good looks. Got great looks, Michigan gave up too many good entries, UMD hit a post and a bar, their top line was out there like 35 minutes, Ivankovic stood tall. Tyler Duke's defense was not good on those two goals. Asher Barnett's penalty shifts the momentum. Michigan's goals: great tip, Valentini scores on a dime of a saucer from Moldy—so happy he's activated his inner fullback. Schifsky's shortie. Frozen Four preview: four teams with the most national titles. Brian DOES NOT like to play Denver in the Frozen Four; are they the favorites now? They've been playing VERY hot. North Dakota hasn't been there forever; it's been 10 years. Wisconsin we know. 4. Hot Takes and Women's Basketball Starts at 1:38:06 Takes significantly hotter than Dusty May when Mara picked up a B.S. foul 30 seconds into the game. Worst day in MSU winter sports history. NCAA could find a way to put Duke back in it but that would kill Bill Murray. WBB plays TONIGHT against 1-seed Texas. Smoked Louisville: not one but TWO 16-0 runs. They weren't transition baskets because they didn't cross midcourt; they're just 'sition baskets. No points for 7 minutes then dominated for three quarters—gonna have to play FOUR quarters from here on. BQD has seven offensive rebounds, against a huge Louisville team. Delfosse has really come on the last few weeks, Olson and Swords carried offensive, very impressed with how they dealt with Laura Zeigler; Sofilkanich handled her. Good sign for Texas's size, though they have a midrange assassin. Michigan's going to have to shoot well from three and hope Booker isn't effective from range. Home game for Texas in Fort Worth. GO BLUE!!!! MUSIC: "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy"—Devo "Baywatch"—Drug Cabin "Paradise"—The Mattson 2 “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra 

Things Discussed: Wisconsin out, Texas in: Brian still wants the entire university excised from the Tournament. St Louis didn't have a second big, didn't have the guards to do what Wisconsin did. Good news for Sweet 16: ISU (minus Jefferson) and Alabama (minus Holloway) don't match up. Beautiful basketball: Dusty to Craig, no way to guarantee it's that pretty. Yax be a star time. A yard never looks that good unless there are major basketball feelings going on. Threes are random, five-out shooting teams (Wisconsin, Alabama) have random results, but you need a guard (e.g Nick Boyd) who can take advantage of the space created by pulling the center out. Labaran Philon is a dude, gotta fight through screens. Thing about Alabama is they only have one big—most of the team are 6-8 wings, and they can only play Sherrell 20mpg. Don't force TOs. Can't rebound! They should get ravaged in the paint. Texas, Georgia, Zaga, Purdue all got massive OReb rates. Long rebound luck game: where do the missed quick threes carom? Need to have everybody put up a poster dunk in practice and prepare to get back after. Also without Holloway they only have two guards on the roster. They play fast, might run Philon out of juice. Painful basketball teams: Will Wade back to LSU? Ben McCollum turns basketball into an Iowa football game. Funny how if you just asked, in a neutral state, if both Alabama's football and basketball coaches would rather be at Michigan they'd take you up in a heartbeat. Iowa State: Dead in the water without Jefferson, no way that injury is okay by Elite Eight right? He couldn't put weight on it. Tennessee are bullies up front, fear them more than non-Jefferson ISU. Hockey: This stupid tournament format means we can't make predictions because being the #1 overall seed doesn't matter—you go to Albany and get Penn State in the 2nd round. Women's Basketball: Like their chances to beat Louisville because we can pest them out of the building, but beating Texas in Texas is tough. Put a "4" over the quarter number on the scoreboard so Swordsy thinks it's the end of the game. UNC a threat to take Dusty? His new contract should be a $7.5M buyout (saw $4M reported?) but that's not as big as some others. Think if we survived Indiana we survived UNC, which is Job #2 in a worse conference than the Big Ten, where Michigan is Job #1.

1 Hour and 35 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 There is no need for the NCAA hockey tournament selection show to be drawn out as much as it is. It took 20 minutes to find out anything interesting. It's just hostage-taking for fans just wanting the bracket. What are the pros and cons of neutral site games? Campuses are better atmospheres but at least it's fun to explore host cities if you travel. Hosting the tournament in smaller, less prominent locations makes the tournament feel like the minor leagues. Empty arenas diminish the viewing experience. Anyways, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament. Some penalties felt controversial and rewarded embellishment. Michigan's depth and skill took over late. Hopefully Hage is okay. There's a perfect satisfaction that comes with beating Ohio State in the championship game more than anyone else.   Segment 2 What do the other conference championship games mean for the tournament? Bentley beats out Sacred Heart, Dartmouth beat Princeton, and Merrimack wins a surprising Hockey East title. Discussions of Pierre Maguire's broadcasting quirks. Denver was resilient in not blowing it in double overtime after having a big lead in regulation. Michigan should be a heavy favorite over Bentley but they're better than a typical low seed. Michigan's scoring should be sufficient if they keep out of penalty trouble. Are they more likely to play Minnesota-Duluth in the 2nd round than Penn State? Alex likes Western Michigan over Denver in a regional game in... Denver. Are there enough UConn fans to watch their hockey team play instead of either their men's or women's basketball games? Who is possibly going to come out of Sioux Falls alive? North Dakota hasn't made the Frozen Four in ten years. Michigan plays Friday at 5:30 on ESPNU.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Wolf Like Me" -- TV On The Radio Ice Hockey (NES) theme

53 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. Segments 1-3 were in MGoPodcast 17.29a yesterday. 4. Sweet Sixteen Preview: Alabama Starts at 0:51 We hate facing three teams in the Tournament because of randomness. Bama is the Nate Oats show: he wad doing efficiency before it was cool. PG Labarn Philon isn't Aden Holloway but is lengthy can can get to the basket—Nick Boyd was his #1 comp on Hoop-Explorer. Darius Acuff was on that list too. SG Latrell Wrightsell is a shooter; he was 6/9 from three vs TTU, 38% career from three, hit 45% two years ago (on a team with Sam Walters). OLD.  Wing Amari Allen is a 6'8-205 and NOT JUST A SHOOTER. The book on Allen is don't let him shoot from the left side of the arc: 47% on 47 attempts from the left wing, 4 or 10 from the corner. But 32% straightaway on 31 attempts, 24% on 46 attempts from the right side. He's just 61% at the rim. The other wing is a timeshare between a JAS, a freshman, and an Egyptian stretch four.  At center they're lacking, sorta. Aiden Sherrell is a Detroiter—Seth sent a phot of him as a recruit to Brian once—McDonald's AA—kinda reminds us of Morez. Had major struggles at the free throw line last year (46%) that he's largely fixed. Backup is... can Charles Bediako play? No? Well Bucknell transfer Noah Williamson is actually Noa Viljamsons from Latvia; he was #1 in usage and #1 in defensive rebounding in the Patriot League but severe dropoffs all over the map in their few chances against better competition.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  5. Elite Eight Preview: Iowa State or Tennessee Starts at 22:13 Iowa State spent a lot of the season on the 1-seed line. HUUUUGE loss (unless it's better than it looked) in Joshua Jefferson (KPOY #2), who's high-usage Yax and really gave ISU their identity. PG Tamin Lipsey is Tre Donaldson. Wing Milan Momcilovic is the sniper of the year. Three different SGs with three different skills, and then they have some decent but not world-beating centers. It's really about stopping Jefferson. If it's Tennessee that's an easier matchup but maybe not a great one for Michigan because Ja'Kobi Gillespie gets his own shot, Nate Ament is mini Joshua Jefferson, and they throw these huge bodies at the offensive glass. 6. Women's Basketball: First Weekend Recap and Sweet 16/Elite 8 Preview Starts at 43:47 Firsts for Michigan WBB under Kim Barnes-Arico: 2-seed, 16-win season at Crisler, 27-win season. Muppets! Rote beatdown of Holy Cross was rote; the WBB Tournament is even more chalk as the top talent is so much better than the rest. Michigan is the best of the teams that doesn't have an All-American, but some teams have multiple. NC State game was a fun matchup that Michigan took over as soon as their threes started going down. BQD-ass game where she took over at times by swarming a team that normally doesn't turn it over with the press. Looking forward: Louisville is NC State but can shoot—they're all large and can stretch, though not very quick. Laura Zeigler was the top recruit in the portal, Taj Roberts is a tall sniper, Imari Berry looks like an undead from WoW. If they get past Lville it's almost certainly going to be 1-seed Texas, which just rolled Oregon, which is a bellwether (when not in a legendarily badly officiated game). Madison Booker is WBB Yaxel, Rori Harmon is a thief, Breya Cunningham and Kyla Odacre are way bigger than anyone Michigan can put on them. MUSIC: "Sunday Morning"—Alcatraz "Video Life"—Chris Spedding “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    THE USUAL LINKS: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link What's with the theme music?      

1 hour and 40 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Howard and Saint Louis Starts at 0:51 This is part one of a part two podcast! Which Robbie Avila nickname was your favorite? Of the last ten times Michigan has made the tournament they've been in the Sweet Sixteen nine. Were Beilein teams built better for the tournament than for the Big Ten? Howard shot 48% from three, the only reason they were able to get to 80 points. What Wisconsin nonsense is this? Michigan shoots 84% from two, one of those misses was from Oscar Goodman. Roddy Gayle was uninspiring in the Big Ten Tournament but returned to his March form. Moving on to Saint Louis, they're a dangerous offensive team but there was no way they were going to be able to check Michigan. Somehow Saint Louis was the #1 field goal efficiency defense in the country, it's a good sign that Michigan shot 1.35 PPP. Avila fell for Mara's fake pass. Since they started counting blocks Michigan is the first team to have all starters score 10+ points and have a block. The Mara we're seeing now is night and day from what we saw at the beginning of the season. Could you convince him to come back another year? What was up with that non-flagrant foul that ended up being a foul on Burnett? Technically it was a cylinder foul. High Point isn't a real school, you should only schedule real schools.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Spring Football Bits Starts at 34:37 There are finally enough bits coming out of the spring! Ron Bellamy is back as director of player personnel, which makes all the sense in the world. Apparently Whittingham wanted to come back to Utah but he wouldn't have as much control over decision making so he left. What exactly happened here? We thought he was retiring but clearly he didn't. Manuel Beigel moved to offensive line, this is concerning because there are plenty of offensive lineman and this team needs defensive tackles. In more positive news, Savion Hiter is already running with the ones. His built is like Jabrill Peppers. The defense will "resemble the 2023 defense" in terms of style, according to Jay Hill. It will depend what they can get out of Zeke Berry and Rod Moore. Injured guys are still injured. Receiver depth is Marsh, Ffrench, Moa, and Buchanon. Defensive tackle tea leaves are... uhhh... concerning? You need four decent defensive tackles, they currently have three and there's no guarantee that any of them are good. Maybe that's why Hiter is getting so many yards in practice. The NDSU linebacker captain needs to simmer for a bit, he just got here. If one of the best offensive line coaches in the country is excited then we're excited. If Babalola actually starts he'll be an All-American. Sounds like they're kicking Link inside?  3. Hot Takes and Hockey Tournament Starts at 1:02:51 Takes hotter than Howard for the last 10 minutes of the first half. Michigan gets the #1 overall seed in hockey, their reward is a game against Bentley in Albany. They also won the Big Ten Tournament after a 7-3 win over Ohio State. They get medals but not stoats. Playing a team with tournament lives on the line was really good practice. They were so excited to win a banner. Did you know Gonzaga used to have a hockey team. Bentley is 23rd in NPI which is better than their conference usually does. Doesn't look like a team that will threaten Michigan but anything crazy can happen in this tournament. The matchup is there against Penn State but the vibes are annoying since Michigan has already played them five times (and lost once). Will the building have 12 people in it? Minnesota-Duluth had a really good nonconference run but fell off towards the end of the season. They swept Minnesota which doesn't mean much this year. Congratulations Western Michigan, you are a #1 seed and you probably get to play Denver at altitude if you win your first game. The committee doesn't want schools to have home games but then they either give schools "home" games or play in empty rinks. This game should be at Yost and it would be nuts, Michigan deserves the home advantage that they earned. If Wisconsin gets goaltending they're a top four team, if not they'll lose in the first round.  MUSIC: "Hard Dreaming Man"—Drugdealer "Honey Drip"—Long Island Railroad, Smushie and Ryan Gebhard “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Howard preview: Their center isn't a center, but he's mini-Yaxel. Takeaways from BTT: Brian/Craig/Sam: The Purdue game was just a ref show—Oscar Cluff is a a) Buffalo, b) Oaf, c) deliberately running guys over and cheating on screens. Michigan doesn't have enough galoots. Seth: I've moved on. Biggest concern is Michigan vs Wisconsin: bringing too much help to the rim when we have some five-out teams (Saint Louis!) in the first weekend. Georgia and St. Louis. Georgia is soft—they have a shot-blocker and a lot of guards who can get their own points. Robbie Avila looks like Seth Fisher—he looks like a gumnut out there—but he's very skilled, especially at setting his guys up. I really like their four, Amari McCottry. Yaxel, take over man! Lots of opportunities to get him vs a mouse in the house and they didn't make the read. Michigan seemed to want to use Rez in that spot instead and he didn't have an inspired week. Pickin upsets: UNI over St. John's? Can slow the game to a grind. Kinda think NDSU? They've rediscovered the lost art of the defensive-invariant floater—not saying I am picking a 14 over a 3 but that's the one. Craig: Anyone notice they got Hurley, Izzo, and Cronin all in the same corner of the bracket? Poor Johnny Dawkins: what did I do to end up with these guys? Going further than their seed: Arkansas and Acuff. He's going to be a lottery pick, Arkansas paid for him and it was worth it. Calipari teams are kids at the start of the year (when they played MSU) but by the Tourney they're not freshmen anymore. OT: [BREAKING NEWS: Cade Cunningham will be out 8-10 weeks with a collapsed lung.] Billy Donlon in at EMU. Why did he leave Michigan? Not saying. In break: Does Michigan get an NIL discount? Champions Circle doesn't want to say so but yeah, when the money is close it's about lifestyle. Texas should get a Tournament ban for getting in last year and this year. Their best nonconference win: NC State. Bubble was terrible this year but that doesn't mean a mid SEC team should get in. Miami University is the perfect Tournament invite: They understood the assignment. Whom to invite instead of bubbly major conference teams? Mid-majors who won their conferences. Illinois in the Final Four? Yeah, they've got size and Wagler can shoot them to Indy (I had Nebraska taking out Florida). Houston takes such ugly shots, Illinois will make them uglier. Who can expose their frontcourt? Well, Florida.

1 Hour and 45 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 How often do you get a haircut? Catching up on the World Baseball Classic, U.S. and Dominican Republic go down to the wire. Did the tournament structure itself for a U.S. vs Japan final? Anyways, Michigan dominated Notre Dame 6-1 in the Big Ten quarterfinals. A Notre Dame player runs into Ivankovic again, leading to a fight and a game misconduct. Credit Michigan for standing up for their goalie. Overall this game wasn't really close.   Segment 2 Michigan beats Penn State 5-2 to make it to the Big Ten championship game. Penn State was aggressive early but Michigan settled in. Michigan had a lot of penalties but the power play held strong, but eventually they had a lengthy 5-on-3 that gave a 4-2 lead. T.J. Hughes sealed the game after Michigan's goaltender almost scored an empty netter on himself. That goal might've been Hughes' last goal at Yost, many of the seniors stuck around on the ice late. Time to wrap up the season of our old friends. WMU will get a 1-seed but lost to Denver in their conference final. Still some conference tournament games left, let's talk NCAA tournament scenarios.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Spark" -- Fitz and the Tantrums Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 36 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. The Tourney Draw, Midwest Region Preview Starts at 0:51 Overall a fine draw for the 3rd one-seed, with several teams that did not want Michigan as their one-seed. Alabama as a four-seed is a fine draw. They have some big wins because they can shoot their way to a W in any game, but they're also a tempo team that gave up 40%+ ORebs to the three teams they faced with major bigs. The 5-seed is Texas Tech which lost star center JT Toppin but shot their way to a win over ISU without him. We think they're a good upset pick in a 5-12 with Akron but we are impressed with the Just-a-Shooterness of Donovan Atwell. The 8-9 are Georgia and Saint Louis. We want Georgia, another tempo team that's a year away from its maximum and has a center who just makes buckets and blocks shots, versus Saint Louis which is where Robbie Avila went; they're five-out, #1 in the country in average 2PT distance, but opponents also get to the rim (Avila is no defender). On the other side is 2-seed Iowa State, which doesn't block shots but they turn you over and sniper Milan Momcilovic can shoot over guards—a team with three bigs might be their kryptonite (see: 79-70 vs Cincy). Joshua Jefferson is a Danny Wolf (28 assist, 17 TO) PF. 3-seed Virginia has a couple of ogres they rotate at center that might prove tough, and their own Yax-like in Thijs De Ridder, who's not from New Jersey. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 33:39 Takes hotter than Brian when they refused to call a 5th foul on Oscar Cluff the fifth time. You're not insane; it was a ref show, and a clownish end to DJ Carstensen's career. But that only explains why Purdue won—they played Michigan evenly because Michigan had their worst defensive performance, unable to stop the PnR two-man game between Smith and TKR. M's offense is off the hook for the 1st half since Purdue was just fouling and getting away with it, but what's their excuse for not having any plans for a stretch in the 2nd half when Purdue pulled ahead? Hoping against hope that May has been saving all of his real sets for the Tournament. Brian's giving up on Gayle and his Knoblockian adventures at the rim. 3. Men's Basketball vs Wisconsin and Ohio State Starts at 1:01:40 Wisconsin goes 7/23 from two but 16/38 from three once they've given up on Boyd and Blackwell drives that worked for them in the first meeting. Their twos were earned—pushed back and forced to shoot over Mara. Only the Aussie going nuts from three got this competitive again, but we were still dismayed over Michigan's offense. They had a Mara advantage they only ran in the 2nd half, and didn't really give him help off of that. Tschetter minutes are not working. The OSU game was annoying for all the little reasons, but the big one is something from the whole Tourney, which was Morez Johnson not playing up to his standard. He got the first two series and second was a fallaway jumper. He's a bit limited when backing up people have found. Bruce Thornton was limited by length but his eyes lit up whenever he got Cadeau, who seemed to be tiring late, but Michigan is a TO machine without him. Maybe they're saving Yax usage for the Dance. 4. Hockey vs Penn State and Tournament Lookahead Starts at 1:22:35 They're now locked into the 1st overall seed with Ohio State knocking MSU out of the tournament, and North Dakota losing, which means YAY we don't have to play Denver in a Denver Regional (stupidest playoff format ever). Michigan-NoDak-MSU-WMU will be the 1-seeds, in that order, and Michigan will draw the worst the #16, IE the Atlantic Hockey champion (Bentley most likely?) and the worst #2 seed (Duluth? Cornell? Penn State?) in, likely, Albany. Penn State hockey is James Franklin Penn State football: can beat anybody except the big bads in their conference. Not afraid of facing them again after a thoroughly dominant semifinal. Good to see a snipe from Hage, and what Moldenauer has become. MUSIC: "An Ocean Between the Waves"—War on Drugs "This Could Be Your Lucky Day in Hell"—Eels "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"—Of Montreal “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: Fears: The Red Cedar Message Board are sacrificing their junk to get the bottom of this. Minus LJ: Roddy Gayle stepping up. Just need him to finish (read: no turnovers) at the rim. Trey McKenney doing it on defense. What teams scare you in the BTT? Illinois has the size and can shoot their way out of any problems with the softness of their frontcourt. Nebraska plays offense like an NBA team, and that allows them to get around Michigan's defense a bit. MSU is a bad matchup for them, however, because MSU has so much size on the perimeter. Purdue? They are getting 100% what they can from offense and they are limited on defense. Michigan? Can they keep Mara and Cadeau on the court? Cadeau is showing he's willing to shoot more and there will be a correction to that from defenses to bring back the dunks. Officiating vs MSU, what's the deal? Fears should have been thrown out of the game. The 3rd foul on Rez was 100% a foul grift and needs to be legislated out of the game. The only reason they called a tech on Mara is because they just gave one to Fears. They must like being yelled at by Izzo because they reward his behavior. It's just the one guy—Ron Groover—who shows deference to Izzo, is a notorious Duke friend. But this does not apply to Jeffrey Anderson, and DJ Carstensen, who's retiring after the Tourney, is the best at officiating bigs. The Fears foul can't be a Class B tech—that's what McKenney knocking the ball out of a guy's hands is. These should not be the same things. We saw that in hockey last night when ND ran the goalie twice; the Big Ten doesn't care about player safety. Izzo: Why should you go to jail for a crime someone else noticed? IU: What happened to you? Don't even think DeVries's kid is that good. NCAA Tourney? Duke lost their PG and might be without their C until the 2nd week, aren't as deep as Michigan. Arizona has so much size and depth; their offense can be stopped by three bigs but until they meet a Michigan they probably won't be threatened. Iowa State can shoot man—Mommy!—might be in our bracket because Michigan played a lot of the potential 2 seeds already. Good news all of these teams don't want to see Michigan.

1 Hour and 43 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Does Daylight Savings Time bother you? Does the World Baseball Classic have too many teams? The tournament does have a lot of national pride amongst the teams. Let's check in on some old friends across the league. Notre Dame sweeps Ohio State (Notre Dame's final conference record is 5-17-2). Michigan State clinches the Big Ten despite a shootout loss. Discussing bracket scenarios.    Segment 2 How are former Wolverines doing in the NHL? Updates on Luke Glendening, Jacob Trouba, Dylan Larkin, and Andrew Copp. Several deserving teams in the Eastern Conference may miss the playoffs. Player injuries and team projections. Michigan's pipeline is all over the NHL at various skill levels.   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "C'Mon Down" -- Poor Man's Poison Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 44 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 0:51 Michigan is the best team in the Big Ten since the 1977 Indiana team. You can't say they didn't earn it, they had to win at Breslin, Carver, and Illinois. They would still win the Big Ten outright if you only counted the games that Michigan won by double digits. It was Yaxel's deep shooting that propelled Michigan when they weren't shooting well. Michigan felt mortal with Tschetter at the four but MSU didn't exactly take advantage of that time. There were a lot of 1-on-1 opportunities, Michigan only had 12 assists. 1.27 PPP is crazy against Michigan State. Where does Yaxel Lendeborg rank all time amongst all Michigan players? They had a reel prepared for when Fears would kick someone in the jingle jangles, and it did happen. Credit Dusty for keeping the team calm when things start to go wrong. How is Fears allowed to keep playing the way he does? Congrats to Nebraska for getting the #2 seed.  2. Men's Basketball vs Iowa Starts at 32:06 A very slow game and a very annoying win. Their thing is fouling you constantly and hoping the refs don't call it. They fired Fran and we hate Iowa basketball now. Michigan finally gets some calls in the second half and turns the ball over a lot. Bennett Stirtz's 4-14 from three feels optimistic for him given the shot quality. There was a "sink or swim" moment when Cadeau had to sit out and it wasn't great. Cadeau played 30 minutes but in an important tournament setting he'll probably play more than that. Roddy Gayle has some at-the-rim difficulties that have lasted most of the conference season. Fran McCaffery was a beautiful Big Ten coach and now he's in the Ivy League. 3. Hot Takes and Spring Ball - Offense Starts at 54:05 How excited is everyone for this spring practice? What will Bryce's role as a runner be? JJ didn't run much but in the championship season there were only 4-5 games where he would have needed to. Maybe Bryce looks a little better throwing downfield now that he has actual receivers. JJ Buchanan might have a Colston Loveland level catch radius. There was a moment of silence for Max Bredeson but we truncate silence on this podcast so you didn't hear it. What's the tight end depth going to look like? Evan Link to guard? We're expecting a big third year swing for Blake Frazier.  4. Spring Ball - Defense Starts at 1:22:09 Any sort of news about John Henry Daley being able to play would be high on the list. And Rod Moore. Also hoping to hear good things about Palepale and Cam Brandt. The North Dakota State linebacker (Nathaniel Staehling) transfer could be really good, he was a captain and these scenarios often work out nicely. Ideally he's the 3rd linebacker because that means some other guys popped off. How much much better will everyone look with better coaching? Unfortunately we won't be able to see if rotation on defense gets better in the Spring Game. Could Shamari Earls overtake Jyaire Hill? New kickers but kicking in April seems different than in the Fall. Looking forward to punting drills. Taylor Tatum for punt return?    MUSIC: "Any Major Dude"—Steely Dan "Believe"—My Morning Jacket "Broken Chair"—Luna “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Illinois game: Impressed that they not just shut down Wagler with Yax but they hunted Wagler defensively. They're not physical enough to play defense and not quick enough to guard point guards—Dent did it to them, Fears did it to them. Why didn't Illinois shoot us out of their building if they're five out? Mara was everywhere on defense, Boswell was left to shoot. When Boswell got downhill he gave Cadeau issues. That's something to watch out for because burlyguards on top of a five-out offense are able to score vs M. Yax went off-script to switch on defense. MSU the second-best team in the Big Ten; Illinois is going to get physicaled out of the Tournament. Rez was lit, and that maybe lit up Mara. When Mara gets himself to the rim he's unstoppable. What do you do when someone takes away what you want to be? Cason: Problem with losing him is ^. He was our answer. Best finisher on the team, critical in transition. Like with Rez last year, the play that he got injured on was the play that shows you who he is. Replacing Cason: Cadeau has to back off to play 30 minutes. Minutes-wise Trey and Gayle. Usage-wise, Yaxel can do more in transition and hunting his own buckets, want to run more offense through Mara. Gayle would be nice—he's been that before—but he hasn't been good this year. McKenney is not a creator at all at this point. If they play without Cadeau opponents are going to blitz the ball. When that's Mara...good luck. Who's the Big Ten PoY: Two different questions: Who's the best player in the Big Ten this year? Yaxel or Wagler, and Yax's defense puts him over the top for me. Who's going to win it? Probably Braden Smith, even though he's

1 Hour and 33 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 It's that time of year to speculate on the NHL trade deadline and what teams are about to be like. Checking in on the NHL playoff picture. College hockey - this was a weekend where it feels like everyone took the week off. In game one Michigan had the puck a lot but just didn't do anything with it. Naurato press conference drama, but he was right. Minnesota somehow wins off of 15 shots. It seemed like Michigan would come back to win and then they just didn't. This was just a poor showing all around and by far their worst loss of the year.    Segment 2 Frustration over what days and what times games actually start. Friday night was a better performance on senior night in a 4-2 win. TJ Hughes is one of the most productive four-year players of the 21st century and highlighted this game with a redirection goal. Malcolm Spence had a nice three-point night. A controversial hand pass waved off a goal but Michigan managed to kill a major penalty. Three points was disappointing in a weekend series that needed and expected six. Michigan is still in a solid national position.  [Player after THE JUMP]   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Mykonos" -- Fleet Foxes Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 35 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Illinois Starts at 0:51 Hail to the Big Ten champions... before March! Dusty in year two has won at Mackey, Breslin, and whatever Illinois' arena is nicknamed. This was supposed to be a scary game and it wasn't even close, the players loved the energy. The major bummer is that LJ Cason is out for the year with an ACL injury. Can Yaxel check a top five draft point guard? Yes. No turnovers for Cadeau! But he probably has to go from 26 minutes per game to 35 and needs to be much more careful about foul trouble now. It just felt like Illinois had to work so hard to get anything in the second half and they weren't used to that. Illinois played their much better defender for only 10 minutes. Shot volume was similar for both teams but Michigan was able to win from 2-point shots. 2. Men's Basketball vs Minnesota Starts at 25:20 Minnesota comes in with basically no basketball team, they're down on their luck. But they played zone better than a lot of teams on Michigan's schedule. In the first half Michigan had trouble getting to the rim so they kicked it out for open threes. Parts of it felt bad. This game felt like playing Maryland the week before Ohio State. Niko Medved did a great job with what he had, Brian is still high on him. Early in the season Iowa seemed like it would be a really tough game, now Iowa is tailspinning a little bit. Iowa's defense is improved from Fran but not in a way that will stop Michigan. Michigan is still probably a #1 seed if they lose out. They should raise the banner in Michigan State's face at pre-game.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 43:34 Takes hotter than Morez Johnson sitting in front of that crowd and being like "I don't care, I'm gonna be the Kenpom MVP in a 20 point win spiritually because I'm Morez Johnson and nothing phases me at all!" Michigan splits against Minnesota, which almost didn't matter until Michigan State only got two points against Ohio State. This team is a little too Jekyll & Hyde. Starting the Thursday game 1-9 in shots isn't great. Powerplays used to be more whizz-bang and they've been lacking lately. Michigan's defense is like Nebraska running the triple option - they always need to have a 5'2" puck wizard defenseman. MSU's coach tried to chase down an official on the ice which is a silly thing to attempt. Michigan is up two points in the standings but Michigan State has two more games. Time for another year of complaining about the NCAA hockey tournament format. 4. Stickball and Gimmicky Top Five Starts at 1:15:10 Baseball - good Softball - not good Gimmicky Top Five Things You'd Change in the Winter Olympics. Normal guy Olympics. Mountaineering should include getting a kid into ski gear. We don't talk about ski injuries. Winter beach volleyball?    MUSIC: "Don't Fight It"—Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry "Better Way"—Motenko "Take My Heart"—The Teskey Brothers “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Minnesota game: Just shooting over zone. Credit to Medved. Duke: Shouldn't give Szelc an opportunity to give Mara phantom fouls. Want to see us using our size better. Duke was suped up UCLA. Dusty will figure it out. Illinois: Huge, best offense in the history of Kenpom. Don't have a defensive center. Ivisics are stretch bigs. UCLA beat Illinois: When you play the three game you add randomness. Minnesota: Their fans should be happy about Nedved. Ran a zone well, slowed the game down, never got a 2nd shot. Good strategy. In break: Talking great families/USA Hockey. Hockey: Split with Wisconsin means they can't win the B10 regular season crown. Lack that one elite talent. Will be shipped out East because all four 1-seeds are Western teams. Congrats ND for two key Michigan injuries and stealing some points to create this result. WBB crazy game. Shout out to Macy Brown for sticking around to be there in OT. Locked in a 2-seed.

1 Hour and 13 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Watching the gold medal game through scrambling flight delays featuring a mid-air celebration. Canada really underperformed offensively despite having a lot of star power. Finland's medal consistency is relentless, Sweden is disappointing. Remembering the Miracle on Ice. Anyways, Michigan hockey lost a frustrating 4-1 game to Wisconsin on Friday. Will Horkoff scored the first game and it was all downhill from there.The Badgers were desperate and just outshot and outmuscled Michigan.    Segment 2 Michigan bounces back 3-1 on Saturday, their five-on-five effort was much better despite penalty trouble and shot disadvantage. Cason Musser gets his first career point. Jack Ivankovic's 34 saves helped stabilize the night. Michigan is still a 99.6% chance of being a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. Penn State had a wild 11-4 outburst against Ohio State, Gavin McKenna had eight points. Providence surges, Western Michigan pushes for a 1-seed. If Michigan wants to be perceived as elite this year then a sweep of Minnesota is a must this weekend.     MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Can't Catch Up" -- Rehab Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 43 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 0:51 The Duke game was annoying and non-impactful so let's start with Purdue. Purdue comes out to a 5-0 start, Michigan then goes on a 42-17 run. Mackey exploded no matter what, even when Michigan was up 16. Matt Painter is a dude who respects ball. Mara foreshadowed the Duke game by getting into foul trouble, but that wasn't until the 2nd half, otherwise he had a great 1st half. The other subplot of this game was they shot 57% from three, and almost all of them were good shots. Trey Kauffmann-Renn went off for Purdue, historically May has let him go defensively though. Michigan is doing a great job of making the non-contestable guys contestable. What was funnier, the Fletcher Loyer heat-check airball or Cadeau getting to the free throw line and not knowing what to do?  2. Men's Basketball vs Duke Starts at 22:55 A very frustrating game. Mara picks up three first half fouls, the first two of which were not fouls. Playing three bigs in the second half felt like an impulse. Will Tschetter has been a faithful companion for this program but this wasn't the game for him. Duke went on their end of first half run when Michigan had their small lineup out there. Dusty is usually very calm but he was on the verge of eruption. The official in this game notoriously call more calls than anyone else and didn't give us a proper Michigan Duke game. You can just give the coach an iPad to decide if you want to challenge calls?? Does Mara need a little more self-confidence? His body language is telling. Michigan didn't get a lot out of guard play. Their quality of looks in this game were nowhere near their looks in the Purdue game. They got out of balance with their lineup changes and shot 24% from three but still only lost by five to Duke so this really isn't that concerning. What was that travel call? LJ Cason is definitely a contested shot guy. Michigan's biggest win over the weekend was UCLA over Illinois. The Minnesota game is for a share of the title, two Big Ten wins means an outright title. Brian still can't believe how good Keaton Wagler is.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Wisconsin Starts at 55:40 Takes hotter than yours truly after Mara's second foul against Duke. Michigan gets a split out of Wisconsin which ends any hope of catching Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. Wisconsin played their backup goalie and Michigan didn't do enough to threaten him. Kason Muscutt got his first goal. BTN+ has announcers that don't even know Michigan's roster. Michigan could get to 51 points after next week which would win the Big Ten in most years. They have a 99.6% chance of being a #1 seed, they would need to win the Big Ten Tournament to get the #1 overall. #2 overall could get Saint Thomas?  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:24:57 Hughe's got it better than us? Michigan shouldn't claim Jack Hughes. Great performances from Michigan hockey players in the Olympics and the gold medal game. Michigan doesn't have these guys on this team (Michigan State doesn't either, though). Canada was sad and then got handed a stuffed stoat. If you haven't seen the figure skating exhibition gala, you should. Michigan has a new general manager. Sean Magee sent Savion Hiter the wrong dollar amount for his NIL?? The new GM is Dave Peloquin who used to work at Notre Dame. Michigan baseball got another ranked win over Louisville. The vibes for Michigan softball aren't good right now. They're like Nebraska football.  MUSIC: "UFOs"—Phoenix and Alan Braxe "Evil Twin"—Cut Worms "Dug"—Dream Sitch, Michael Nau, Floating Action “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Seth on early: Ohio State has yet another former player admitting he didn't go to class. Mick Cronin doesn't record practices—he's Tom Izzo without being a good basketball coach. Seth gives a history of coaching styles, short version is the Bo/Woody/Izzo/Bear style of drill sergeant was just a post-WW2 thing that just worked in that era. Michigan tampered with [the locks that Mick Cronin puts on the dungeon] UCLA, and Xavier Booker sneaks in while it's open: ooh, more yelling! Purdue: Mackey was lit, 42-17 run after going down five early. Michigan took only one bad three; everything else was open. Purdue was the opposite, all movement. Not thruck. Matt Painter is the anti-Cronin. Explained the game so well: he helped every dive inside and forced M to hit open kickouts. Soon as they did there's nothing more to do If Mara is going to play like he did in the 1st half and Cadeau plays like he did in the 2nd half...yeesh. How would you attack Michigan? Start by pulling Mara out of the middle by going five-out, then survive their size on offense (e.g. Illinois). Duke Preview: Boozer is a suped up Yax, they have incredible length on the perimeter including a 6'8"/190 Italian they put on PGs so we're going to see if Michigan can keep up their scoring or turns it over a ton. Duke's weaknesses are you can get to the rim and get fouls on their young frontcourt, since they don't really have a backup five. Cason: best backup PG in the league? Not sure but turning a corner. Still misses a switch and doesn't have NBA spacial awareness, but he's a very valuable backup now.

1 Hour and 38 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 A discussion of the evolution of language and phonetics. It's tough to broadcast a sport you've never broadcasted before. Actual hockey talk starts at about the 20 minute mark. It was a fine weekend getting five of six points. Your best penalty killer is your goalie. Ivankovic still seems a little rusty (except in OT), maybe there's a lingering injury. Friday night was one of the most insane three-on-three OT hockey games we've seen. This is what people wanted three-on-three hockey to be.    Segment 2 5:00pm puck drop is a weird start time. Michigan wasn't very sound on defense all weekend. The plays they run on power plays are really fun to watch, there are always new wrinkles. Why does there have to be pushing and shoving at the end of every series? Nothing happens anyways, they're just yapping chihuahuas. Is Penn State the fifth best team in the country? Catching up with teams from around the country. Team seeding and location predictions for the tournament - more teams should play closer to their home. Michigan is still more likely to be the #1 overall over Michigan State. Penn State basically needs to win the Big Ten tournament to be a 1 seed. Previewing the Wisconsin series.    MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Kitty" -- The Presidents of the United States of America Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 6 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs UCLA Starts at 0:51 Brian gets three minutes to talk about Mick Cronin, he hopes he never gets fired from UCLA. He's like a jolly caricature of Izzo. He's Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes. Michigan would be up by 10 in the first half and it would feel like they should be up 20. Tschetter's really improved as a defender but this game wasn't for him. UCLA was turning the ball over a ton, Michigan didn't have any until the end of the first half. This was a responsible game from Cadeau, some of his turnovers have been boneheaded. He's at around the same turnover rate as last year. LJ Cason is becoming a reliably effective playmaker. Mick Cronin might not have forgotten how to coach defense but he might've forgotten to scout Xavier Booker. If they play a bad game that means only winning by 10.  2. Men's Basketball vs Northwestern Starts at 28:10 Similar situation in this game where Michigan played a dominant second half. The difference is they were down 16 points. Kenpom still had them at about 30% chance to win even down 16 in the second half! Michigan missed so many bunnies in this one. They started running NBA sets in their second half rally and that works because they have the size for it. The big story of this game was LJ Cason. Cadeau wasn't doing anything so Dusty put in Cason who stepped up. Who's the most random guy you've ever been thankful for in a game? Probably Kam Chatman. Michigan is rotating nine guys and the ninth guy was the MVP in this game. The six game stretch to finish the regular season features Michigan State as the second easiest game. Alex isn't scared of Purdue. Duke looms.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 55:44 Takes hotter than the genius that came up with the two-man luge. Special guest, Seth daughter's Mira. Michigan takes 5 out of 6 points against Penn State, this was their first overtime that they didn't win this year. Michigan made it hard on themselves in the Friday game, Ivankovic sort of deflected a goal into their own net. These officials were fine because they degraded the game of hockey but they weren't as bad as some other guys! Penn State split their goalies but the better goalie gave Michigan a couple easy ones. Michigan has first round picks but the only one that has the sauce is Jayden Perron. You look at men's basketball and you think they could win a national championship. You look at hockey and you don't see it. Wisconsin has faded enough to not make the tournament but their forecheck also seemed like Michigan's kryptonite. If you want to win the conference you need six points against Wisconsin. You might need to win out. Michigan is still 96% to be a 1 seed.  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:38:22 Michigan replaces defensive tackle coach Lou Esposito with Larry Black out of Vanderbilt. He checks the recruiting boxes. He helped get Vanderbilt to respectable on defense which even Jesse Minter couldn't do. His resume is really good and still isn't as good a resume as the rest of the staff (complimentary). Women's basketball fell behind big to UCLA and got it to within one score. They're so close to the elite teams. Stickball! As of this recording baseball is 2-0 against good programs. USC and UCLA baseball hate being in the Big Ten. Softball is 7-2 overall, Alex was down after the Florida game. If you have six pitchers on the roster you have no pitchers. Brian has only watched curling. Olympic skiing discourse. Sweden pulled their goalie while up 5-2 to get the goal differential (did not get it).  MUSIC: "Idol"—Mind Enterprises "YUHDONTSTOP"—De La Soul "Brand New City"—Snocaps “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

No Brian, no Sam today. Reminder to get your Dusty shirt for the Maize-Out. Things Discussed: Hoops vs Northwestern: Fell behind from a combination of dumbass play (Cadeau turnovers were brutal), missing bunnies, Northwestern shooting out of their minds. Why didn't Chris Collins stick with Arrinten Page? Third coaching staff that guy's played for that clearly hates him, played 26 minutes and was killing us (especially when he hit a three). Did the Nebraska thing to get Jayden Reid switched onto Mara, but they couldn't hit a shot in the 2nd half the way Nebraska could. Still not fixed? Or did they know Page and Martinelli are 15% shooters on contested threes and let them jack, eating bad luck in the beginning? LJ Cason game! Thought he had some howler possessions early but got his game in order and when he calmed down we got the best game of his young career. Trading threes with Martinelli was the turning point. Trey McKenney: Becoming a star. He's Nimari plus: great defensive anticipation, ice in his veins at the moment. Officials allowed numerous hook and holds, only called one because Dusty challenged it, and then they undid it by giving Mara a flagrant. Fourth time this season that they've gotten Verne Harris (PSU, Nebraska, Washington), and fourth time we've had to say the uneven officiating was a major reason Michigan struggled. Gayle: Underappreciated moment: turnover when he had the ball down low vs Reid, then they recreated it to get him a dunk. UCLA: Cronin built the softest team and then screams at them like they're most pugilistic sonsabitches in the conference. You recruited them man! Worry us because they're going to try to play five out—their three point shooting is a random number generator. Michigan has to crush them at the rim and convert if he brings help to Mara—not a Gayle game. WBB: Speaking of UCLA, Michigan was some made bunnies away. Third time this year they've had an opportunity to knock off a national title contender at home with their last possession. UCLA then obliterated MSU. Michigan is going to be a favorite next year, but they need to convert the easy things (free throws and shots at the rim) to take that step.

1 Hour and 31 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1 Curling mixed doubles on the quad box, biathlon, and why speed skating is faster than it looks. Downhill skiing is insane. The Friday night 4-3 OT game was insane. The game was even early, tilted towards the Spartans late in the second. Michigan came out with their backs against the wall and their hair on fire in the third. Refs swallowed their whistles and missed some egregious calls. Barnett's goal sent Yost back to the Old Yost days. Frustration about roster decisions and puck management but Moldenhauer and Perron have become consistent scorers. This game was what the rivalry is all about.    Segment 2 Well, let's talk about the second game. The press box at Little Caesars Arena causes vertigo and lower box hockey tickets are a scam. Michigan came out flat, sloppy, and chasing the game almost immediately. Dave spotted Ivankovic in the press box and then on the ice moments later... because it was the 4th string goalie who looks just like him. Michigan's top-end talent vanished as they gave up a 4-0 lead, the first goal was especially ugly. Perron and Moldenhauer gave some hope but a power play that couldn't enter the zone ended all hope. Michigan looks like the best team in the country on Fridays and deeply mortal on Saturdays. The Hage-Horkoff line goes quiet when Michigan needs them most. Too many statement weekends turn into split-series shrugs. MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "The Kids Are Alright" -- Barns Courtney Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 23 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Penn State and Ohio State Starts at 0:51 Usually there's a segment for each basketball but that would just be silly. Michigan annihilates a short-handed Penn State team featuring two thunderous Mark Davis Kiwi dunks and a season high from Nimari Burnett. Is there anything else to say about this game? Michigan only had eight turnovers against Ohio State. Oddly they missed a lot of bunnies. Michigan is rounding into the elite offensive and defensive rebounding team we were hoping they would be. Nice to see Yaxel get to the rim, he doesn't do it enough. Another nice game from Trey McKenney. The balance of this team is insane. We're looking forward to what Mick Cronin says after Aday Mara stuffs him in a locker. A few more easy games before a brutal close to the season. Michigan State did Michigan a solid by beating Illinois.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hockey vs Michigan State Starts at 25:16 Game one was one of the best college hockey games we've ever seen. Old Yost was dark and full of discontented engineers who just learned to swear. It was absolute hell for opponents and it's just not that anymore in most games. Friday night felt like Old Yost. Michigan played great when they had their backs against the wall but you can't just rally from down 4-0. Michigan could be the second best team in the country and still just not be as good as State. Michigan's 4th string goalie looks just like Ivankovic and confused Dave in the press box. Why was Ivankovic suddenly ready on Saturday? Yost got HOT in the third period on Friday because of the missed calls. Michigan can still absolutely win a regular season title. Biggest concern in the NCAA tournament is also Michigan State, but the college hockey playoffs are weird. Has the modern era of college football reached hockey?  3. Hot Takes and Offensive Recruiting Class With Steve Lorenz Starts at 53:24 Takes hotter than Brian's face watching Seth come up with something that's hot. Usually we would do this on signing day but now nobody can remember when that is. Salesi Moa signed and enrolled at Utah and still ended up at Michigan. Brady Smigiel is one of your QBs but he's coming in injured, which probably effected his recruiting stock. He's a classic pocket guy, but Whittingham likes mobile QBs. QB Tommy Carr has Tate Forcier comparisons. Savion Hiter comes in as the most talented running back in this class, as well as the last few classes. What do you think Fred Jackson would call him? Jonathan Brown comes in as a generic three star RB but there's not much being said compared to Hiter. We'll count Salesi Moa in this class, he could play receiver and safety. He might actually be able to contribute in year one. WR Travis Johnson is just outside the top 100 but was very adamant about sticking to Michigan even after everything went down. WR Jaylen Pile also didn't waver but so far seems like just a guy, but with more scholarships available sure, bring him in. TE Mason Bonner comes in from Denver, might take a little time to develop. Should be athletic enough down the road. OT Malakai Lee comes in from Honolulu and might be the most excited about the coaching change. Comparisons to Mike Onwenu. Marky Walbridge is a late riser and offensive lineman late risers are often encouraging. Adrian Hamilton projects to center and centers don't rank highly usually. Tommy Fraumann is big enough to not care about rankings, born right after the 2008 Michigan Utah in which Kyle Whittingham beat Michigan.  4. Defensive Recruiting Class Starts at 1:45:41 Carter Meadows is a five star defensive end we're all excited about. He's not allowed to enroll early so he'll probably be a year two star. DE McHale Blade is one of the coolest names in this cycle. He has all the athletic traits, could be the sleeper of the defensive side. DE Tariq Boney is your Josh Uche, just let him go after the QB. Alister Vallejo looks like Mason Graham on the field and the kid from the Sandlot in his profile. DT Titan Davis is a Kris Jenkins guy, could be an anchor DE but will more likely fill in DT needs. Linebacker is where the excitement falls off. Nobody is anywhere near four star status. CB Jamarion Vincent is a developmental guy, expect him in year three. He was previously playing QB. CB Ernest Nunley is a former Cal commit and will probably be a safety. S Jordan Deck could me a sleeper, boring safety. Overall not a big fan of the back seven but it is the transfer portal era. It could be okay but it's sketchy.   MUSIC: "Bazooka"—Miami XO "Baby Steps"—Olivia Dean "Phish Pepsi"—Wednesday “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

No Sam today. Dusty shirt is maize; get it before we play MSU again. Things Discussed: Men's & Women's Basketball win at Breslin: 40 basketball wins. Jeremy Fears's instant karma for his dirty play. Impossible not to see all the extra stuff that guy does when you rewatch the games: yankbacks, pulldowns, more trips. Ira counted 80 yards in penalties and a targeting. MSU game: Brilliant defensive first half, all MSU could do consistently was get to the free throw line. Calling out their dirty play goes right to their heart because it's the best thing they can do. Going 2-3 zone out of halftime made good tactical sense but ball betrayed them a bit, good resilience to fight back. More tactics: Michigan was getting it down to Mara but he's not big enough on the block to make that. McKenney love: He's played his way to Michigan's best two—Burnett and Gayle are losing minutes to him. Anticipates screens, is big, and his midrange pullups are a good floor for possessions that help you against an elite defense. Really important for what this team needs to be going forward. Who's M's best draft pick? We'd take Morez. Who's the best five? Depends on opponent and context. Might not play Mara vs a 5-out team, can go three bigs against an MSU-like opponent. Who's the best team in the Big Ten? Illinois. They go to Breslin and host Michigan but the rest of their schedule are the mids Michigan already played, they got the best player in the league from the composite 250s in Wagler—worst scouting miss in history? Hope Underwood calls out MSU's assist lies so Wagler gets his laurels for his real assists. Michigan next year? Might only have to replace Yaxel (McKenney and Cason take Gayle and Burnett minutes), can go to the portal for a difference-maker and run it back. Penn State preview: They have Mingo back but Yuric played out of his mind last time and think he's not coming back from a 103-degree fever on Saturday to play like that again. Have a bunch of questionable guys tonight. Think University Park atmosphere is similar to Saline 7th Grade Middle School game. WEAR PINK (I can't; I don't have any). What's the reverse Dusty May for Izzo? Sing he's a jolly good fellow, or bring out the newspapers. Hockey: MSU series could be for the conference since Wisconsin is wilting and Penn State just lost McKenna to a bar fight. Michigan needs to get more than a split because MSU has Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Ohio State left, and Michigan still has to play the other contenders. Put me down for this: Mick Cronin is going to complain about Michigan buying players when he comes to Ann Arbor. Craig says he'll dog his own players.

1 Hour and 58 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: Hockey vs Ohio State Alex has some curling takes. Game 1 was a barn burner. Game 2 was the opposite of that. Game 1 had a lot of goals and Peck didn't have the best control of rebounds. Ohio State isn't going to make the tournament so you could say Michigan escaped this weekend. Ohio State doesn't have goal scorers and yet they manage to score goals. The ice is not good quality in Columbus. Should goalies be fair game outside of the crease? Peck has some puck tracking issues. Saving 32 of 34 shots in game two is pretty good though, he gave you a chance. You need to score more than two regulation goals against a bad Ohio State team.    Segment 2: Around the League Providence is somehow 6th in NPI? Michigan could possibly draw them as a 2 seed. Bentley is sitting at 26 but could be a first round matchup. RPI is Not Good. Notre Dame is only getting ties against Bowling Green, but this was probably an improvement for the Irish. It feels like Penn State has hit their ceiling. The Big Ten is very top heavy but the bad teams are bad. Alarm bells in Madison. What's Michigan's gameplan need to be to get past Michigan State? The Friday night game is on FS1! Bonus Segment: Olympics Preview Begins at 1:12:44   MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Knights" -- Minus the Bear "Nothing More" -- Guards Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 49 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 0:51 Where's Tre Holloman at?? Michigan's first victory at Breslin since 2018. They managed to blow all of their 16 point halftime lead but only briefly. This year didn't have the same "helplessness" vibe of previous years. The grifting from Jeremy Fears was incredible. Michigan State's offense ended up being generating bogus calls and then hitting free throws. Their roster doesn't have the best athletes in the world but they have guys that have stuck around for a while. Trey McKenney is becoming a much bigger piece of this team, if Michigan goes on a tournament run it could be because he steps up as a major contributor. Is he the 6th man? They're running a lot of offense through Mara, maybe that should be going through Morez Johnson instead. Michigan is back to #1 in Kenpom and is projected to win the Big Ten outright but the end of the schedule is very tough.  2. Men's Basketball vs Nebraska Starts at 29:17 The vibes here were considerably worse! Nebraska was getting an alarming amount of open looks. Michigan wins by shooting what felt like 70% from two. Some of Cadeau's turnovers were just inexplicable. We can't pronounce Berke's name so he's just Berke Boyband. The studies say that every conspiracy theory you have about officiating is true. Pass blocking is not actually allowed in basketball. Nebraska is legit, this was a tough game that Cadeau almost gave away. Shout out to Fred Hoiberg for coming in with a great gameplan for confusing Michigan. The overturn on the challenge made no sense, how was that possibly clear? Should Michigan be going inside more when the threes aren't dropping? Michigan was missing open threes. They beat a top 10 Kenpom team while shooting 23% from three, that's impressive no matter what. Was LJ Cason unplayable?  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 52:18 Takes hotter than Yaxel Lendeborg at the free throw line. Michigan gets five of six points over Ohio State in a frustrating manner. Stephen Peck played a great game on Saturday until the last five minutes. They're missing points here and there against teams that they're better than. Wisconsin somehow went from #1 to might miss the tournament. Michigan State is only one point behind in the Big Ten rankings.  4. Gimmicky Top Five Sports Villains Starts at 1:14:40 We're born haters so it's time for a gimmicky top five sports villains. There are a surprising number of ways to define "villain" in this context. There's a lot of NHL discourse because you used to just get paid to hurt people. Which Big Ten commissioners make the list (spoiler: all of them). Not posting spoilers here but yes there is a certain Wisconsin basketball player. Who's on your list?   MUSIC: "Moody"—Royel Otis "Silver Joy"—Damien Jurado "Sweet and Dandy"—Toots and the Maytals “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Things Discussed: Nebraska: Nearly won that game shorthanded. Got great performances from replacements but ran their starters into the ground. Craig's analysis: Hoiberg decided to play some football. Steamroller screens and the like. Nebraska just made contested threes in the first half that they missed in the second half. Sam Hoiberg is straight up good: understands basketball, understands how to organize a team, understands how to get the ball to his guys. Second half Michigan did press the press the edges a little tighter. Kenpom tracks 2 point distance. We're thrilled. Seth: The most important stats in basketball are two-point defense and two-point offense, and the most important component of two point percentage is distance from the rim. Michigan wins these games because they get to the rim better than anybody and push you away from the rim better than anybody. Hoiberg knew he had to shoot to win, but also drew up some excellent sets to get free twos when he needed them. Shout-out to Nebraska's Max Bredeson kickout and form tackling. Hoiberg messed so well with Michigan's switches: They want to switch one to four, and they want to leave Mara available to put his hand in the way at the rim. Nebraska's response was to run these double screens—the Rip Hamilton way—to get cracks open for their shooters, but that contributed to their shooters getting tired in the 2nd half. Turnovers: some are baked in, unforced. This game additionally had ref show turnovers but they're going to take chances to get to the rim because that's what's so important to them. MSU preview: They're such a Big Ten team. They can get around M's two-point defense because they shoot assisted other twos and those are good enough shots opposite the #1 defense. They get after you (not the ball: they jump on your back) on the boards. Kohler has really turned himself into a shooter, might be an NBA player. Fears was terrible early in the season but now he's an excellent guard. Gets after it (and you) on defense, isn't a great shooter but can find pockets to pass into and draws a ton of fouls then makes his FTs. Coen Carr = Brent Petway! MSU is going to play dirty. Nobody in the country gets better calls at home, and they are going to use that strategically. Expect them to be mauling Mara to deny paint touches, expect Cooper to have his arm wrapped on Rez and pulling him down. All the gritty trick that define Izzo teams. What's with Yax? Think he's drawing more defensive attention and that's creating more for Morez Johnson. That's a credit to Dusty May: when he built this roster he built in answers for everything you want to do to them. Credit to Trey McKenney. He's become the 6th man, because he will come in and give you whatever you need right then. Defense? He's big and athletic. Need to hit some free throws (vs OSU, or the three at the Under-8 timeout?) he's got you. Missing your threes, he'll knock down a pair.

1 hour and 31 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 0:51 Indiana Football won a natty. We say again: Indiana Football won. A natty. The Ohio State fans are crying Signs, it's great! Putting this in context because there hasn't been a more surprising national champion in any sport? Maybe Leicester but IU had the worst W% historically of any champion. Arc of college football is the big schools consolidate their chances of winning—last time a new school entered the ring it was Florida, which represented a demographic shift. What does this mean? Not a secret sauce but IU built similarly to 2023 Michigan: a base of players who played together a long time and some elite pieces added. They get better ROI by ignoring HS recruiting, put a lot of time and money into scouting. Similarity to Dusty May in that Cig knows what he needs and scouts the hell out of the rest of the sport. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Ohio State Starts at 27:20 Takes hotter than it's not outside. OSU game was annoyingly close. At one point Michigan was 2/16 from three and under 50% from the charity stripe. Biggest story of the game is the way Michigan held Bruce Thornton in check—the one hedge to center court that Mara got called for a foul was an awful call, but a proof of concept for how they defended OSU, which was to not give Thornton any space. Great Crisler crowd kept getting into highs and then a low-percentage event would derail, like their 17%-shooting big Christoph Tilly making a pair of threes (one a bank), 24%-shooting Amare Bynum making a deep contested jumper, and Mobley getting a bank three as shot clock is dying. Missed front ends made FT shooting feel extra annoying, somehow righted in the 2nd half. Big part of that was 21 good minutes from Trey McKenney. Liked Cason and McKenney more than Cadeau in this one: OSU has a 7'0" center and a 7'2" center but both of them are glued to the floor, which favors YOLO players. Annoying turnovers trying to figure out their zone. 3. Men's Basketball vs Indiana and a Nebraska Preview Starts at 54:03 Less annoying game, as Indiana was without Tayton Conerway for all but two minutes, and nobody else has the ability to get to the rim. IU couldn't even get the ball inside the three-point line. They finished 11/34 (32%) from three and that was because they made twice as many as they should have. IU only got five ORebs as they abandoned the glass to stop Michigan's transition game but terrible Nick Dorn shots that went off the back iron were their best way of getting the ball in the paint. Final score doesn't reflect the game because once Michigan got up 20-5 they put it in cruise control—this time it wasn't LJ Cason on the one drive for a layup. Will Tschetter's defense on Tucker DeVries was also a major factor. Nebrasketball is truly good. Very well-coached team, has a good system that turns everybody into Nebraska: 11th in taking threes, 6th in opponent 3PA/FGA. Have to slow down the game to protect stretch C Rienk Mask, who's the key to that offense. Might be without small four Braden Frager and been without SG Connor Essegian most of the year so there's a 23% shooting big in Berke "the Turk" Buyuktuncel that you can hide Mara on. The problem with that is it takes Mara out of the paint so you can't get away with playing as aggressively on the perimeter. Think we saw the prototype for how they want to play against Nebraska in that Oregon game. Might be able to do what Illinois did, was to take shots but then crash the glass because they don't have a lot of size. 4. Women's Basketball wsg Ira Weintraub Starts at 1:15:12 Time to get to know the best women's team in school history. Three losses were all similar: got way behind in the 1st quarter, fought their way back, came up short. Defense is fantastic, play the full court and cause a lot of turnovers which creates offensive opportunities. Get bogged down a bit in the half court and struggle to make their FTs. WBB officiating is beyond atrocious. Washington loss was a schedule thing after 2OT late game vs Oregon, but UConn and Vandy losses showed they can play with the elites and just need one more big basket from the super sophs. Hockeybear is blogging the team and making Team Sheets (key). It's not so easy is it? Super sophs: Holloway runs the offense and sets the defensive tone, Olson is a bucket, Swordsy is hero, and then they're getting a year from a growing Delfosse and UCLA transfer Dudley. Mostly a seven-woman rotation with Sofilkanich giving them some size inside, BQD a nightmare of a defensive pest, and then growth from Crockett who gives them some more size when they need it. Can they compete with the ELITE-elites? Nobody's unbeatable this year; Michigan is a solid two-seed, feel like floor is Sweet 16, has the make of a team that ends up losing a Final Four game en route to a big run next year.   MUSIC: "Getting Killed"—Geese "Forever Never Ends"—Jeff Tweedy "Downhill"—The Delivery Boys feat. Goldwood, Max Gertler & LOSTBOYBK “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: IU national champions: Most unlikely championships in the history of sports. Credit Cignetti and top to bottom program management. How did they do it? Talent evaluation is elite. Built like 2023 Michigan: develop a lot of your own guys and then surgically found guys in the portal. Seth: Lesson for the rest of CFB is ROI: IU wasn't paying that much for their JMU guys, wasn't spending to have 5-stars learning to play on the three-deep. Focus shifting from Ty Haywoods (super talented, needs 3 years) to Blake Frazier (ready now) because there's no guarantee you'll get any return. Need to build your scouting department to watch all of CFB and know what you need. Sam: Can Michigan recreate the JMU Dudes with some of the Utah guys they got? Not a coincidence the Big Ten is winning championships and SEC isn't even in the game. Two reasons the SEC was dominant: they had a culture of paying players under the table and they had Nick Saban. Being able to develop guys (without them leaving or costing too much) will be the golden egg in the future. How sustainable? Maybe? Bringing in a veteran QB every year, DC might get Jesse Minter'd to a better job. Should remain a good team, very hard to repeat. Hoops: Shooting better? Maybe, but 3s are random and they're probably capped around okay in that department because they have guys like Gayle, Cason and Yax. IU lost their main guy who could get to the bucket and M could lock them down. Excellent defensive performance disguised by Kenpom. IU shut down M's transition game by abandoning the boards. Interesting decision by IU because those were M weaknesses. Yax okay? Think he plays off Rez—the scouting report is focus on Yaxel so that's opened up things for Johnson, since no team has enough big wings to last against both of them. Ohio State preview: OSU is an effort game—Thornton can shoot and they make a lot of floaters. CANNOT let them cut and get to the rim. They don't play defense so you have to put up 100 on them. Nebraska: Nebraska might be without their freshman winger Braden Frager, that makes them a five-out team. Can you play Mara against them? Break: Tatum to RB? Probably a Whittingham "gonna try that" thing. He's had success with that, but it's a bit late and there's no scouting on it. Like what it says about Tatum as a team player. Don't think he can play both AND baseball. That's a lot, and safety is the moon to him. Hockey: Michigan is #1 in Big Ten points percentage but they've got the hardest schedule of any team in hockey left to go. Let off the gas for 10 minutes of 120 against Minnesota and were unlucky not to get more goals. Have to protect Peck—this team can play defense like that, going to have to maintain that focus. Can't lose points against the OSUs and Minnesotas because the games vs MSU/Wisconsin will determine the league. Can you get Ivankovic back? Maybe? Haven't heard anything positive except they haven't ruled it out. Trey Burke: Top three player in M history? Yeah. Block was clean, and so was the team.

1 Hour and 16 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Strong opinions about the Minnesota broadcast mis-pronunciating names. Top NHL storylines - everyone in the East is in the hunt and the west has several teams that could get under 90 points and make the playoffs. Teams just aren't interested in tanking anymore. How is Minnesota this bad? Six minutes into game one the shots are 10-0, the Gophers can't even touch the puck. Michigan absolutely shuts down the Gophers in the 3rd period. It was as easy of a third period as you could get to protect a newer goalie. Minnesota should have enough solid players to be a decent team, are they as bad as Notre Dame if they don't have the level of goal-tending that they do?  Segment 2:  After Friday night the vibe going into Saturday was simply "alright, don't blow this!" Michigan gets an early goal and Minnesota doesn't get their first shot for a while. Michigan dominated early but just couldn't get past the goalie and it's only 1-0 before Minnesota came out intense in the 2nd period. Penalty kill is now a bigger issue for Michigan. Minnesota's goalie wanted the 2nd goal back but you can't blame Minnesota's problems on the goalie. Alex thinks college hockey shouldn't have OT. You shouldn't feel mad that your team won. Around the league - Mercyhurst had a sweep! They have three (3!) total wins on the season. It's a big weekend for bye weeks. Michigan State is the best team to challenge Michigan in the Big Ten. Michigan feels like a much better team than Ohio State, they should just sit on them in a couple weeks.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "Buffalo Song" -- Chris Fayz Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hour and 10 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 The portal is closed! The only windows remaining are for a coaching change and for Indiana/Miami after the national championship game. Transfers, NIL, and contracts have been weird this cycle. Will Diego Pavia be in college until he's 45?? Thank you Davis Warren for beating Ohio State in the Funniest Game Ever. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is your backup QB out of Colorado State where he threw for over 7,000 yards. That's a "we don't practice f*cked" pick-up. Jadyn Davis's recruiting profile was a huge miss. Georgia Tech is a cool place for Justice Haynes, we're still not sure if Kuzdzal is returning. Taylor Tatum comes in from Oklahoma after a case of fumble-itus and several other ailments. Now he might actually have a good running backs coach. They retained Andrew Marsh - massive. The wide receiver room looks great, the only thing missing is a dedicated slot receiver but Michigan hasn't really utilized the role in a while anyways. Marlin Klein declared for the NFL draft but is he going to get drafted? The remaining tight ends and fullbacks should be good and viable options, they didn't get anyone out of the portal. JJ Buchanon doesn't count since he's being listed as a wide receiver. The offensive line is mostly retained which has star power potential. Overall the offensive line held serve besides losing Haywood, overall an A-grade. Would you give the offensive portal recruiting/retention an A all across the board? Could this become a... top ten offense?  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 41:41 Defensively is more of a mixed bag. Defensive end lost a lot of guys to graduation but only Devon Baxter to the portal. John Henry Daley is questionable based on his health, but if he's healthy you get Derrick Moore (but who actually plays more). Defensive tackle doesn't lose anyone noteworthy to the portal. You get back Trey Pierce and Enow Etta. Jonah Leaea was like a young Mo Hurst, he needs another 20 pounds. Defensive tackle has depth, just not star power, this wasn't a spectacular portal season for them either. This gets a solid B. Linebacker is the trouble spot. They lose Ernest Hausmann to eligibility/spirit quest, Cole Sullivan to Oklahoma, and Jimmy Rolder to the draft. The guys they bring in are uhhhhhh. Aisea Moa knows Jay Hill's system so he could possibly play but doesn't seem like he'll be all-Big Ten. This is a D, it's close to an F. At cornerback, you get Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry, and Snowden. Jayden Sanders to Notre Dame stings. Let's.... talk about the allegations of sabotage and blackmail? Cornerbacks situation gets a... C+. Safety loses Brandyn Hillam and Elijah Dotson. Is Bryce Underwood the only guy to come from Belleville and last for over a year? Is Rod Moore going to play? Who knows. Chris Bracy comes in from Memphis, who comes in with a historic tale of a fabled fumble. Safety starters could be Bracy and Rod Moore, Mason Curtis to linebacker. You have six safeties? How many are going to play in a Cover-1? Defense overall gets a C, they probably didn't get better or worse. How much of the Wink disdain will have been warranted? If Daley doesn't get healthy who is going to be the star on this defense? Maybe they'll be like the offense last year - lots of potential but not quite there yet.  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Washington and Oregon Starts at 1:23:58 Takes hotter than Utah's athletic director on Twitter. Michigan basketball sweeps their west coast tour, they don't dominate but give a solid beating in both games to not-great teams. Michigan and Oregon were close to identical at the rim. You're starting to see the cracks in the armor of this team. Sean Stewart is an elite flopper. What did Dusty possibly say to warrant a technical? Elliot Cadeau was pretty efficient but gets too close to the face of guys on the perimeter and then gets beaten. He tries things that are just a little too ambitious too often, these things usually don't work. Indiana doesn't match up with Michigan at all, Trey Burke to get honored at the Ohio State game. It's about to get real for Nebraska.  4. Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 1:54:54 Michigan gets an almost-sweep of Minnesota getting 5 of 6 points. It's hard to believe this is what Minnesota's hockey team looks like, they've fallen a long way. Minnesota didn't go into the portal or the CHL and just doesn't have the same talent as they used to. Even the announcers were saying "oh, don't do that!" Seven saves in one minute is pretty incredible. Michigan State is still the one team that can match up with Michigan. Michigan is probably in the best spot since the 2022 team when they were number 1. Is there anything Warde Manuel has done that makes you think Michigan hockey will be on a local television station? Four Big Ten teams are in the top 10 of NPI.  MUSIC: "Secret Loving"— Dry Cleaning "Dancing In The Club"— This Is Lorelei & MJ Lederman "Random Rules"— Silver Jew “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Portal: You can't make an OL in the portal—keeping Guarnera and Sprague was huge. Wide receiver room is night and day from before. They put a secondary back together. Concern over LB and don't have an impact DT. Seth: After all that everyone is back where they were. Lucky for Michigan that everyone's a free agent but this is a terrible way to run the sport. Why does everybody forget Chase Taylor? You're going to learn his name this year. DT: Sam says PalePale was getting talked up during bowl prep. Put Crippen down a few times. Question is conditioning. Hoops vs Wisconsin: What happened? They got five-outed, pulled Mara out of the paint which was a key to how they were playing two-point defense, which is mostly drop. Played a lot more hedge vs Washington. Discussion on 3-point randomness. NBA studies prove the efficacy of closeouts. It's not totally random; what really matters is preventing open shots. No correlation between first half and back half three-point defense. Seth: Washington can't get to the rim and Wisconsin has guys who can take advantage of that. These European shootin' bigs are going to be a problem. Michigan is like Florida last year: they're big and they play fast. Slow them down and pull them outside and win a luck game. Response is to hedge more. Brian: We sometimes see Michigan playing live ball tactics that don't make sense against the team they're playing; the hedging was practicing for Illinois and Nebraska. Rebounding (especially vs PSU): Needs work. Big Ten doesn't officiate shoves in the back or the Wisconsin step-under, so you have to really focus on practicing rebounding in this league to be any good at it, and it's not the focus of this team. Hockey: Was it a cheap shot? If Notre Dame wasn't a goon squad we'd say no, but they've seen this guy run a goalie and Notre Dame is notorious for causing injuries—they knocked out M's best defender earlier in the year. Same referee was there for McGroarty's injury, Hallum's injury, and no calls on either of those either. Big Ten does not care about hockey, the officiating is atrocious. They don't know the game, and they're getting players hurt because of it. Can't self-regulate because there's no fighting so you need officials to do it, and they don't care.

1 Hour and 31 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1:  Have sports gotten too dramatic from a comeback perspective? The Bears are a team of destiny. "The Lions Game We Don't Talk About" is actually several Lions games. Anyways, Michigan hockey. Brandon Naurato has been extended through the 2029-2030 season. Notre Dame players Caeden Carlisle has been suspended one game and Paul Fischer suspended two games after the Michigan series (this will have no impact on Notre Dame's ability to win games, they're just bad). Naurato needed to make some changes going into this season but he's made most of the necessary changes. Coaching extensions have been the kiss of death at Michigan (see: Sherrone, Juwan). The Notre Dame series used to be a dreaded weekend but not so much anymore. It was nice to see not-the-superstars scoring the goals in the first game. That said, this was their worst defensive weekend of the season.  Segment 2:  Michigan won this game but people had a lot to say about it! Michigan was mostly in control but it was a sloppy game overall. "The Incident" though was the injury to goalie Jack Ivankovic. The hit didn't look very menacing but the end result was that he couldn't put any weight on one leg. He seemed so focused on the puck that he didn't see the Notre Dame player. Someone impartial who saw the video of the hit would think there's nothing malicious, but Notre Dame has a reputation of playing dirty and have lost the benefit of the doubt for a lot of people. There's a gray area in how hockey players treat injuries of opposing players. If Notre Dame always takes one of your players out, is it worth just not playing them even in the Big Ten semifinal if you're already a top seed in the NCAA tournament? The referees need to do something to help even it up after Notre Dame took out the goalie, but instead Notre Dame has a power play. That only antagonizes players further. Luckily Michigan scores enough that Stephen Peck could give up three goals per game and Michigan could still be in a good spot. Mercyhurst got a win! The rest of the Big Ten over the weekend. This team was on pace to win a national title before the Ivankovic injury and now we'll just have to see how Stephen Peck does.      MUSIC NHL on ESPN Theme "I Wanna Get Better" -- Bleachers Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 48 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Transfer Portal - Offense Starts at :51 Never doubt the law of conservation of vibes. The Penn State basketball game saved the offensive line. This was recorded on Sunday at noon so by the time you listen to this, things have probably already changed (hello, Jaime Ffrench). It would be nice to get a backup QB in the portal (hello Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi). Justice Haynes has hit the portal, might be going to Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma RB Taylor Tatum is in. So far he's struggled with fumbles and a hamstring injury but Oklahoma's RB coach is one of the worst in P4. He might be a Moneyball situation. Kuzdzal might be coming back? Jaime F-f-f-french is in and if JJ Buchanan joins then we have an actual wide receiver room. Still need a tight end? Offensive line got their guys back, we're un-mad now. Need some depth at center, though.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Transfer Portal - Defense Starts at 27:11 Not as sunny as the offense right now but it can change at any time. How we feel so far depends on the status of John Henry Daley's Achilles, he could be a Derrick Moore comparison if healthy. Defensive end looks pretty set. Defensive tackle... they get Pierce back. They do get Jonah Lea'ea from Utah who was a bit undersized and needed another year to develop. Enow Etta's return has turned from optimism to pessimism. Hopefully Alister Vallejo is ready as a freshman. At linebacker Rasheem Biles is off the board, they are hosting Cade Uluave from Cal, an all-ACC linebacker. Jimmy Rolder has declared for the draft and is #692 on the NFL Mock Draft database. The secondary isn't entirely in the portal but it's alarming, safety is now a concern. Surely we'll find out more about safety this week because you can't go into a season with three safeties. Per Trevor McCue, Jay Hill doesn't rotate the secondary at all! Kerry Coombs got his guys for special teams, they've got a kicker from Pitt, Trey Butkowski. This offense could be really good and not need to rely on a kicker who can hit field goals from the 37. Overall, get in a safety or two and ideally a good defensive tackle and this team is really close to being very competitive. When's the last time the offense was better than the defense, 2011?  3. Hot Takes and Basketball vs Penn State and Wisconsin Starts at 1:05:25 Takes hotter than Wisconsin three point shooting. Basketball is no longer invincible. This must feel the same as when Matt Painter had to play Mo Wagner. Michigan got out-rebounded pretty badly which feels like a major failing given the line-up. They need to play a little dirtier in the paint. Michigan and Wisconsin were shooting back-to-back threes until Michigan fell off. The offensive goal-tending ruling was the rule. Wisconsin doesn't send many guys to the offensive board, they tend to get back and trying to get transition baskets isn't worth it. A key for Michigan going forward is how stretch is everyone's five? Wisconsin shot 12 points higher than their expected for the number of threes they shot.  4. Hockey vs Notre Dame Starts at 1:28:57 Michigan escapes a bad Notre Dame team but loses goalie Jack Ivankovic for "some period of time" (possibly the season). The hit was unfortunate but probably not malicious. There are strong words said about these officials. Naurato has said in his press conferences that "I can't say what I want to say." Big Ten hockey is one of the best leagues in the world and the Big Ten treats it like the 4th most important sport. Freshman goalie Stephen Peck is now your starter. The defense needs to step way up to support their new goalie. If the season ended today they'd still be the number one seed in the tournament, though. Part of that is because of Ivankovic.  MUSIC: "One Tiny Flower"— Jeff Tweedy "Don't Do Me Like That"— J. Mascis "Falling Behind"— Laufey “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

Thing Discussed: Most excited about the hire: there are adults in the room. Spent 20+ coaching in one place with no scandals. Impressed that they stabilized the program so quickly. Portal recruiting happens in December; they're playing from behind because IU was setting up all of these visits weeks ago. Notice they're getting special teams guys because Coombs was already in his job. Whittingham as Crisler (Brian: [moans]), as an established outsider who locked down Harmon to survive the transition. That was the end of the Yost Cycle, and likewise this is the end of the Bo Cycle. What happens next? How does he develop ways to take advantage of Michigan's place in the new world. Money allocation is a big conversation going forward. Indiana puts all of its resources into the portal, Michigan will pay a NOB and also pay a Rolder. New offense: Not a whole lot different under Harbaugh? Utah fans: "get ready to run QB Power!"...okay! "Tell your TEs to prepare to be blockers." Sure. "Don't expect any Seth: More Urban Meyer approach where it's about efficiency more than explosives. Loaded at OL, have great RBs. Main feature of Beck is he plays a "tight end" who's really a receiver. Brian points out JJ Buchanan is 6'3"/225 and only played five snaps inline—that's just a wide receiver. Point is they're way more spread than people realize. In Break: Ryan Mallett (RIP). Craig says Lloyd tried to broker a conference with Mallett's dad and Rich Rod, neither side was interested. Jay Hill: Has the bona fides, knows where the hashes are, made Weber State a power. Schematically, going back to more of a Cover-1 look. Notre Dame defense is similar, also a lot like the Ryan Walters stuff where they turn their 4-2 into a 5-1 regularly. Really wanted to keep Cole Sullivan (as a WLB who can DE or S) and Jordan Young (as a nickel who can S or CB) for this system. Think Jyaire or Shamari would be good in that nickel role. Biggest hurdle for this staff? Probably learning how to recruit as Michigan instead of Utah.

2 hours and 5 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Men's Basketball vs USC Starts at :51 Basketball gets to go first because they've earned it. They're the number one team on Kenpom by a full five points and the second highest rated Kenpom team of all time. Michigan shot 20% from three and still beat a top 25 USC team by 30 points. This was the Morez Johnson game. Michigan has three of the top five players in the Big Ten. What does a Michigan loss look like? Dusty May has done a great job working on Roddy Gayle, auto-benching with this team is fine. The cutoff for Kenpom to think you're a rotational player is 10% of team minutes, Grady and Goodman are both above this metric. The things that Michigan are good at are things that are very repeatable. There are different levels of Kenpom Time every time Michigan plays. It's weird to say this but it's good that Michigan gets Nebraska at home, they're spicy.  2. Football vs Texas Starts at 24:34 The Citrus Bowl came and went. We were hoping we could learn things about this offensive line going into the off-season then a lot of them went and hit the portal. Kuzdzal played an encouraging game but there were still a few moments of "I wish Jordan Marshall had hit that hole." Bryce Underwood did get some explosive runs, this will be nice for a new coaching staff that likes to run the quarterback. He was put in a lot of positions to fail towards the end of the game. Kerry Coombs did some things with special teams! Wow Michigan drew holds finally. We are done with the Wink Martindale era. Michigan had zero pass rush.  3. Hot Takes and Coaching Staff Starts at 40:11 Takes hotter than the basketball team, this will be the intro until any reason otherwise.  Offensive Coordinator - Jason Beck Came in from Utah, was at New Mexico before that. Has had some very successful offenses. Was a spread-heavy coach at New Mexico and became Whittingham-ized at Utah. Seems like a seamless fit, he should know what to do with Bryce Underwood. Running Backs Coach - Tony Alford It's working, good work keeping him around. Wide Receivers Coach(es) - Micah Simon and Marques Hagans Micah Simon doesn't have a lot of experience, he followed Beck. How much coaching does it take to get someone to catch the ball?  Tight Ends Coach - Freddie Whittingham He's developed some studs. Kyle Whittingham's brother, does not feel like a nepotism hire. Offensive Line Coach - Jim Harding Has two first round tackles this year. Probably could not have gotten a better o-line coach. Michigan has players trickling into the portal but you've got The Guy coaching next year's group. A lot of offensive linemen got recruited by Sherrone so it's not a shocker that some players are looking elsewhere.  Defensive Coordinator - Jay Hill Turned Weber State into a powerhouse. He has coordinator and head coaching experience, seems good. He has coached college his whole career rather than coordinate NFL defenses. Defensive Ends - Lewis Powell Specializes in Polynesians. Has a spectacular track record of developing defensive ends. Brian pledges to figure out how to pronounce all the Polynesian names.  Defensive Tackles - Lou Esposito Continued from last year. You can get more assistant coaches now so it makes sense to split DEs and DTs.  Linebackers Coach - Alex Whittingham Kyle's son, spent eight years with the Chiefs. Apparently Andy Reid played with Kyle Whittingham. This one is a bit more of a nepo hire but he has moved up the ranks.  Defensive Backs Coach - Jernaro Gilford BYU fans are upset that he's leaving which is a good sign. There aren't a lot of cornerbacks in the portal, hopefully he can find some guys.  Special Teams - Kerry Coombs Gets to keep the job he got right before Sherrone was fired. His previous Special Teams have been in the 30ish rank. He's not a slam dunk but should be solid.  4. Transfer Portal Starts at 1:42:43 It's Portal Takes season, we have not yet gotten to Portal Gives season. Guys who are in the portal are not necessarily gone. Jadyn Davis, Davis Warren, Ben Roebuck, Connor Jones, Devon Baxter, Semaj Morgan, Jaden Mangham, and Jasper Parker are guys who will probably get better opportunities elsewhere. Elijah Dotson, Brady Prieskorn, and Kaden Strayhorn are guys you'd like to keep around. Zeke Berry, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Cole Sullivan, and Enow Etta are the "ouch" group. Some guys have left the door open. Would really really like to get Guarnera back, Sprague sounds like he's going to Texas. Most folks who are going to enter the portal have but we're not out of it yet. Keep an eye on Utah defensive end John Henry Daley, cornerback Smith Snowden, and safety Tao Johnson. Cole Sullivan would be a great fit in this defense, would love to keep him. They need guys (plural) on the defensive line, especially at defensive tackle. Even if you keep Andrew Marsh you would like to get a wide receiver or two. Might want to look into a punter or a kicker, maybe with a new staff we can finally move on from the 2015 Michigan State game.  MUSIC: "Nothing I Need"— Lord Huron "A Couple Minutes"— Olivia Dean "Cotton Mouth"— fanclubwallet “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

2 hours and 45 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Kyle Whittingham Reaction Starts at :51 Brian can't make fun of the name "Kyle" anymore. Woah, Alex Drain is here! Did Kyle Whittingham get pushed out of Utah? He's 66 but could probably beat up several members of the current team, he doesn't feel too old. This might be the best guy to hit the ground running with Bryce Underwood. He's had a 20+ year stretch of success and it's mostly over-performing expectations statistically. Are there concerns about the way this would translate to Michigan? Utah folks are asking if we're prepared for limited media availability, a coach who can sound like a jerk, and a 300 lbs fullback. Yes, yes we are. Kyle Whittingham's risk for scandal seems extremely low. How many coaches in the Big Ten would you pick over him? His dad's nickname was "Mad Dog". A brief history of his success over his coaching career, which included two PAC-12 Championships. Kyle lets his QB run the ball, Bryce's output this season would've been the worst for Utah going back at least a decade. Harbaugh had a great hit rate on sleeper recruits, Whittingham should as well. He has some very Harbaugh-adjacent quotes as well. What's your letter grade for the hire? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Assistants Starts at 42:48 The new staff is coming together pretty quickly. Jason Beck is lining up to be the offensive coordinator, coming in from Utah. Alex details his history as a coach which was mostly as an offensive coordinator and QB coach. He likes hybrid players and will love the tight end room. Jay Hill is lined up from BYU as defensive coordinator, BYU fans are not thrilled that he's leaving. He took a 100ish ranked defense and turned it into a top 25 defense. He also made Weber State a powerhouse while he was there. He'll play more man-defense than we're used to which might not be what we want against Ohio State. Jay Hill could also be a head coach in waiting down the road. It feels like the defense is going to be coached again. Jason Beck could be a QB coach but there are rumors that Koy Detmer Jr could come in as an analyst/QB coach. All signs point to Tony Alford being retained. Ron Bellamy will probably stick around, they still need a Michigan guy and he might be the most "Michigan Guy" on staff. Freddie Whittingham could likely come in at tight ends coach, he is not a nepotism hire. He could also be a recruiting coordinator guy if you want to keep Grant Newsome around. Jim Harding could be the offensive line coach coming out of Utah. Lewis Powell might be coming in as defensive ends coach out of Utah. Lou Esposito might stay at Michigan. Linebackers coach is the one area where we haven't heard anything. Whittingham has mentioned going after a coach that is still in the playoffs. Jernaro Gilford might follow Jay Hill as the defensive backs coach. LaMar Morgan is a good recruiter so maybe you keep him. What about Special Teams coach? Time to move on from Kerry Coombs already? How would you grade these potential hires?  3. Hot Takes and The Search, Revisited Starts at 1:38:48 Takes hotter than the Utah message boards. It was a wild ride getting from DeBoer, Fisch, or Dillingham to here. A lot of information was coming from agents getting names out there. A lot of people said "Biff Poggi could get the job" and it was never going to happen. Did Michigan really never go and try to offer Dillingham a job? It feels like his people really hyped him up. We might be having a very different conversation if that Oklahoma receiver would've just caught that ball. Everyone penciled in Dillingham after the Oklahoma Alabama game and then he signs an extension. Whittingham was unemployed, he probably didn't have agents hyping him up. Brian still likes Jeff Brohm. Interestingly Penn State never went after Whittingham but once the Michigan job opened up he said he was "in the transfer portal." Why was Biff Poggi on that podcast? He was shooting his shot for a job but it was never going to happen. How well did the "insiders" do and how clued in will they be on the new staff.  4. Michigan Football vs Texas Starts at 2:18:38 Oh yeah Michigan has a bowl game. The only opt-outs are El-Hadi, Derrick Moore, and Barham (and Ernest Hausmann). Maybe it's a good sign that a lot of players still want to play in this? Six of 11 defensive starters are sitting out for Texas, most of their offense is playing. Michigan's best hope is to watch Arch Manning turf five-yard outs. I guess we'll see Wink walk off the field as a Michigan coach for the last time. This feels like a zombie team right now. Does Michigan have a way to stop Ryan Wingo? The Ohio State game feels like four years ago. Are you excited for this game? A lot of big-name guys have at least remained in the recruiting class. The hope of the Sherrone era was "hopefully he just gets better at coaching" and it's a relief to just move on. What was the most enjoyable game of the Sherrone era? Not the highlight, but the most fun beginning-to-end? A lot of things about the last two to three years make a lot more sense now. A lot of paranoia and worry feels lifted, there are adults in charge.  MUSIC: "Medium Machine"—Sports Team "Inept Apollo"—Nation of Language "Where'd You Go"—Horsegirl “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra