2019-20 appalachian state

Football things discussed:

• State preview: Lewerke is less broken, they're 86th not 128th.
• MSU played a better game than Illinois, but for a lot of Sparty Nos.
• MSU was running Michigan's arc read—how little brother was that.
• State's Brady Hoke Concussion Adventure: they tell the truth that they didn't give a shit if Lewerke had a concussion, then the medical staff is like waitaminute we've got to lie.
• Bachie is a huge loss though they have more good linebackers. What they don't have are the elite secondary players.
• This is just the cusp: recruiting has been a crater, and they're going to lose almost all of their good players.
• KJ Hamler told the announce crew for MSU-PSU he didn't go to Michigan State because people don't come out right up there.
• Credit to Michigan State for taking a comeuppance they've deserved for years.
• Malik McDowell: everything people were worried about with him came true because he went to Michigan State.
• Lloyd Carr did not like Bobby Williams.
• Watch the Illinois game: Gotta dial up more shots.
• The Dread: last year things felt bad even though Michigan was up a touchdown forever until the DPJ touchdown. But Michigan was still dominating that game.

Basketball things discussed:

• App state: Zavier Simpson's worst game since he won the starting job, had a good game against Creighton.
• Running sets that Juwan brought from the NBA. In the 2nd half the offense gets better because they're on offense by their bench and Juwan can yell at guys.
• Pink Teske: was pretty tired out there—maybe tempo isn't going to help his style. Gave up a lot of OREBs. But Teske iced the game too.

Other things discussed:

• Who's Alabama beaten? Brian: They'll have beaten Auburn; that's not as good as the other 1-loss teams. Oklahoma or Oregon is going to have one more win and a conference championship.
• Buying Minnesota? Yes they can win the West. But they played even with Penn State, whom Michigan was better than on the road, so they're on our level.
• Ed does a Brian impersonation.

[Player after THE JUMP]

The ugly finish to Tuesday's Appalachian State game distracted from what had been a near-ideal start for Juwan Howard's Wolverines. One of the most important developments occurred right out of the gate: center Jon Teske scored Michigan's first 11 points and finished with 17, a mark he's surpassed once in his career (he's scored exactly 17 five times). I'll have more on this game and Teske's all-around performance next week, but I wanted to feature how Howard unleashed Teske in the game's opening minutes.

For the third straight half, Howard called for a Teske post-up as the primary option on the opening play. They set up in the same look they showed on the first play in the SVSU exhibition, with both bigs lined up at the elbows and Teske popping out for a quick pass to initiate the set. Against SVSU, Howard ran Teske around picks from both Adrien Nunez and Eli Brooks to get post position on the opposite (far) side of the court. This time, Teske sets a downscreen for Brooks that gets them to switch spots; meanwhile, Simpson steps towards the middle to make it appear he's reversing the ball before swinging it back to Brooks, who makes a (somewhat suspect) entry pass to Teske, who's in great position to eventually finish.

Appalachian State's big man could've done a much better job of staying in touch with Teske; that said, Howard is showing varied ways to get his 7'1" center touches near the basket, and that's going to make it harder for defenders to anticipate where to establish position.

[Hit THE JUMP for the midrange game and TRANSITION TESKE, plus early corrections on pick-and-roll defense]

Football things discussed:

• Bad OL we've faced warped our ideas of how good the defense holds up inside. Maryland had some good guards, managed to beat the DTs.
• Don Brown has warped our expectations for defense: aw man they got over 200 yards because of garbage time.
• Nico Collins has drawn 7 PIs this year, which is more than anyone in the country on a per throw basis because the leapy Kentucky guy whose quarterback is the source of the tagline.
• Michigan was pretty good at adjusting to Maryland trying their best not to get edged by having the backs cut back inside.
• Brian: backs haven't been leaving yards on the field.
• There's a line between rearranging the deck chairs and having some continuity.

Hoops:

• Different reactions to getting up 30 and then it's 4.
• The Ivory Towers personnel: Castleton with Teske makes things very big.
• Brooks when he is shooting well is a starting two, still think Franz is going to be on the court when he's healthy.
• Craig argues this having not seen him play college yet—he's sold on Brooks at the two and Franz is at the three and Livers is at the four and Johns is on the bench. Doesn't like the Ivory Towers.
• State is good, until you get to the Keebler Elf.
• Gotta work inside-out, get something closer to Beilein's turnover rate.

[Player after THE JUMP]