MGoPodcast 11.16: Speaking of Mega-Loogies
2 hours and 9 minutes
The Sponsors
We can do this because people support us. You should support them! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan we’d be writing for The Athletic if we're lucky.
Our associate sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, FuegoBox and The Athletic
1. Hoops vs MSU
starts at 1:00
Once Teske went out they went zone with Nunez. Breslin fouls on him nuked what was one of his best games. Still no answer for Cassius Winston—wish Michigan had just kept using the drop coverage and forced him to keep hitting his runner twos instead of hard hedges. When a Beilein roster shoots 5/23 from three on the road, it's a recipe. Johns so hesitant from deep after his early miss. Expected the Breslin, got the Breslin. Shout-out to Big Country who kept Michigan in this game with some cool finishes. Michigan doesn't know how to do enough gamesmanship (e.g. throw the ball at the ref's feet after a basket to prevent transitions off makes).
2. Basketball Outlook
starts at 24:02
First tactical issue all year was MSU's breaks. Will have the best non-conf resume of tournament teams. Brooks is up, Johns has shown signs, and Castleton needs to Garza up. Rutgers is one spot behind Indiana! Ohio State looked ragged against West Virginia, and losing to Wisconsin at home is hooo. Don't be disappointed if this is a six seed. Can't make fun of Richard Pitino for now.
Recruiting: Williams and Dickinson! Williams is JaeSean Tate/Kenny Goins late career/Iggy Brazdeikis-ish? Josh Christopher fills the NBA-level two-guard need that Michigan has way more than Greg Brown the 5-star who said he's taking a Michigan visit on his way to Kentucky or Memphis. Everyone thinks Christopher's going to end up at UCLA for…reasons. But Corey Evans moved his FutureCast to Michigan. Todd's a bigger recruiting get for showing what Juwan can get than what we'll get since he'll mostly develop after his one-and-done year. Get Chet! Would you take Beilein back right now?
3. The Citrus Bowl
starts at 11:11:28
Both an excellent and bad summary of Shea Patterson's career, since the thing he was good at he was terrible at in this game: Deep ball accuracy! Giles Jackson looks fast when he's playing Alabama. Imagining the game if they don't throw that horseshit flag on Aidan Hutchinson, or if Bell doesn't step out of bounds, or if Alabama wasn't just so perfect on their throws. Hard to have takeaways about Chris Hinton because they didn't try him until the end.
4. Football Outlook
starts at 1:35:14
Skill position looks very good, what do you have at quarterback? Blake Corum is the perfect addition to a running back room that adds Chris Evans too. OL seems fine—the guys leaving are probably getting passed by young'uns except for Ruiz. Most important guys on next year's team are Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton because DTs and QBs are the game these days. Outlook for the conference.
MUSIC:
- "January Hymn"—The Decemberists
- "Pony"—Ginuwine
- "I've Been Searching"–O.V. Wright
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link
- What's with the theme music?
It's really uncomfortable here under the bus, Ace.
January 6th, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^
Livers is by far Michigan's most (positive) difference-making player. There are no replacement(s) for Livers on the roster. Yesterday's game was exhibit A. Otherwise, there is a clear formula for beating Michigan.
January 6th, 2020 at 9:50 AM ^
If there is a positive to be taken, other players will be forced to be more assertive in his absence. My biggest disappointment yesterday was not the "outcome" of the game, that was not really in doubt, MSU can beat you a lot of different ways and you aren't going in there and winning without your best player, not happening. I was most disappointment by the lack of immersion and aggression from Wagner and DeJulius. Those guys are going to have to score real points.
I am becoming a bit discouraged with Howard and the DDJ substitution pattern. He isn't seeing the floor until midway through the first half, and by then he is relegated to "microwave" type points, if any. DDJ gives the offense a different type of flavor and I would really like to see Howard try to keep the defense off-balance with different looks to begin the game. Teams settle in to what we do pretty quickly and we give them way too much time to do so, IMO.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Play DDJ earlier, where? At point guard or SG? He may offer a change of pace at PG for opponents to adjust to, but our offense stalls. DDJ hasn’t convinced me that he is the PG of the future.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
He is what we have right now. Simpson does a lot of things really well but our offense is relatively easy to defend with a guard who is such a limited scoring threat. He is also getting annihilated defensively by other high-level PGs. I think DeJulius should be playing more minutes at PG.
January 6th, 2020 at 5:55 PM ^
I think he could develop into a Trey Burke type point guard who is more of a scoring threat. He needs more minutes, and those may come soon if Brooks doesn't step up his game.
January 6th, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
Pencil in another 9-4 next year. Rinse repeat
January 6th, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
This will likely be the final time we talk about Patterson, so I'd like to point out that he finished 1-1 against PSU, Wisconsin, and ND, 2-0 vs MSU, and was certainly a positive element against OSU the past couple of years. He underwhelmed this year but played sorta like how he looked at Ole Miss - a little jumpy, capable of good plays and then some misses, never quite good enough. He's your average highly-rated QB out of HS.
The idea that next year's QB will "make the right call" seems specious to me. At no point have we seen Milton or McCaffrey consistently perform on the field, and while it's fun to assume the ills of a team are tied to a player or two, and the guy behind him should be better because of some amorphous sense of celestial justice, that's not how sports work. It's very likely Patterson was much better than other options, and while I'm all for maturation and growth it's not a given to occur.
I think next year's team will be good. Probably not conference champ good, but who knows. But this consistent desire to set unrealistic expectations just so that you can cry BPONE in 8 months is a weird decision.
January 6th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
In my opinion, Harbaugh's "constant competition" philosophy at QB is hurting the position. Our quarterbacks are too scared to make mistakes. Shea ate way too many sacks this year because he just would not pull the trigger. It looked very similar to Speight in the beginning of '17. My biggest fear is a "the two are neck and neck" narrative heading into fall. We need a guy to be "the guy." I know coaches have to be aware of "free agency" now with QBs but all teams have to deal with it. I don't think the balancing act of keeping all of the QBs engaged is worth the uncertainly they deal with because of it.
I want to hear "Make plays. There is nobody breathing down your neck about to take your place."
January 6th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
But I think the fear of throwing picks is a bit overstated; nobody wants their QBs to make bad decisions but Wilton Speight threw 2 pick-sixes in a row, sat one possession for O'Korn, and then was back in. Patterson messed up a TON early in the year and didn't see the bench, really. If anything, Harbaugh seems to ride with guys a little more than I expected; the competition seemed to be more in practice than seeing the field.
January 6th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
I would have thought, in the interest of glimpsing the McCaffrey/Milton ceiling, Harbaugh would have given someone other than Patterson a second half to really see what's what. It makes no sense that he didn't considering where this program is trying to get to, unless it has to do with the price Patterson had to pay to be in A2. Is it possible Harbaugh felt an obligation to play Patterson because of the lengths he had to go to with the NCAA and the Ole Miss AD?
January 6th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
If Dylan McCaffrey was Trevor Lawrence good, would Harbaugh have made him wait his turn anyway because of his loyalty to Shea as the senior ? Some coaches are weird that way and believe the senior should start almost no matter what.
Personally, I don't see the elite arm talent in the limited time Dylan has run the 1st team offense. His motion is a bit loopy and his release is not yet elite quick. Throwing mechanics he can definitely work on for improvement. On the other hand, Milton has a rocket arm and seems to have more upside as a passer. But he seems prone to making mistakes given his arm talent ... "I can fit any window" mentality (especially on scramble type plays). Dylan would use his legs to get the first down and Joe seems to force the throw. Shea was excellent at the scramble play.
Going to be a very interesting competition. It is the key decision / development of the off-season.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
Yeah, neither QB looked like he was ready to take over and run the offense particularly effectively, but I'm confident they'll figure out someone. But I do think people are overly pessimistic about Patterson/overly optimistic about the guys behind him being immensely better. That can obviously change, but we'll have to wait for real evidence.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
I don't think he's Trevor Lawrence good, clearly, but less-than-elite QBs can be good and bad at different things. The biggest knock on Shea that he didnt seem to see a lot of wide open receivers and seemed terrible at reads in the run game.
McCaffrey or Milton may not be Joe Montana but if they can do those two things well and the things they struggle with are different and not back breakers, we could still take a step forward. Let's see what they've got but I don't think this offense needs a Hesiman caliber QB to win a lot of games and compete with the best.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:08 PM ^
I don't think this offense needs a Hesiman caliber QB to win a lot of games and compete with the best.
Totally agree.
With serviceable QB play, Michigan beats Bama.
I was mocking "speed in space" after Wisconsin but the offense has come together nicely. Excited to see year 2 of it this fall.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:06 PM ^
If Dylan McCaffrey was Trevor Lawrence good, would Harbaugh have made him wait his turn anyway because of his loyalty to Shea as the senior ?
Yes.
Which is why the "McCaffery hasn't looked consistent" argument is asinine. He's not getting the reps in the first place to develop.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
I've had the same thing - haven't been sick like that in like 20 years!
That game didn't help yesterday either. I'm starting to get a bit worried about this season - its gonna be a tough few weeks until Livers comes back!
( I was disappointed there were no Clarence/Cranbrook or "halfway crooks" references in this podcast, come on Brian.)
January 6th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
I’ve been listening to these podcasts for a couple years and I am 21. The youths enjoy and appreciate them!!
January 6th, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
11-0 before OSU and a Rose Bowl bid is far too high of expectations for the 2020 Football team.
- Mediocre QB is being replaced by a guy who couldn't beat him out this year
- OL is replacing 4 starters
- DT isn't getting a huge upgrade
- 2 minute drill snafus are going to continue
- There is no evidence that this team won't continue to melt down in big games on the road. Hawt taek city, but there does seem to be a mental block there right now. I'd love to be proven otherwise, but I don't think you can expect that.
Washington is probably a win on paper, but when has Michigan ever produced on the West Coast? Penn St, Wisconsin, Michigan St., Minnesota is a tough stretch. Not sure that dropping one in there would be viewed poorly.
January 6th, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
Especially since the Rose Bowl is a playoff game next year. 10-1 before OSU is potentially doable, though.
January 6th, 2020 at 4:30 PM ^
I can't believe Ace said Loy Vaught was undersized. 6'9", 225/230 lbs, does not strike me as undersized for PF, at least for college, and at the time he played.
January 7th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
Donovan Jeter played several snaps in this game and did pretty good.
Dismissing Kemp's value because he's not a difference maker vs OSU is a mistake. He's very important cog for next year.
Comments