MGoPodcast 12.9: Rebellion Comes From Within
1 hour and 25 minutes
Special Guest: MGo-Hockey correspondent David Nasternak
We are, as always, presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan I might be doing a podcast on how the election might affect environmental regulations in water & wastewater. Our associate sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, FuegoBox, and Information Entropy.
1. The Wisconsin Disaster
starts at 1:00
We started off badly and have some injuries so we're just going to half-ass this terrible segment and try to get it over with as soon as possible. But it wasn't a sad field goal. Hey yo!
[The rest of the writeup and the player after The Jump]
2. 2020-'21 Basketball Preview: The Backcourt
starts at 16:25
A bit shaky situation but a lot of options. Mike Smith is hard to extrapolate because he's a spot-up shooter in a bad league who probably should have had more assists if his guys could convert at all. Small so may be a defensive liability. For those situations you have Eli Brooks, who goes on Three-li streaks and brings a defensive presence, but we can directly correlate his shooting to bad defenses, and his floater hasn't happened yet. At the two we're probably looking at Chandee Brown and Franz Wagner (when he's not the three). Franz came on late last with his drives, though he's going to need to be much more of a creator. Hope the wrist injury explains the shooting issues. Defense really came along—still growing and has those gumby arms. Down-roster contributions as they come: can Nunez at least be a shooter? Can we get more than freshman stuff out of Zeb Jackson?
3. Hot Takes and Hockey
starts at 39:55
David wins MGoZoom with the Craig Ross background.
Is Arizona State not good? ASU's been inflating their tournament resume. Even Moyle got a Hensick move on these guys. Defensemen hopping up, seeing Cam York the first rounder. Reality check line. All-effort line. Power play is unstoppable unless there's an extra stick on the ice, penalty kill had five shots and two breakaways vs six shots and zero scoring chances. Wisconsin has a grad transfer goalie and some talent to skate with Michigan.
4. Around the Big Ten wsg Jamie Mac
starts at 1:06:07
The scouting is good. Michael Penix-Peyton Ramsey grudge match. Maryland took the COVID way out against Ohio State. Michigan State is very much not good. Minnesota is very much not good either. Michigan-Rutgers for the bottom of the Big Ten East or is Penn State still in the running?
MUSIC:
- “Heat Wave"—Snail Mail
- “The Motivator”—T.Rex
- “That Old Pair of Jeans”—Fatboy Slim
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
At least the 2008 team had an ethos.
November 15th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
I recommend you flip the order of sports on your podcast.
November 15th, 2020 at 3:30 PM ^
No more football coverage, please.
November 15th, 2020 at 5:57 PM ^
It’s officially b ball season
November 16th, 2020 at 6:47 AM ^
For once I agree. The analysis from MGoStaff is usually insightful, which provides catharsis in losses. What we thought we saw, wasn't so on closer look, and certain players or strategies offer reasons for hope. Not this time. We're only a few games in and anyone can tell this is a complete collapse of the program. The team is rather young but the corners don't know what they're doing, the defensive coaches don't bother to scout the opponents, and the offense has gone full Tecmo Bowl for reasons I still can't fathom. It's not that MGoStaff are off their game; there's just no insight to be had. What's the point in hearing the same story over and over again?
Unfortunately it doesn't give MGoStaff much to do, but what we really need is not analysis but leaks. We need to know WTF is going on in Schembechler Hall because this is Hoke levels of incompetence from a staff that historically had never approached such comparisons. Are they weathering a crisis? Is it apathy? Laziness? The opaqueness is inexcusable, because with it we're expected to just accept what's getting thrown out there, which is a disservice to both the fans and the players. I'll even say it's a disservice to the opponents and the conference, and I hate both Wisconsin and the B1G.
November 15th, 2020 at 3:32 PM ^
Alright, it’s now time to move on from football on the MGoPodcast. Just make it Ace’s Hockey Podcast and Hoops talk from here on out.
MGoBlog football coverage should be limited all the way down to Brian’s Monday columns until further notice. I wouldn’t mind even less than that, to be honest.
November 16th, 2020 at 1:04 AM ^
Agreed. Unless it’s a discussion about how we should conduct a coaching search, no football content is needed.
November 15th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
"who goes on Three-li streaks"
Am I just getting old and not remembering a joke, or is this just a copy-edit thing?
November 15th, 2020 at 9:57 PM ^
Three-li Brooks.
November 15th, 2020 at 4:40 PM ^
Every football segment needs to lead off with "Yeah, this is pretty much what we are until we fire Jim Harbaugh."
November 15th, 2020 at 4:56 PM ^
Could have been 3 FGs and a safety. Downside, no TDs, upside, 4 good special teams plays (three field goals and a good punt or kick coverage that pinned Wisconsin deep) and then the defense getting a TFL.
November 15th, 2020 at 6:07 PM ^
"11 points is the most loser points you can every possibly have"
One of the excruciating losses to OSU we endured during Bo's tenure was the 14-11 loss to the Buckeyes down in Columbus in 1972. We had the ball down inside the five yard line on multiple occasions and Bo refused to kick field goals, and the refs screwed us on one call where Harry Banks got the ball over the goal line but the refs gave the call to OSU.
November 15th, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
I'm surprised by how much I disagree with Ace and Brian's breakdown of the backcourt.
The most glaring one to me is Brian saying Eli Brooks is going to play 60% of Michigan's minutes. Brooks played 76.6% of Michigan's minutes last year, 2nd most on the team. Now you're removing the 80% of minutes X played and the 50% of minutes DDJ played, and your additions in the backcourt are a true freshman and a grad transfer from the Ivy League. I don't see how you fill those minutes, even if you play big more with Franz/Brown at the 2, while also taking away 20% of minutes from Brooks. I think he's a near lock to play 75-80% of minutes again.
Following from that, I think lumping Brooks and Smith in as our 2 PGs isn't accurate either. Brooks isn't a PG, like at all. His AST% last season was 11%, which is a low number even for a SG. Brooks tried to play PG as a freshman before X broke out, and clearly wasn't a PG. He hasn't shown anything since then to change that narrative, and he also has said he's most comfortable playing SG. Obviously due to our roster composition he's going to have to play PG at points, but there's only one player on our roster who has shown the ability to create for others and be a PG at the college level, and that's Mike Smith. He has his clear drawbacks (lack of size meaning probably a poor defender and he's only played in the Ivy League), but he also has a realistic shot of turning into a playable B1G PG, which Brooks does not.
It's very possible that we do end up going big as our primary rotation with Brooks/Smith sharing PG minutes and Brown/Franz playing the majority at the 2, especially if Smith ends up not being anything more than a end of the rotation bench piece. But let's also keep in mind that Franz played the 2 last year against Wisconsin when Brooks was out and our defense got cooked.
At the end of the day, if Franz ends up breaking out like we hope a lot of these issues are mitigated. But even if he does, or especially if he doesn't grow into the playmaker we hope, I think Michigan's best lineup involves Smith as a potential true PG at the 1, and Brooks at the 2. And so at least until it's shown that lineup can't work, I would hope/imagine that we see that as a primary/starting lineup early in the season, with Brooks playing 30ish MPG and Smith playing 20-25.
November 15th, 2020 at 7:30 PM ^
If Franz is really up to 6’10”, do we really think he is going to be playing much at the two? You are what you can guard.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:19 PM ^
This football program just blows smoke up our ass. It is now officially broken. 2021 is the last year until it is gone. No way Harbaugh is renewed given revelations from Dylan, Nico, Ambry and the general alienation of Detroit.
November 15th, 2020 at 11:07 PM ^
I must have missed those (I've paid almost no attention to the team since first quarter of the MSU game). Can you get me up to speed on what the players have been saying?
November 15th, 2020 at 8:38 PM ^
If I were a betting fella I'd lay money yesterday was it for Jimmy. Sorry to say that b/c I had high hopes; he was a college contemporary of mine, and it was hard to see him screwing this up. (I was one of those weirdos that didn't care if we ever caught OSU.) Ironic that 2020 could take him out when so many of us were arguing that this year was going to be just for fun, glorified scrimmages, house money--yeesh were we wrong.
My suspicion is that Jim got on some really good anti-depressants, discovered he had a family and a life, and took his foot off of the gas pedal, somewhere about Year Two. Hopefully that helps him deal with this agony, too.
November 15th, 2020 at 8:42 PM ^
Back to back rushing Rutgers- astonishingly bad. Ace’s announcement of this fact on the pod was gold.
November 15th, 2020 at 9:05 PM ^
We started off badly and have some injuries so we're just going to half-ass this terrible segment and try to get it over with as soon as possible.
Was this a Jim Harbaugh quote cause it could have been
November 16th, 2020 at 2:34 AM ^
When I 1st heard that Harbaugh chose Joe over Dylan, I was OK with it. After all its Harbaugh and if there's ANY skill position he knows, it's QB. Now I'm thinking he might not be able to judge even that and I hate that feeling.
Did you guys watch the Nebraska game? Luke McCaffrey was excellent for Nebraska as a freshman! in his 1st career start! I'm not saying that Dylan would have been the same, but that family pedigree points to success... At least we know Dylan was a better runner.
Then again, if Dylan had stayed, the coaching might have ruined him as well. From Speight, Peters, O'Korn, Patterson and now Milton, all started strong but then fell off a cliff.. It's a ruthless patten that's endemic in our program.
November 16th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
Yay basketball!
Anybody else over the hot takes section?
November 16th, 2020 at 8:10 PM ^
Fuck yes Snail Mail. Whoever picked that song for that intermission, bravo
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