With little going on in Michigan athletics, I felt that now was a decent time to do a mailbag to see what our fine readers are curious about. I solicited questions Monday on the MGoBoard and on Twitter, and picked the ones I felt were most interesting to answer. I tried to select questions that were most frequently asked, and that covered the bases, giving different sports representation rather than just focusing on football. I also threw in a few silly questions and one on pro sports. 

[NOTE: I did not answer any NIL questions, despite there being many, because they would best be answered in a post dedicated to that topic. I am hoping that either I or Seth can get to that at some point soon]

 

Which non-conference game or series would you like to see for football, basketball, and hockey this upcoming season if you could schedule any opponent, and why? (-UMinCincy)

We'll start with a fun one, my favorite among the serious questions that I was asked. Here are my answers for each sport: 

- Football: non-conference games come with a pretty high risk when you play in a premier conference that regularly places teams in the playoff (like say, the B1G), so I'd want to schedule a game with some amount of upside, but one that limits the risk of losing and thus sinking your resume. In looking for a matchup that would be fun, likely to win, but still give you something to gain, I picked a home game against Miami. The 'Canes should be a solid team this year (hovering around 20th in early preseason polls), but don't represent the same threat that a Notre Dame would, especially if it's at the Big House and early in the year. This fulfills the goal of finding a team that would add to the resume but would not represent a titanic challenge. And in terms of the fun, there would be storylines galore given the messiness of the Gattis exit back in February, not to mention a new coach at The U in Mario Cristobal and two historic programs going at it. Sign me up. 

- Basketball: I'm all in favor of scheduling a slate of tough non-conference opponents in college hoops to bolster your tournament resume, so I looked for an opponent that would be tough and add intrigue. I rambled through different ideas and the best I could come up with was Gonzaga. They're a perennially great opponent, are always looking to schedule a tough non-conference, and Michigan and the Zags have surprisingly little history. They have met (1) time in history, and that was at the 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis. I'm always in favor of branching out and trying to play more marquee teams beyond the typical Duke/Carolina types, and getting a little more familiarity with Gonzaga could be good for the program, plus it would provide the chance for a resume-boosting win. 

- Hockey: The B1G is a good conference, but not typically a great one, so scheduling a big dog has a lot of upside. Putting teams like Minnesota State on the schedule last year is what helped get the #1 overall seed, after all. With that in mind, I'd like to see a re-match with Denver. Both teams are coming off a bit of turnover following their Frozen Four appearances, but there should still be plenty of talent on both sides. We learned during the run up to the Frozen Four that there is surprisingly little history between these two legendary programs, but thanks to what happened in Boston, now there is a little bit of it. Why not make some more and try to build a rivalry of sorts, while having a chance to get a quality win in the process? 

 

Alex, if Jim Harbaugh could turn himself into any animal in the animal kingdom what animal would he choose and why? (-Darker Blue)

I thought about this one for all of a couple minutes and came to what I felt was an easy answer: a cow. We know Jim Harbaugh loves beef football, and all the meaty boys who get it done, the Zak Zinters and Ben Masons. We know that he doesn't like white meat (chicken), so we have to assume he likes beef. We also know he absolutely loves milk. What animal produces milk and beef? A cow. Easy answer. It channels his tastes and football ethos, building a team that doesn't budge and can trample you, with the collective weight on the lines of many cows. 

 

[Bryan Fuller]

Specifically, we have so much talent at the WR position, can we realistically expect to keep them intact through the summer? (-othernel) 

This question was about the "play now" mindset of recruits and how to avoid attrition, and I was interested in the second half here. The Wolverines have a ton of hungry mouths at the WR position, even with Mike Sainristil's move to defense. The list includes Ronnie Bell, Roman Wilson, Cornelius Johnson, AJ Henning, Andrel Anthony, Christian Dixon, and then the three freshmen, with Darrius Clemons likely ready for playing time.

Just speaking honestly, it's hard for me to see this whole group making it through the season intact. The advent of the portal has made it very hard to keep positional groups together, but the WR position I don't even think is too affected by the portal. This would be a tough group to keep together even if we were under old portal rules and that's a good thing. You'd always rather have too many good players than not enough. With Michigan looking to take in 2-3 receivers in the 2023 class, there is going to be some attrition. The question is just who and when. 

I wouldn't expect a ton of attrition in the summer, to be honest. It's an inconvenient time to bail because it's too late to join a team in time for the season. I suppose if someone realizes at the end of fall camp that there's no chance they will play (Dixon?) that they may say it makes no difference and leave then. But I would expect that most of this group goes into the season and then at the end of it there will be a good bit of attrition either from NFL declarations, running out of eligibility, or transfers. But the fact Michigan got through the spring (which is the optimal time to bail) with this group makes it seem to me that they will be together for at least the bulk of the 2022 season before splintering after.  

 

This might be hyper-niche but if M is looking to replace Hutch and/or Bakich, do you have any names you think they should look at?

— Alex Garbarino (he/him) (@DrGarbs) June 13, 2022

Well this one is pretty topical now that there are reports that Bakich is leaving for Clemson. On the softball end of things, I discussed this in my post-season column. Bonnie Tholl will be the in-house, odds on favorite, but my top candidate is Duke's Marissa Young. Young is a former player under Hutch who has coached in southeast Michigan at EMU/Concordia and has built Duke from the ground up into a quality program. She's also only 40 years old and would be the perfect coach to lead Michigan for decades. 

As for baseball, with Bakich likely out of the picture, I'll throw out a couple names but more will be in a coaching search piece. Chris Fetter is the first that comes to mind and apparently it's on Michigan's mind. It's hard to imagine he moves back from the MLB to the NCAA, but if there was one job that could make that happen, getting to be the head coach at his alma mater might be it. Fetter was a phenomenal NCAA pitching coach and has been stellar in the MLB as well, evidenced by the Tigers having one of the MLB's best bullpens despite it consisting of a bunch of relievers no one has ever heard of (who the hell is Will Vest? I don't even think his own family members have heard of Will Vest). Fetter is also only 36. 

In terms of more realistic options, Central Michigan's Jordan Bischel seems like an obvious name of interest. He was a highly successful coach at Northwood University in Midland, before coming to CMU in 2019. Since arriving in Mount Pleasant, Bischel has been named MAC Coach of the Year twice, and has taken the Chips to three straight NCAA Baseball Tournaments, with two MAC regular season titles and two MAC Tournament titles on the way. He's 41 years old, a native of the Midwest and familiar recruiting in this state and region, and would be a stellar hire.

This is where I'll leave the answer but will have more on it in the future. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Harbaugh... to the LAKERS??]

 

[Zoey Holmstrom]

To what degree, if any, is the Wisconsin incident involving Coach Howard affecting the current state of the basketball program? To your knowledge, did the incident play any role in Collins', Diabate's or Houstan's decisions to not return? Does reliable information exist that the Wisconsin incident is negatively affecting recruiting? (-Billy Ray Valentine)

This is our lone basketball recruiting question, and it came up a couple times so I felt like including it, even if hoops recruiting is not my beat. I conferred with Matt and was told that "some parents may have concerns, but the incident has yet to hurt recruiting efforts in a meaningful way". As it stands right now, there are no specific recruitments or player decisions that the Wisconsin incident has played a substantial role in. Not that this can't change, but right now, the unfortunate events in Madison have not rendered Juwan anathema to recruits, players, and parents. 

 

Was Michigan's success across the board this year a blip, or something to expect going forward? Which program can contend nationally, and not just for the big ten?

— Vasav Swa〽️inathan (@VasavSwami) June 13, 2022

A version of this questions was asked by a few different people, inquiring as to which program has the best shot of winning a national title and whether Michigan's success as an "everything school" is here to stay. If we're looking at which programs have the best chance of winning a national title, I'd rank the big six like the following: hockey, men's basketball, baseball, football, women's basketball, and softball.

Hockey is pretty self-explanatory, as it's the only sport where Michigan has among the very best talent in the country and the NCAA Tournament is extremely random. Men's basketball is a bit further away now than they were under segments of the Beilein era, but it's not too hard to win a title in that sport, and Juwan Howard is a good recruiter and coach. It could all come together at some point.

Baseball obviously has been thrown into flux with the Bakich news, but I remain optimistic overall because the program is left in a good spot and if they make a right hire, I still think this sport is ahead of the others because it's a lot easier to win the title in baseball than football/WBB/Softball. The Wolverines will never have elite talent in that sport, but the NCAA Baseball Tournament is pretty random. Michigan got to the CWS as an unseeded team in 2019, and several unseeded teams make it each year (this year there are four). Not inconceivable that the stars could align again and luck goes your way if Michigan keeps producing solid teams under a new coach. 

The latter three sports are ranked where they are because of how hard it is to win right now, even if I'd argue that several of these programs are in better places than baseball. Football is the closest of this group, but we saw how wide the gap still is in the Orange Bowl. A team of Michigan's talent level can beat one dynamite team (like say, OSU), but winning it all probably requires winning three such games in the span of a month. Not the easiest until you've got 5* guys pouring out your ears, something that will always be difficult for Michigan given their academic focus, program standards, and geographic location.

Women's basketball also still has a pretty big gap between the elite and the very good, but the trend in the sport has been towards parity in the last decade, so maybe it continues. At the very least, Kim Barnes-Arico keeps making progress. Lastly is softball where it feels like no one is beating Oklahoma any time soon... and to make matters worse, Oklahoma just stole Michigan's best pitcher. Things are not great right now. 

But as for the "everything school" moniker, I think Michigan's success in the conference and (relatively) the nation is here to stay, so long as they can keep key coaches. I feel pretty good about the state of most of these programs, softball excepted, and the strength of the non-revenues has been a calling card of this athletic department since I started covering Michigan athletics five years ago. And if we're being frank, they are significantly stronger now than they were five years ago. The coaching question mark looms large with Bakich and Mel, as well as pro flirtations between Juwan and Harbaugh, but other schools wanting your coaches is a sign you're winning. So long as enough key coaches stay in place, things should keep going well. 

[BONUS: we will start covering wrestling at MGoBlog when Craig Ross, our designated wrasslin' beat writer, figures out how to use the internet] 

 

Should basketball sit tight with the current roster and hold onto the two scholarships or look at upsetting the boat (a la Frankie Collins) by bring in one or two players? (-Beaublue)

This is our one men's basketball question, and I'm packaging it with a few questions I got about Emoni Bates. As it stands right now, Michigan has 11 players on the roster for next season and the holes that exist from not filling two scholarships are pretty sizable. The situation at SG is not great and it's worth remembering that of the 11 signed for next season, one is a freshman PG (Dug McDaniel), two are players who almost never played as freshmen (Tschetter and Barnes), and one is a junior who has rarely played non-garbage time minutes (Jace Howard). To me, there are far too many major question marks/holes to consider not filling those two scholarships if you can. 

Obviously, Juwan needs to be careful to make sure that picking up someone out of the portal doesn't cause another player to bail (like Llewellyn with Collins). But, if the 11 players signed for next season are locked in, you need more bodies and preferably those who can play substantial minutes at the 2 and the 4/have an NCAA track record. Too many players on this roster are either true freshmen or essentially true freshmen due to lack of real experience. 

As for Emoni, I have been told that there is still more interest on Bates' end than Michigan's end, but that he could be more of an option for the Wolverines should they strike out on their more preferred transfer portal options. I would be pretty hesitant to bring Bates in, largely for the reason mentioned in the question: upsetting the boat. Bates and his father clashed with Jaden Akins at Ypsi Prep, and Memphis was 12-3 with Bates not playing, compared to 10-8 with him playing. Bates is an undeniably talented player, but at this juncture, it feels like bringing him in is a considerable risk given the off-the-court circus that follows him around, and I think that has to be weighed just as heavily as his on-court prowess.

Not to mention that his freshman season at Memphis was far from the superstar-type production that once followed his name, with Bates boasting a grisly 91.4 ORTG on a near-team-best 23.4% USG. His TO rate was high and his TS% was pretty low. In my opinion, taking in Bates should be a last resort option because of the massive risks, and it appears that Michigan is viewing it that way. 

 

[Bryan Fuller]

Will Cade McNamara enter 2022 with a cyan circle next to his name? (-CRISPed in the Diag)

This is what the people really want to know. I do not feel that Cade McNamara's play during the course of 2021 warrants a cyan and even if Seth somehow does, I will promise you all that I will fight tooth and nail to ensure there will be no cyan for the start of 2022. If for no other reason than I'd like to have FFFF comments that are about something other than the diagram. 

 

Who is the most important recruit in the 2022 Class after Dante Moore and Nyckoles Harbor? (-Evan Oesterle)

This one was submitted to me by my friend and one time co-author Evan Oesterle, and I like it more than talking about CJ Carr from the recruiting lens, since I will tackle that during my recruiting update later in the week. Moore and Harbor are the two crown jewels of the class, playing the premium positions (QB and EDGE) and having the 5* ranking. Despite the often pervasive doom narrative, Michigan is very much in play for both at this time. 

But how about after those two? I'm actually going to go with one of their current commits, Raylen Wilson. Michigan is in a battle with the $EC to hang on to Wilson's commitment, one that seems very tight and competitive right now. Wilson's commitment was one of the first that flowed in after winning the B1G Championship and it seemed to indicate a monster 2023 class. Since then, Mike Macdonald departed, Jim Harbaugh flirted with the NFL, and the local sharks (Georgia, Florida, etc) didn't stop circling. Things quickly became much more choppy.

Losing Wilson would be tough symbolically, given what his commitment once seemed to portend for the class, not to mention that it would be a loss against the big dogs of recruiting, reinforcing the obstacles that Michigan football faces on the trail. Of course, beyond that, Wilson plays another important position (LB) and is a good recruit, with considerable athleticism making him a guy you'd love to have in the class. On the flip side, hanging onto Wilson could send the message that the fissures that popped up after Harbaugh's NFL flirtation and staff changes are not too bad. There's a lot at stake emotionally here, besides Wilson being a good football player whose commitment would be valuable to have. 

 

Considering the last recruiting class, is Michigan more focused on building the secondary above other positions on defense (linebackers) to contain OSU's offense? (-yoyo)

I have not heard anything to this effect, but it's not a crazy possibility. I think the staff understood that defensive back was a weakness that needed correcting from the late Don Brown era and they took a six-man DB class in 2022 because they were thinner there than elsewhere. That said, I think it's more likely that the 2022 DB class was so good because Steve Clinkscale is an excellent recruiter than it is that Harbaugh & Co. just care more about defensive back. Most recruiting updates from the insiders rave about Clinkscale's abilities as a recruiter and the group he just brought in speaks to that. 

I also want to note that while DBs are definitely important because Ohio State has become Wide Receiver U, every part of the defense is important when you face an attack like the 2021 Buckeye offense. Michigan won The Game last November because the DBs played well, yes, but also because the defensive ends clowned the Buckeye tackles, because the DTs held up pretty well, and because of run stops from the second level like the one from Josh Ross in the early second half. You need a good, well-rounded defense with talent at every position to beat Ohio State with regularity, so focusing on DBs alone is not an answer.

 

How will inflation impact NIL, and can Texas A$M afford to recruit top classes given that Bitcoin is tanking?

How many days has it been since OSU beat Michigan, and do the Buckeyes even believe they can win anymore?

Should the Lakers have considered hiring Harbaugh instead of Juwan? (-NeverPunt) 

I'll answer this with a point addressing each sequentially: 

1. Texas A&M isn't going to be affected by the Bitcoin drop at all, they'll just have each oil baron pay recruits in titles to oil wells. Each player gets a set number of wells that they can drill as much as they want and will get all the profits. And then because this is 18-22 year-old men we're talking about, they'll take the profits and invest in Bitcoin, which will send Crypto valuations back up again. Galaxy brain Aggies.   

2. It has been 928 days since Ohio State beat Michigan in football. My sources are telling me that the Buckeyes have indeed given up trying to win. They are trying to win as many games as possible knowing that the last week of the regular season is a guaranteed loss, and are hoping that a NY6 bowl will be an acceptable consolation prize for the fans. Some fans are even saying they're a "basketball school" now. 

3. Yes. Juwan was never coming to the Lakers with two sons in school, but Jim Harbaugh? He'd have taken the Lakers job and just tried to coach both Michigan and the Lakers at once. Besides, it's not like the poor schmuck who actually got hired is going to be doing any more coaching than Harbaugh with LeCoach in charge... at least you'd get infinitely more great quotes out of it. How quickly would Harbaugh have challenged Russel Westbrook to push-ups? Unfortunately, we'll never know.  

 

woulda been nice to have this guy at Michigan [David Zalubowski/AP]

Given the way their pro careers worked out, who was the bigger loss in terms of leaving campus early (or never coming to campus): Al Montoya, Jack Campbell, or John Gibson? (-Wolverine In Exile) 

This is our lone hockey question for today, but it's a fun one. Gibson was a commit who would've come to campus in the 2011-12 season, before becoming a star in the NHL for the Anaheim Ducks (bailed for Kitchener of the OHL). Jack Campbell would've been in the 2010-11 class, prior to a long-and-winding pro career that has resulted in him being a pretty solid NHL goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Al Montoya was a good goalie at Michigan who struggled in his final season before going to the NHL after his junior season, signing with the New York Rangers. 

I found this question interesting because I hadn't really considered it, but to me, this question has an obvious answer: John Gibson. Campbell isn't really in the running because Michigan had a great goalie during the two years he played in the OHL (Hunwick) and Campbell struggled in the OHL. So you're really down to Montoya and Gibson. Montoya staying an extra year could've given Michigan much-needed goalie help in 2005-06, but you have to keep in mind how his play had taken a major hit the preceding year (.895). There's no guarantee he would've been a ton better than Billy Sauer (.898)/Noah Ruden (.904). Maybe! But I don't think you can say he would've been as big of an upgrade as Gibson would've been on the 2012-13 goalie situation.

Gibson would've marinated for a year behind Shawn Hunwick in 2011-12, a la Portillo to Mann in 2020-21, and then would've been given a chance to make the '13 team vastly better. Gibson had a .928 in the OHL that year, meanwhile Michigan's goaltending was third-worst in the NCAA at .885. In the process, they wasted a top ten offense on a team that limped to .500. Gibson on the team probably would've extended the tournament streak and once you're in the tourney, anything can happen... especially with a very good goalie. I suppose it's also not surprising, then, that Gibson had the best pro career of these three. 

 

How historic of a Stanley Cup run are we seeing from the Lightning the past few seasons? What took them to the mountaintop and how can the Red Wings copy it to reclaim their former glory? (-VintageRandy)

I got a few non-Michigan sports questions, and this is the one that's most in my wheelhouse (sorry USMNT fans, but I'm not Brian). To answer the first part in short: crazy historic. I was the guy at the start of the season saying the Lightning couldn't make it past the second round because no team in nearly forty years had when coming off back-to-back finals appearances. To make it to three straight Stanley Cup Finals is crazy, and something we haven't seen since the early 80s Oilers (and Islanders). Win or lose against Colorado, the Lightning have cemented themselves as one of the great dynasties to ever grace the NHL, especially in an era of parity through the salary cap. 

As for how they did it, it can best be summed up by having one of the smartest front offices (probably the smartest) in the league. Yes, they got gifted a few high draft picks (Stamkos/Hedman) but they have regularly identified talent at the pro and amateur level and developed it/acquired it. Few moves better sum this up than the saga in net: first they drafted the greatest goalie of his generation (Andrei Vasilevskiy) by doing the always-ballsy move of using a first rounder on a goalie, and then when Vasilevskiy was ready to start, they traded an established star goalie (Ben Bishop) for a top prospect in Erik Cernak, who has since become an integral part of Tampa's championship defense.

The Bolts' ability to develop late round/undrafted prospects into legit contributors (Cirelli, Gourde, Colton, Palat, etc) has no parallel in the NHL, not to mention the savvy trade deadline acquisitions by current GM Julien BriseBois (Blake Coleman, Nick Paul, etc). They find good, undervalued players at every level and turn them into key pieces with regularity. As for the Red Wings, they have a couple nice franchise building blocks at F and D in Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, like Tampa once did with Stamkos and Hedman, and thankfully they have the guy who laid the foundation for the Lightning dynasty running the show.... 

My Cup final prediction: Avalanche in 7. I expect it to be a very tight series like Toronto/Tampa was in round one, but I like the Avs' roster a bit more than the Leafs' and it feels time for someone to finally beat the Bolts.  

 

What can we (reasonably) expect from the DL this upcoming season? (-Perkis-Size Me)

There were many other small elements to this question which I will try to get to in the answer, but this was the overarching question. I agree that the DL is the pretty big wild card, because I feel pretty decent about improvement from the LB level, and the level of experience/talent in the secondary. Last year, the entire unit defensive line was built around Ojabo/Hutchinson, and Michigan more or less abandoned its plans to become a true 3-4 team once they realized what they had on their hands. That was the smart thing to do then, but I would expect we will see the transition to more of what Seth wrote about in last year's HTTV happen this fall. The hiring of Minter to continue what Macdonald started makes that seem likely. 

I am pretty high on Mazi Smith entering the fall, and I think it was bigger to get him back than Hinton (though I would've liked both back!), but after him, there are a lot of questions. Kris Jenkins Jr. being ahead of schedule last year was a good sign for his future, but it remains to be seen if he's completely ready for a starting job. Cam Goode is a nice addition though, and the RS Freshmen are all promising. I feel more comfortable about the DT spot than DE right now. 

My concern at DE is that they don't have an obvious heir as a pure pass-rusher, let alone two to replace what Michigan lost. I like Mike Morris a lot, but I don't know that he has the pass-rushing upside to fill in for Ojabo or Hutchinson neatly. Taylor Upshaw, Jaylen Harrell, Braiden McGregor, Derrick Moore, they all have a case for optimism, but real questions about what they can be in 2022 pervade. The idea of sliding Julius Welschof outside doesn't seem like something that should be off limits from considering either. But again, no Hutchinson/Ojabo analogues. 

I think the most likely scenario is that Michigan has to blitz more and manufacture pass rushing by committee, and a full finished scheme change could play a factor in that. DE/pass rush is the biggest question on the team entering the fall, and right now, it feels like a decent bit of regression at that position is likely. Moreover, I wouldn't be surprised to see it take until midway through the season to find out who is going to step up and fill those roles. Thankfully Michigan's schedule isn't the toughest early on.