Unverified Voracity Bounces
A note. UFR tomorrow. Life things.
Open practice. Basketball had one, and it was fun. The most interesting segment was an "overtime" period in which a mostly first-team unit took on a mostly second-team unit, which one of our users got on the tubes:
Impressions on the new blood:
- DJ Wilson has the potential to greatly improve Michigan's defense. Maybe not this year, especially since they're running him out at the five some, but down the road. He's tall, has long arms, is bouncy, and has the lateral agility to check anyone approximately his size. He was about the only defender who was at all effective in a transition drill where the guy on D faces a 2 on 1. He's going to block a bunch of shots. Wilson played a significant amount of five with the next guy limited.
- Ricky Doyle was participating, but only in short bursts, skipping all the running (he did pushups instead) and mostly watching. He seems limited by some sort of injury. Michigan's going to need him by the time they go to Brooklyn—he's much bigger than Donnal and Donnal struggled to finish at the rim to the point where he was sent on a run up the steps. We might retroactively appreciate Jordan Morgan's finishing this year.
- MAAR is probably your third point guard if Michigan needs to dig that deep because of foul trouble or injury. He was able to penetrate to the lane several times, but like LeVert as a freshman he usually didn't have a great idea what to do after that happened.
- Aubrey Dawkins is inexplicable. The guy is 6'6" and can jump out of the gym. The fact he had to prep and then only had a Dayton offer before Michigan swooped in is hard to believe; a guy with his athletic package should have mid-majors and lesser power conference schools leaping to offer him even if he's never seen a basketball in his life. He's going to be a lot like GRIII, I think.
- Kam Chatman is smooth and skilled. Hard to get any serious impression of shooting ability in this brief window but he looked highly capable there—and that was supposedly his weak spot. Beilein will get you to shoot.
I forgot Duncan Robinson existed so I assumed the guy wearing 22 was a walk-on and didn't pay much attention to him; Hatch participated in some drills early but that was all.
One issue: the audio was severely distorted and made it impossible to hear anything. Hopefully they fix that if/when they do this next year.
Other open practice takes. Kyle Bogenschutz:
Most impressive? Michigan sophomore wing Zak Irvin. Irvin was just doing what Irvin does, knocking down threes from all over the perimeter and at an extremely high percentage. Of the opportunities Irvin had in live settings he didn’t miss many. Early of course and just practice but if Irvin is given some more looks like he had last year he will have a chance to lead the team in scoring despite LeVert being the most complete player on the team.
He also references Wilson's defensive upside.
Offensively, Chatman looks game-ready. The 6-foot-7 freshman is confident with the ball not shy about getting his shot off. Known as a smooth and methodical player, he had a little more bounce than anticipated. The questions for Chatman remain on the defensive end of the floor. Those will be answered with time.
A defense. What kind of argument to you have to make to get me to defend Dave Brandon? This kind:
Applying ESPN Grade To Michigan's Situation: Last Friday, Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon resigned under pressure from boosters and alums unhappy with the football team's decline from the Top 25 and with stadium renovations intended to provide luxury to the 1 percent. Added to the bill of attainder should be that Michigan looks bad on graduation rates. The football graduation rate under Brandon averaged 69 percent, which would be acceptable at some lesser schools but is embarrassing at an elite institution like the University of Michigan.
He later cites Northwestern's 97% grad rate so I know what numbers he is using: the NCAA's graduation success rate metric. The NCAA's GSR site has numbers up to the 2007 cohort, who gradated in May of 2011 if they took four years. That's barely a year after Brandon's arrival and is in no way representative of anything he did academically. Michigan's APR has hit Northwestern levels the last few years as they dig out from the Carr/Rodriguez botched transition, and the GSR will follow… in like five years.
Congrats, Gregg Easterbrook. You have found a bad way to argue for Dave Brandon's dismissal. They said it couldn't be done, but you did it.
Coming up empty. The Daily has an article on Michigan's document retention policy, or lack thereof:
Despite the fact that Michigan state law requires public bodies to “protect public records from loss, unauthorized alteration, mutilation, or destruction,” according to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, there is no University policy currently in place to ensure that employees retain communications in accordance with state-level regulations.
State law stipulates that public records be kept and disposed of in accordance with a formal schedule, which requires that correspondence be retained for two years after the date of its creation before it can be destroyed.
University officials, however, claim that on-campus regulations are separate and exempt from state law.
“It’s our policy that it’s up to individual users to determine their own document retention,” Fitzgerald said. “The University doesn’t have a set schedule.”
Daily FOIAs for Brandon emails between March 13th and 14th of this year and between July 24th and 26th of 2014 came up with "no responsive records"; the Daily was looking for correspondence on the Gibbons matter. I can add that I filed an FOIA for the specific date of the Have A Happy Life email and, like one of our users, it came back non-responsive as well.
Hilariously, the University is arguing that it is "not a formal part of state government" to justify this behavior… after repeatedly arguing in court that they are. In yet further evidence that the Michigan FOIA department is out of step with standard practice:
When the Daily submitted requests for e-mail archives of various other Big Ten athletic directors in mid-2014, representatives from MSU, the University of Iowa, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Nebraska, Purdue University and the University of Illinois responded with offers to provide the records. The University of Minnesota, Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University and Ohio State University did not respond immediately.
A lack of transparency is always in service to the people entrenched at the top of the institution and not the institution itself.
Boo, John Clayton, boo. Clayton on Olbermann:
In brief: Clayton asserts that Harbaugh's going to be somewhere else next year but it is likely to be an NFL team, not Michigan.
Etc.: The Big Ten is bad at hockey. Except for Minnesota. Hockey commit Kyle Connor is kind of a big deal, and explicit that he is going to honor his commitment. Derrick Walton is set to make a leap. Tom Crean wrecked his program. Smart Football has a glossary.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
Boy truer words have never been spoken.
Between that, this and the place where that one guy ran to (but didnt find it) we're screwed! If you take all the pepper and salt and even more pepper and then try and push the eggs they break. All they way to the yoke they break!
But then again you knew that didnt you?
November 6th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
If it were me, I would discuss my personal experiences with balsamic vinegar (aged in the earyl spring, per instructions) in the diary section. Make sure you connect it to growing up a Michigan fan or an experience during a tailgate or game or something though, because if done successfully it might end up being one of the better reads ever put in diary form here.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:09 PM ^
Rhonda Jones Diary post made in Balsamic is done for those of reading wants to and those that doesn't wants to make it or possibly never.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^
We met Rhonda Jones
as in "Help me Rhonda Yeah!"
Dry Brian Wilson.
November 6th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^
is clearly and AI loosed on the net and in the midst of translating old Russian texts poorly into Enligsh, particularly ones about Rhonda Jones. I say all hail our new AI overlords.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:47 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
And that it was Brian saying it here?
November 6th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
I don't think he said it was a coincidence.... just that he likes the fact that Crean is doing a solid job making IU look bad, after Crean said what he said to Meyer.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^
Some would say Jeff Meyer ruined Tom Crean's program. Tom Crean would definitely tell you that Jeff Meyer ruined it. We look at it from a different standpoint. The refs didn't ruinTom Crean's program. Dan Dakich didn't ruin Tom Crean's program. Nor did Jeff Meyer ruin Tom Crean's program. We truly believed that Tom Crean ruined Tom Crean's program. And he can look in the mirror, and know that.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
but would expect one or more legals filing against the University soon to challenge their lack of a document retention policy that is followed by other state institutions. Maybe this is something the Schlissel administration will proactively address.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
So is the fact that Michigan is intentionally violating state and federal laws on that going to have any repercussions at any point? Obviously I highly doubt it, maybe they'll at least have to change their "policies."
November 6th, 2014 at 2:15 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^
If OSU did what Michigan has done / is still doing... Jim Tressel would still be there.
Shameful. Fix it.
November 6th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
Dubious research and logic from Gregg Easterbrook? Surely you jest!
November 6th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
"Clearly he could go to Michigan; I think he wants to stay in the NFL."
This is just a guess, with plenty of ambiguity for me. Harbaugh to Michigan still confirmed.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^
When you do a google search on Jim it is pretty daunting on how so many teams have articles on "open the vault for Jim Harbaugh" - I've seen Jets and Falcons just in the past 3 days.
I much prefer the warm confines of MGo over the cold nasty Google...
November 6th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
You mean this cold, nasty Google?
"A week earlier, Harbaugh had said "yes" to the question of whether he could see himself at Stanford forever. After all, it had taken him 25 years to get there from literally across the street at Palo Alto High School, where he played his final two years of high school football after his father, Jack, became defensive coordinator at Stanford.
"This is where I wanted to go, but they didn't offer me a scholarship," Harbaugh said.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-11-22/sports/0711211310_1_alex-…
November 6th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
Sort of flies in the face of this article from '86, which speaks of Michigan as his dream.
http://mitchalbom.com/d/journalism/787/coach-and-qbschembechler-harbaug…
November 6th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
I admit to deriving malicious fun from poking people with these Harbaugh quotes from his days at Stanford. While the comments at face value seem to contradict his #1 love for Michigan, my suspicion is that he was playing to his audience in Palo Alto and telling them stuff they wanted to hear, with the exception of the statement that he didn't get a scholarship offer from Stanford. That's a pretty easy statement to prove or disprove, and it wouldn't surprise me if Wiggin didn't offer him. That's what lousy coaches do frequently: ignore local talent, in this case in Palo Alto High School.
November 7th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
there's ignoring local talent and then there's ingoring your defensive coordinators highly regarded son. I very much doubt there wasn't at least an offer made... look at how many kids of assistant coaches have had walk on roles with the Michigan program in the past.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:09 PM ^
great article
November 6th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^
Not sure which Bo quote was my favorite... I liked this one especially:
His voice deepens. "If Jim Harbaugh was going to come to Michigan, then Jim Harbaugh was going to wait for me."
November 6th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
Harbaugh to Michigan confirmed? is that right?
November 6th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
Not just confirmed.
Very confirmed.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:58 PM ^
Who are you?
November 6th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
He's an axe murderer.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^
I assume via satellite.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^
How he said it so "matter of factly" made me sad.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
and continue listening to Slayer.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^
He says basically everything very matter-of-factly. He could tell you your mom died or you got a new puppy and both would sound the same.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
I hope Donnal's outside shot is all it has been hyped to be, because his inability to take on a true freshman and get even basic layups is worrisome. Or maybe DJ Wilson is the best defensive freshman in the country. Yep, I'll go with that.
I think this is why we need to always be careful with the hype in offseason - if you believed the reports last April Donnal was the next coming of Pittsnogle. I am scared what a guy like Kaminsky is going to do to him.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
did not instill any kind of confidence in our bigs
November 6th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
to not get offers.
Michigan fans know this, but in their desperate state they refuse to believe it because surely OSU cannot be the only so blessed by fortune. Not in a just world can the villianous Scarlet and Grey be the only ones saved by serendipity.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
How about this scenario: Steve Ross publicly goes along with Brandon's firing, but privately is so pissed at Schlissel that he brings Harbaugh to Miami as a big "fuck you" to the new UM Prez and his interim guy Hackett.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^
Joe Philbin has the Phins playing well, but Harbaugh is a superior coach. It's perfectly reasonable for Ross to go after Harbaugh even with Brandon's dismissal.
I think Michigan fans need to stop fantasizing about Harbaugh and move on. Why worry about what you can't get?
November 6th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^
Your authoritative dismissal of Harbaugh coming to Michigan is no more valid than someone else's claim that he's definitely coming to Michigan. It is absolutely a possibility, and no one has a goddamn educated clue of what is going to ultimately happen.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
Does that mean it's going to happen? Should I expect it to happen? No and no.
Getting giddy over something that is at best unlikely to happen seems like a sure way to heartbreak and disappointment.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^
Winning the lottery and Michigan convincing Harbaugh to coach at his prestigious alma mater have no relation. Not even similar processes or probabilities.
But sure, keep telling others what they should and shouldn't get excited about. You must be fun to be around.
November 6th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^
The problem is when he doesn't come here people will be on here venting their spleen and screaming "WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS? ARRRGH!" . It gets irritating to see people get upset about things which they knew were not likely to happen.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
Odds of Harbaugh to M= unknown Odds of winning power ball=1 in 175,223,510
Could I borrow your crystal ball sometime? Perhaps this weekend so I can know by how many points Staee will beat ohio.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:09 PM ^
but you do realize Jimmy Harbaugh is coming to Ann Arbor to coach up the Wolverines right?
November 6th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
and I don't think it's ridiculous--is that his shtick may not work in the pros, and that he may have decided this himself. He could come here and be the anointed.
Oakland as alternative because it's in the Bay area, other pro teams not so much.
November 6th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^
They need to stop fantasizing about Kate Upton too, but that ain't gonna happen either.
November 6th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
November 6th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^
Ummm... for what effing reason do we "need to stop fantasizing about Kate Upton." ?????????
How ELSE am I supposed to get through my day???? Or a night alone with the wife???
November 6th, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^
I see several nights on the couch in your future.
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