Unverified Voracity Is A Robot Programmed To Coach Football Comment Count

Brian

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two point buckets are rare as unicorns these days [Bryan Fuller]

That was ugly. I don't have much to say about last night's demolition in Columbus. It's pretty much over as far as an NCAA bid is concerned—even 9-4 the rest of the way leaves Michigan with two horrendous, horrendous losses compared to the rest of the bubble and no real marquee wins.

I don't know what blew up. Obviously losing all three posts from last year is a big factor, as is the almost total lack of production from Kam Chatman (who is shooting an unbelievable 34%/25%). But there's something not right with the guys we thought were going to be the big guns. When your captains are saying you're in "coast mode" after a game that's nasty.

Walton's obvious: he's got turf toe. Irvin and LeVert are both doing okay; neither has become anything approximating a go-to guy. Both are shooting 44% from two with little in the way of free throws; Walton's even worse at 36%. With no one who can create two point shots consistently they've lost the crazy offensive efficiency of the last two years, and the defense hasn't improved nearly enough to keep their heads above water.

The only remaining hopes for the season is that they start getting better, make the NIT, and have a run in there that gives you some confidence.

Mattison back, officially. The latest in a long line of re-re-confirmations:

"Jack Harbaugh will always be one of the most influential coaches I've ever been with," he said. "I had the opportunity to coach with him for five years, just a tremendous football coach who taught me a lot about coaching.

"And I really respect (John Harbaugh), you always knew he'd be successful. ... And there's another Harbaugh (I'm close with), when we had our first child, Lisa, the only person she'd ever let babysit for her was Joanie (Jim's sister). That Harbaugh family, we've known for a long, long time."

Having Mattison around is going to be excellent for recruiting and continuity, and should allow Durkin to gradually adjust to being the man on that side of the ball after coaching under Will Muschamp at Florida.

Early signing may be happening. The Conference Commissioners Association was tasked with looking into an early signing date for football, and the proposal now has a shape:

On Tuesday at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Louisville, Susan Peal, NCAA associate director of operations who serves as a liaison between the collegiate governing body and the commissioners, revealed that the committee is leaning toward recommending a mid-December signing period. Peal said that window would likely coincide with the midyear junior college transfer signing date that occurs in the third week of December.

"Based on all of the feedback -- and there are all kinds of dates out there of what people want -- the most favorable option the committee has seen seems to be for an early signing day in December, something that's in line with the midyear junior college transfer signing date," Peal said.

I'm not a fan of early signing because it does nothing for the players, who get locked in earlier than they do now in exchange for bupkis. But at least that date is much better than the ridiculous August 1st date supported by the ACC, which the Big Ten somehow supported. Signing before official visits are even possible is some kind of dumb.

The darkest alternate timeline. Les Miles lost his excellent defensive coordinator to a conference rival and has now hired former Clemson DC Kevin Steele to replace him. The Kevin Steele whose last act as a DC was this, as Get The Picture points out:

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Miles is also supposedly bringing in Ed Orgeron, a move that bodes well for local press conferences, Louisiana-set buddy cop movies, and recruiting but maybe not so much organization and the like. If Les farts around again next year I wouldn't be surprised to see him get the boot, because LSU fans have always been way more discontent than you'd think.

The competition to best describe Harbaugh is over. Former Stanford tackle Ben Muth:

"When I first met him, I honestly thought a lot of it was an act, it was like a robot who was programmed as a football coach," says Ben Muth, who played offensive tackle for Harbaugh at Stanford. "It's absurd stuff, but he believes it all. And after a while, so do you. Just the way he talks, his cadence and his deliverance. He talks like a normal football coach, but kicked up 50 percent and he's always on."

Also: hooray spring game fun? As part of Harbaugh's insane competitiveness, he turned Stanford's spring game into a full on draft-win-die thing:

At Stanford, his spring games featured full-scale drafts. The coaching staff was split down the middle into two groups, and inside the team meeting room, every player was drafted to a side for the game.

They weren't just glorified practices, they were full-scale competitions. Nothing was wasted or viewed as insignificant.

If that format's announced and Michigan pushes it back to best roll the dice on the weather that would be guaranteed to be Michigan's best-attended spring game ever.

Why do you hate turkey? I get most of what Oregon's trying to say here.

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I'm down with most of it, as well (though tradition generally wears two colors unless you want to count white). But what's with the shot at turkey on Thanksgiving? Surely you would prefer us to eat that instead of duck, right?

Whiskey the dog. In case you were like "WTF" when Brandon brought up Whiskey during his My Personality Is To The Best Of My Ability tour:

Sap and MVictors have more details over there.

Whatever this is. OSU and Michigan are listed 1-2 in "intrinsic value" thanks to improved cash flows:

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Note that OSU is bringing in 20 million less than Michigan this year, and Michigan is above everyone except Alabama and Texas in revenue. Oregon's 18th. Brandon's relentless focus on dollars above everything else was unnecessary.

Etc.: Michigan is getting a visit from 2015 megaprospect Jaylen Brown.

Comments

Glennsta

January 15th, 2015 at 6:09 AM ^

Ask the people on the football season ticket waiting list what a great job Brandon did.

Yes, the numbers look great but they are a snapshot.  In the longterm, the fan base was alienated.  And you sure don't want to alienate the group that will be buying up tickets over the next several decades, i.e. current students.

Michigasling

January 14th, 2015 at 2:31 PM ^

About Jay H. turning down his Dad's first job offer.

Interesting read about his apprenticeship trajectory, wanting to work with his Dad eventually but wanting to forge his own path first.  (Like working for his uncle.)  (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

From a couple years ago, but the newspaper says it's the third most e-mailed article today. 

Cali Wolverine

January 14th, 2015 at 1:58 PM ^

prospect hype...despite the magic of Beilein. He is like the Devin Gardner of the basketball team. Uber talented, but a poor decision maker. We need some more depth in the front court and a little more leadership. This is a down year, and hopefully we can build upon this season next year.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 14th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^

Theory on the basketball team: Levert and Walton saw all the early departures to the NBA, got a bit carried away in the hype, and started thinking like an NBAer.  NBA guards create their own midrange jumper all the time.  The best ones hit them pretty frequently.  The midrange jumper is one thing that separates NBA guards from really good college guards.  Driving for a layup is relatively easy for an athlete, especially once he masters the tuck-and-carry.  Shooting threes - pretty common.  The midrange jumper is hard, because you can never spot up and shoot it, you always get much less time to set it up, you're more likely to have to shoot it over someone really tall, and it's less commonly set up by screens and plays and such - it's usually you dribbling and creating the space for it.

But damn if our guards aren't trying like hell to prove they can shoot it.  And I think it's because they've been trying to show the scouts they can do it.  

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

I get where the theory is coming from, but Caris is putting up numbers that are better than last year with far more defensive attention.  He faces the toughest defender, gets double-teamed, and then is also expected to guard the best guy on the other end.  Not only does he have to do far more than Nik did, but he doesn't have the benefit of playing beside with 3-5 NBA players, he's playing with one, at best (that would be Zak Irvin, who is struggling badly this year).

As for Walton - he has been hurt and also tasked with more responsibility.

You can be disappointed they didn't make a leap, but neither guy is jacking up irresponsible shots to warrant this kind of criticism.  Michigan isn't hitting it's 3s and Michigan is atrocious all year at the rim -- they do need to take some mid-range shots once in a while.

Furthermore, this is a pretty flawed premise.  The NBA is moving away from mid-range shots for some of the reasons mentioned.  Shooters and the kind of rim-attacking athletes are still the hardest things to find.  If mid-range jump shots are the path Walton and Levert think is going to get them the attention of the NBA they would be fools and I don't think that they are.

How about instead of attacking the players personally we just recognize the reality that bringing in a disappointing class of 5 freshman who are mostly lowely ranked is not a good idea. We lost 4 soon-to-be professionals and replaced them with 3-stars. I know Beilein pulled Burke and LeVert and Spike but that kind of stuff is not sustainable - those kind of players are going to struggle to contribute. 

Beilein needs to start closing on the top 50 players to sustain the success that the '12 and '13 classes brought.  The '14 and '15 recruiting classes have been major disappointments thusfar.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 14th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^

The line up of the team that played for the national championship was ranked as follows by Rivals:

Burke (142 overall)/Spike (not ranked)

Hardaway (not ranked)/LeVert (not ranked)/Vogrich (137)

Stauskas (71)

GRIII (11)

McGary (30 at the end but as high as 2 after his last AAU season, the difference being his h.s. coach didn't utilize his offensive game the way his AAU coach did)/Morgan (not ranked but a 4th year junior)/Horford (not ranked)

The line up now:

Walton (37)/Spike (not ranked)

LeVert (not ranked)/MAAR (not ranked)

Irvin (24)

Chatman (25)/Dawkins (not ranked)/Wilson (86 but very raw)

Doyle (not ranked)/Donnal (111)

Burke, Hardaway, LeVert, and Stauskas all out-performed (or are out-performing) expectations to one degree or another.  But even a staff that can help produce that kind of overachievement probably can't replace guys like McGary, GRIII, and senior season Morgan with players who are 25/86/111/not ranked/not ranked and not expect a big drop off - at least when those new players are freshman. 

The 1-3 positions for this year's team do well in comparison with the Final Four team if you're only looking at recruiting rankings.  But, if we stick with recruiting rankings as our guide, this team has no depth for those positions and a front court that (especially with Wilson hurt) can't hold a candle to the Final Four team.  Add in Walton's injury and varying degrees of struggle from Irvin and Chatman, and here we are. 

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^

Not sure what rankings you are using but I won't dispute them. I will say that there is a big difference between unranked players like MAAR, Spike, and Caris as compared to unranked players like Hardaway.  Regardless, just from a high-level persepective Michigan didn't do great with recruiting prior to the '12 and '13 classes but Beilein found some excellent under-ranked prospects in Burke, Hardaway and a couple great 'program' guys who fit in Morgan and Horford.  He was good, but he was also lucky with those previous classes. Adding the absolutely loaded '12 class on top was both GOOD (well ranked NBA talent) and LUCKY (Spike and Caris).  Success ensued.

The '14 class was both BAD and UNLUCKY.  It is lowely ranked (everyone besides Chatman is a sleeper) and none of the guys have proven to be ready-to-contribute (other than Doyle, who should really be a backup.)

What's happening now is that the good from '12 and '13 (Spike, Caris, Derrick, Zak, Donnal) is either in the NBA or not developing as fast as you'd hope.  The '13 guys are about where you'd expect them to be.

Meanwhile, the 14 class isn't giving you enough to offset that.  Result - Michigan is a mediocre team right now.  Upside: they can do better.

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 4:18 PM ^

Whether you go by-the-numbers or not, the reality is that this team SHOULD be regressing. It's fate was sealed when the double whammy of Mcgary's suspension and Horford's transfer hit.  With either of those guys as a frontline anchor, we could have weathered the uncertainty at the 4 spot, the lack of depth, or the injury problems.  But replacing both the 4 and 5 while also searching for another rotation wing is very hard and takes a great recruiting class that Beilein couldn't pull out of the hat this time around.

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^

It will probably always bother me.  Really tanked the season for us. 

In some ways the Horford transfer helps the situation because it's just "damn you fate!" instead of "damn you NCAA" to have split the damage between departures.  Either guy would have made this team FAR better than it is.

Blue Bunny Friday

January 14th, 2015 at 9:08 PM ^

Horford is not a good player.  He would've gotten some minutes but Doyle is better.  McGary was a beast and would've defintel helped.

You've previously stated that Jon Horford would be in the NBA.  Anyone backing that up?

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 10:09 PM ^

For now, he's playing well for Florida, despite the recent suspension.  Continuing his strong rebounding (leads the team and at Michigan he had one of the best DRB rates in the country , better than McGary and Morgan) and adding 3 point range.  It's not like the NBA is interested in PFs who can hit 3s or anything...

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 10:22 PM ^

Is one of the things NBA teams expect to be able to develop.  Horford is also hitting 90% of his free throws, reflecting his potential.

You can't teach 6'10.  You can teach 3 point shooting (see Jason Kidd).

Horford already has one NBA skill -- rebounding.  If he can continue to improve on D and develop a respectable 3 shot he's an NBA player, easily.

funkywolve

January 14th, 2015 at 6:15 PM ^

to be a crippling blow.  UM has no inside game at all.  Not that they had a ton with Morgan but but with McGary UM would havesomeone  around the paint and out to 15' that the defense would have to respect if you send occassional double teams.  His presence on the court would open up a lot of things for the perimeter players. 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 14th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^

I shouldn't use "personal attacks" but you can speak damningly about the entire "disappointing" freshman class?  C'mon.  You just specifically said our freshmen aren't good enough to play at Michigan - I don't think that puts you in a position to lecture about personal attacks on the players.  Instead of attacking the players personally we should just attack a whole class of them?

Besides, what I'm saying is backed up by numbers.  According to hoop-math, every last one of our guards has a better shooting percentage on their threes than on their 2-point jumpers.  All of them.  That goes entirely against your premise that they should be taking those twos when threes aren't falling.  And all our guards, except obviously the freshmen, are shooting more 2-point jumpers than they did last year, as a percentage of their shots.

Furthermore, in the cases of LeVert, Walton, and Spike, none of them are assisted on more than 16.7% of their midrange makes.  Which means when they shoot them, they're doing it almost all on their own.

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^

Saying "They take two many mid-range 2's" is fine.  Saying the same thing while adding "because they are thinking about the NBA" is a personal attack.

I'm not damning, insulting, or attacking any of the freshman by pointing out that they have been disappointing.  They have.  They'll get better.

You're not really saying anything unorthadox when calling out mid-range shots.  Entire NBA franchises are building around the philosophy.  It's the claim that these undesireable shots will lead to NBA riches, and the assertion that that is Walton and LeVert's motive that I take emphatic issue with.

You, me and everybody else is disappointed this team isn't doing better.  Doesn't mean we have to take shots at the character of our players.

Blue Bunny Friday

January 14th, 2015 at 10:13 PM ^

Wake UP! 29th on Chad Ford's big board with this:

Michigan is a mess, and after a fast start for LeVert, he seems to be enmeshed in it as well. Although his numbers for the season are strong, he has struggled the past few weeks, putting up poor performances against Eastern Michigan, Arizona, SMU and Purdue, all Wolverines losses. Scouts note that he has especially struggled this season against better teams such as Oregon, Syracuse, Arizona, SMU and Purdue. His only strong performance against a top team was a 16-point night against Villanova in late November. Some of that can be blamed on the lack of talent on this Michigan squad. But LeVert's ascension to being "the man" in Michigan just doesn't look that impressive right now.

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 10:19 PM ^

In reality, they move a lot less than Ford would have you think.  In the preseason Ford had Caris in the top 10 and Kevin Pelton had Caris outside round 1.  At this point they probably have come close to switching.  Draft express is historically more steady.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Caris-LeVert-66377/

NBA draft has him 23.

Average it out and you have a guy ranked firmly in the middle of the bottom half of the 1st round.

 

 

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 10:31 PM ^

Draftexpress has him there. Others have had him there before.  He is LOCK for the 1st round. He could play his way into the top 10 (though so far it doesn't look like).

Success and production in college are only loosly correlated to NBA success but people overrate it all the time.  But ....

Caris absolutely HAS played well. He was good last year, he is even better this year. As his numbers reflect.  Without Caris this team is well below 500. He is carrying a huge load.  He IS producing.  Not recognizing that is being detached from reality, driven by irrational expectations.

 

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^

14 points on 12 shot equivalents -- not bad.  Could have done more on both ends like the whole team.  Not his best game, but still led the team in scoring.  Considering his lack of support - it's a solid game for a good player.

Game before that (last year): he had 17 points on 11 shot equivalent -- even better.  Had 8 boards that game to lead the team.

Game before that he shot poorly 3-11.

Freshman year:  didn't do much, as his role was minimal.

Next game: we'll see.

Ohio State is a good team

Blue Bunny Friday

January 14th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^

LeVert finished with a team high 14 points, but he was 4 of 10 from the floor and had just one assist to three turnovers. LeVert is always going to be able to get his, but he struggled to deal with Sam Thompson’s on-ball defense overall. The Buckeyes generally forced LeVert where they wanted to in the ball screen game and like Walton, he was unable to pass out of the pick-and-roll without turning it over.

He hasn't played to your praise and gets shut down often.. Why don't you hold off a bit?

UMaD

January 14th, 2015 at 11:56 PM ^

He leads the team in scoring and is by far their best player. His numbers are better than last year, despite less help.  He has led them in every meaningful win they have had this year.

vs Oregon (who is 12-4 BTW). 39 minutes. 18 points - got to the line for 11 FTs. 2 steals.

vs Syracuse. 12 points (2nd on the team) 6 assists (team lead), 2 steals.

vs Villanova (a loss, but probably the best game M played). 16 points, 6 RB, 3 steals

Illinois. 19 points, 5 assists

Minnesota. 15 point (led team), 4 steals

Penn State. 18 points

------

The TEAM is struggling relative to expectations.  Without Caris they'd be a disaster.  When Caris doesn't play really well, there is no one to pick him up.

Unlike last year.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400510047

And let's not forget who stepped up when the going was tough early in the year...

http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400502708

 

Nard Dogg

January 14th, 2015 at 12:22 PM ^

The Ducks refuse to eat turkey on Thanksgiving. It started under Chip Kelly because he believed the tryptophan would weaken the Ducks on the football field. So apparently they wait until after the game near Thanksgiving to eat turkey. Instead, they eat crab on Thanksgiving (according to what I've read on The Oregonian and what I've heard from a friend who played for the Ducks).

bronxblue

January 14th, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^

One could argue that until Chip showed up at Oregon (and Phil Knight opened up the coffers) their tradition was as a mediocre college football team.

The basketball team will get to the NIT, and then who knows. It's a young team that finally hit a wall. They'll be better, but this is the floor of a Beilein team when it can't shot consistently.

cutter

January 14th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^

Brian, perhaps you can elaborate on your conclusion regarding the Michigan AD's efforts to increase department revenue being unnecessary.  It can't be solely based on one article in the Wall Street Journal outlining the intrinsic value and the revenues of the top athletic departments in the country--or can it?

Have you or perhaps some accountant delved into the Michigan athletic department's finances?  Have you found any large expense items that need to be trimmed from the budget?  Has there been any indications from Jim Hackett, et. al., that there will be major changes in the AD, what it spends its money on, etc.?  Per Schissel, Hackett is alledgedly reviewing AD operations.  Do you expect any major changes?

Your last paragraph in this post seems to be little more than a throwaway statement without too much substance.  I know you were critical of Brandon because revenue growth at UM was roughly akin to what we saw at other schools.  If you wanted to argue the point, then someone could say that what he did was roughly within what we'll call the industry standard among college athletic departments and wasn't actually excessive.

If you think the Michgan athletic department budget needs to be cut, please let us know where you would want to do it--and be specific.  Do you want to cut any sports to reduce the budget?   Change the 70/30 in-state/out-state ratio for athletic scholarships?  Cut coaching salaries--and if so, in what sports?  Slow down or stop the expansion/rebuilding of the facilities for the non-revenue sports?

Speaking of non-revenue sports, I'd like to have you publicly address your opinion on them and how they should fit in at Michigan.  I realize this blog is football/men'sbasketball/ice hockey centric, but there's another two dozen sports teams participating on the Michigan campus.  Do you care about them or are you more concerned what sort of rawk music if played at the football games?  

 

 

AZBlue

January 14th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

Brian May reply directly but I believe the gist of his thinking is not that budgets need to be cut. Instead it was the constant chasing of every last bit of revenue by DB (the seat cushion fiasco is a personal favorite) when the cited report -- and mentions previously of the surplus in the Michigan AD -- show that M athletics are doing just fine financially even with the added overhead of all the new facilities.

In regard to non-rev sports and spending, they are an important part of the department and maybe it's "fair" that every sport gets a Taj Mahal facility since they are spending that way for the big-2 sports. But it certainly isn't mandatory and isn't a slam dunk path to competing with Stanford in the Sears Director's cup (or whatever it's called today).

jmblue

January 14th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^

It's pretty much over as far as an NCAA bid is concerned—even 9-4 the rest of the way leaves Michigan with two horrendous, horrendous losses compared to the rest of the bubble and no real marquee wins.

But wouldn't a 9-4 finish require us to get a few marquee wins? I don't see nine sure wins the rest of the way.

 

Also, it's hard for me to believe that OSU took in $20M less in football revenue than we did. They actually exceeded us in attendance and I don't think tickets there are cheaper.  They didn't resort to any gimmicks like the Coke one, as far as I know.  

aplatypus

January 14th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^

is perfectly fine as long as their are considerations made for late coaching changes or similar circumstances. 

I don't even see anything wrong with August if those same exception rules are built in to protect players. High level recruits get literal bathtubs of mail almost monthly, dozens of phone calls a day, probably countless twitter/facebook/text messages, etc and I'm sure that's a burden if you're decided on your college already. A soft verbal doesn't keep another coach from texting you daily, or another school from sending you 3 packets in the mail a week, but being able to sign something early to desired program would. 

And if it's done well, that's a benefit to coaches as well and helps reduce uncertaintity going towards NSD