Sponsor note. Have a business? Want a business? Want that business to cross the Ts and dot the Is? Well, go call Richard Hoeg.

Richard Hoeg has a small business of his own and loves other small businesses, including this one. He will get you up and running with all the required paperwork. He'll help you with contracts, and Star Wars opinions, but mostly documents and contracts. You can also follow him on twitter.

If you want a full Michigan Stadium/Crisler/Yost. The state government has set a path to full reopening based on vaccination rates:

At 65% they'll lift indoor capacity limits but still require social distancing. At 70% it's go time. If you haven't gotten vaccinated yet there are walk-in opportunities all over the state. Ken Haddad's twitter feed is the most comprehensively updated vaccine availability notification device I've run across.

Also, if you took advantage of Ohio's Yokel Factor and got vaccinated south of the border because of increased availability you probably want to tell your primary care physician.

[After THE JUMP: playoff expansion inevitable]

Playoff expansion coming. For all but a very limited subset of college football programs, the playoff is a total failure. That subset has dominated playoff bids, contributing to a talent concentration at the top that has made the Alabama/Clemson/OSU/Oklahoma axis increasing like Kansas in B12 basketball: ordained from the preseason to the postseason. That is massively boring.

Worse, the playoff has obliterated the perceived value of bowl games. Now you've got the Rose Bowl—when it's not hosting a semifinal—maintaining some of its old aura and a bunch of games stars are more than willing to skip. Michigan suffering multiple opt-outs before a "New Years Six" game against Florida State is evidence enough of the bowls' dimming prestige.

So:

Concerned that their four-team product has been harmed by the dominance of a select few teams from the same region, FBS commissioners are seriously considering expanding the College Football Playoff. And while it’s long been assumed that any change to the format would be modest, several influential decision-makers are suddenly open to a playoff system that skips past eight teams and into the double digits.

“I sense 12 teams is building support,” one Power 5 athletic director said.

Per Andy Staples and Stewart Mandel, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 team models are under consideration. There are the usual mutterings about how the current format still has majority support, but this is a world where BCS spokesman Bill Hancock spent a decade decrying the very idea of a playoff and smoothly transitioned into being the spokesman for the playoff. If they're talking about it, and it's public enough to result in long Athletic articles, it's happening.

And, fine, okay. The current system is the worst of both worlds. I used to be opposed to a large playoff because I thought it would take away from the urgency of college football's regular season. I did not imagine that a small one would be even worse, but it is. Woof:

Of the 28 available spots in the Playoff so far, Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma have filled 20.

Expanding it to 12 would still reward making the top four heavily; it also wouldn't mean 80% of the Power 5 is playing for a bowl no one cares about anymore before the season starts.

Also: home games! (Probably.)

This is a lot of strikeouts. A record-setting number, in fact:

A record day for @alxsto_! 2⃣2⃣ Ks! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/YKuJEByKf9

— Michigan Softball (@umichsoftball) May 5, 2021

Michigan won 1-0 in a flashback to softball of a couple decades ago.

People describe DeVante' Jones. First, DeVante' Jones:

“I feel like a lot of people have got it confused,” he said. “Last year, I was forced to score more than pass. That’s what my team need to win. I think I can do it all — pass, score, rebound at a high level, play defense, do all the little things — but more than anything, I’m a pass-first point guard. That’s my mindset. That’s what I’m going there to do.”

I was one of those people who got it confused, overlooking Jones's sophomore year and the top-50 assist rate he had during it. He still took a lot of shots, but at Michigan he's not going to be the only guy with any efficiency to him.

Various coaches on Jones:

“He’s an unassuming tough guy,” Howard said. “He never gets rattled. He’s always under control. No moment is too big for him. He never loses his composure. He’s a tough, gritty kid without letting you know that he’s a tough, gritty kid.” …

Howard’s only knocks were that Jones isn’t particularly explosive or athletic. “He’s not a ‘blow-by’ point guard,” Howard said. Instead, Jones can score from anywhere on the court, gets to the foul line often, and shoots 85 percent on free throws. Howard sees some of former Villanova point guard -- and national Player of the Year -- Jalen Brunson in Jones’ game.

Goodbye, Franz. Alas, Franz Wagner's delayed NBA draft announcement was not because he was being held in his brother's basement until he agreed to a return. I mean, probably. You never know.

From a basketball perspective, this is the move for me to make right now. (Plus, I mean, if Moe can play in the league — obviously they’ll take anyone.)

Wagner's headed off to the lottery, and we get to console ourselves with this:

exclusive swanky vid of Franz Wagner saying goodbye to Michigan & heading to the NBA. recognize anyone in the ending? #GoBlue @umichbball pic.twitter.com/ez7hG6rEN8

— Swanky Wolverine (@swankywolverine) May 4, 2021

If you're interested in a DX-style strengths/weaknesses video here you go:

All of that is on point. Sam Vecenie has Wagner going 11th overall to the Pacers:

Franz Wagner | 6-9 forward | 19 years old, sophomore | Michigan

The player: Wagner is an interesting 3-and-D prospect with real size at 6-9. His movement is terrific, with great lateral quickness. He can guard a variety of perimeter players on the ball, but his off-ball instincts are absolutely spectacular. He knows exactly where to be positionally, and his reactivity to get deflections is outstanding. The big question revolves around his shot, which comes and goes far too often. Sometimes, he looks like a legit 40 percent 3-point shooter in the future. Other times, he looks like a 30 percent guy and totally non-confident in the jumper mechanics. Whichever one he is will determine his career. If he becomes that high-level shooter, he’ll be a very high-level role player. If he doesn’t, he’s more in the vein of his brother, Moritz, as an end-of-the-rotation guy.

The fit: The Pacers need someone like this within their core, a defense-first wing who can pass and be relatively low-usage for wings such as Caris LeVert and T.J. Warren to focus on scoring. The team has also struggled a lot on defense in the minutes and games that Myles Turner has missed this season. This is another excellent fit on draft night if the Pacers end up with Wagner because he really fits from a positional perspective rotationally as well as a team-need perspective.

Would I watch an NBA team starting Franz Wagner and Caris LeVert? Maybe!

Other names of note from Vecenie's mock draft:

• #6 Scottie Barnes, which vexes me because Wagner stuffed him in a trash can
• #8 Moses Moody, who was just a nice recruit ranked around 50th when Michigan lost out on him to Arkansas
• #19 Cam Thomas
• #23 Ayo Dosunmu
• #30 Aaron Henry (ed: ?)
• #31 Bones Hyland
• #33 Josh Christopher
• #35 Isaiah Todd
• #38 Luka Garza
• #41 Greg Brown
• #54 Kofi Cockburn

Kofi at 54 is relatively good news for Dickinson's longevity in college. (Only relative because despite that draft position Cockburn was two-and-out at Illinois.)

The suit. The backstory on Kwity Paye's NFL draft suit:

Kwity Paye (@OfficialKwity) told me earlier today that Chadwick Boseman being the first Black superhero meant the world to him, so his draft suit reflected that. Suit was made by former Packers player Adonis Jennings pic.twitter.com/tqZ7qLfnio

— Tyler R. Tynes (@TylerRickyTynes) April 29, 2021

And also the extraordinary backstory on Paye himself:

Soldiers had captured her cousin and taken a machete to his head, leaving a gash across his forehead and a pool of blood spilling out, then strapped a tire to his body to burn him alive. They would have completed their grisly task, if not for one soldier who'd recognized him and considered him a friend. He was a nice man, Cyrus; he'd become something of a favorite son around the camp, and that reputation was his salvation. He shouted the soldier's name. Help me! The soldier ran to him, pleading with the other soldiers. I know this kid; he's like my son. The soldier spared Cyrus' life, then rushed him to the Red Cross. Kwity remembers that now, always. How the simple act of being kind, of being a friend, saved Cyrus' life. How the simple act of Kwity being kind, of being a friend, might yet change his.

"Make sure you always be respectful; make sure you always put your best foot forward," Kwity says, reciting the mantra Agnes passed down to him. "You never know how that person may help."

That is a story his mom passed down to him; his mom is now retired.

After he was drafted by the Colts, Kwity Paye said his mom was "done working and she's retired."

From West Africa to the NFL, this is the story of how @OfficialKwity honors his mother for all the sacrifices she made so her children could have a better life. pic.twitter.com/vqVhnwDDIB

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 2, 2021

Maybe us someday. The Knicks are back! This is extremely relevant!

When we get hurt, we put up walls. It’s human nature. We remember what it feels like to be vulnerable—to care about something so much that you extend your arms to embrace it—and what it feels like when that decision backfires. We don’t want to feel like that again. So up go the walls, getting taller with each blow and bruise, brick by brick. Eventually, we can’t reach the thing we cared about anymore. But it can’t reach us, either.

The Knicks have spent the better part of two decades giving fans like me reasons to stack bricks. Between 2000 and 2020, chairman James L. Dolan cycled through eight front-office leaders, 14 head coaches, at least that many prospective saviors who didn’t pan out on the floor, and a frankly incalculable number of sideline pouts and lifetime bans. All that churn netted just five postseason appearances, four winning records, one playoff series win, more losses than any other team ... and many, many towering walls.

It takes a lot to break those down. This year’s Knicks are doing it.

I don't even know what that would look like anymore because Michigan has that great big wall at the end of every season, but maybe one day.

Etc.: If Michigan really needs a mascot this is a candidate. Transfer portal reporting has gone too far. Baseball on track to make the tournament. Zion got money (surprise), would have gotten a lot more in an NIL world (surprise). Adding Jones moves Michigan up to #6 in Gary Parrish's early rankings, one spot behind OSU. CBS ranks Jones the #8 committed transfer.