WTKA Roundtable 4/13/2023: You Sweet Summer Child Comment Count

Seth April 13th, 2023 at 10:46 AM

Things discussed:

  • Seth on early, talks Hank Greenberg and gefilte fish.
  • Hockeytalk: Soft goals override everything else you do in a hockey game. Quinnipiac is the best defensive team—you don't give that team three "pick-sixes" in soft goals.
  • Step one is don't hit three posts.
  • The first bank was inexcusable, the second was brain-exploding, and the weak saucer pass he gave up when Michigan had a chance to tie cemented Portillo's legacy as the next Billy Sauer.
  • Who's coming back? Fantilli could get drafted by Chicago, who would be smart to leave him in college to put off his free agent year and tank for a better pick next year. Healthy Nazar, healthy Truscott, Casey breakout, Nick Moldenhauer from the freshman class, and a portal defender (Ryan Siedem from Harvard) and LFG.
  • Goalie? West removed his name from the portal, gives you an okay floor. All in on Brown's Mathieu Caron in the portal, but you never know who can be pried loose.
  • COVID year guys? Would like to bring back Ciccolini, think Pehrson can move on, Granowicz? Draper & Lapointe's turn to be the 4th liners.
  • Hoops: Looking at some big portal additions. Everybody they got can defend. Could they get Olivier Nkamhoua (pronounced Kam-wa)? Could they get Hunter Dickinson back? He's probably assessing his market value, and whether Michigan's additions are going to make them contenders.
  • Do the additions make them contenders? It makes them VERY athletic, can be a defensive nightmare with enough spacing and scoring options to be a passable offense.
  • Love: Do not have him be your #1 pick and roll guy. Dug changes the math there, because he's going to progress from a 20/20 ATO guy to a 25/18 guy, and that's a *massive* difference to an offense.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream.

Seth was on early here. Segment two is here. You can watch the video here:

The Usual Links:

I was good and then you said all that stuff.

Comments

Blue Vet

April 13th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^

Are hockey goalies like quarterbacks and generals, getting more credit for wins and more blame for losses than they deserve?

Not being snarky. I'm genuinely curious.

Packer487

April 13th, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^

Didn't listen because it's hard to listen to podcasts while I'm working so it's very possible this was addressed, but just from the text summary: There's definitely a parallel between Portillo vs Quinnipiac in 2023 and Sauer vs Notre Dame in 2008 but if we're talking legacy, Portillo also has to be given credit for his run in 2022 when he was utterly outstanding down the stretch and gave up 2 in regulation to the soon-to-be-champions in the semis + his strong performances in two Big Ten Tournament championship runs. 

This year wasn't great. Last year really was. I'll remember him as an overall plus goalie for entire body of work that was a step down from Hunwick/Mann, but his peak was pretty close to them. He is the first Michigan goalie since Blackburn to start in two Frozen Fours and that's not nothing. 

1997 National …

April 13th, 2023 at 12:50 PM ^

IMO each passing day that Hunter doesn't commit to another team raises the probability that he will return to Michigan. I think he overestimated his market value a little bit and hopefully realizes Michigan is still his best option both on the court and in NIL.

ST3

April 13th, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^

Quite possible. The other possibility is this:

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/04/michigans-hunter-dickinson-sets-2-visits-for-possible-transfer-destination.html?utm_campaign=annarbornews_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

He’s visiting Maryland and Georgetown, which aligns with my theory he may want to play a season near home before heading off to Europe.