WTKA Roundtable 5/5/2022: Make the World You Want to Live In
Shout out to Carl in Vienna! Get your Beethoven on!
Things discussed:
- Michigan draft picks: DE production in college translates. Love Dax on the Bengals—fixes a major "you drafted a Buckeye cornerback" mistake. Nice to have the Ravens to snatch up any leftover Michigan players.
- So many Georgia picks: and the best player on that defense slipped to the 3rd round. Why? College football's playoff system had all the players who wanted to play in the playoffs collect in the three or four schools that make the playoffs with regularity. We're seeing a reflection of an unprecedented amount of talent pooling at the top.
- Frankie's transfer: people around him were oversensitive to playing time. He also wasn't very good on ball screens last year—and won't ever be a shooter. Was pretty clear Michigan needed another guard, and one of the reasons was to get some shooting on the floor when Michigan's down. Unfortunate that the state of things are such that a guy like Frankie can even consider going to Arizona State.
- Llewellyn is now a point guard—offense is going to run through Dickinson and be fine, but defense is now an issue, unless Kobe Bufkin takes some huge strides.
- Emoni Bates? Lol. Michigan wasn't interested; seems like Bates was but we already had forwards coming out of our ears. Hot take: he should have gone to MSU.
- NIL and Hunter Dickinson's comments: Glad to see someone at Michigan is finally taking leadership in the conversation. NCAA wants Congress to bail them out. Shouldn't be a Title IX issue if Michigan is facilitating payments, not making the payments themselves.
- Michigan *could* be awesome at this. We have donors who support the program rather than just look for access or ask "What do I get for my money?" and that makes us a more attractive school than a Texas, LSU, or Ole Miss where the donors want you to dance.
- Mel Pearson's contract? We don't know, but Michigan had their opportunity to run away, and we think they probably would have if they didn't have some belief—perhaps a verbal communication about the WilmerHale Report's contents—that they won't have to fire him. Can't discount the possibility that they're sweeping it under the rug, or twiddling their thumbs while they wait for the report to be published.
You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream.
Segment two is available here. And you can watch the video here:
The Usual Links:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link (right-click/save as)
- What's with the theme music?
What's academic achievement at Ohio State?
Dax was a grade A pick for the Bengals. He gives them much-needed flexibility going forward. I hope that they keep Bates III, but now they don't have to overpay for him.
So many Georgia picks: and the best player on that defense slipped to the 3rd round. Why?
I didn't have time to listen to the podcast. From my understanding, Nakobe Dean was taken off the board due to medical red flags, durability concern and he's small for a LB. Nakobe's playing weight was 208 lbs according to Texans scout which makes him the smallest LB in the league. All of it, it wasn't surprising that he fell to 3rd round.
Yes, we discussed that. Pectoral injury was the rumor.
There was nothing wrong with Bates choosing Memphis. And playing for a guy who actually knows the NBA like Penny makes more sense for a talent like Bates than playing for an asshole. Bates should have just stayed at Memphis and gotten better.
I don’t understand the need for seemingly every player to jump ship at the first sign of adversity. What is to say that Louisville will be any better? Same goes for Collins. Even if he wasn’t THE guy this upcoming season he is only a sophomore. He could certainly be THE guy his junior year. And no six foot PG with a broken jumper is going to the NBA at this point. His camp is delusional. Shame.
People have lost sight of the value that comes from fighting through adversity. Would Tom Brady have been better off if he had left Michigan when he felt he had been passed over? Being a sixth round pick also fueled him. Running away because the future looks more difficult than expected can become a detrimental lifelong pattern. Pushing through tough times makes one stronger.
Different times...
Young people have ALWAYS been much more impulsive than 'seasoned' adults...
So, who knows if Tom Brady or even Jim Harbaugh would have sat and waited for their opportunity if they didn't face having to sit out a year if they moved on?
I don't think you can compare before to now...coaches back in the day would readily threaten to kick guys off the team if they didn't fall in line...in that time, they had ALL the leverage and could say and do pretty much whatever they wanted and know that it was highly unlikely to lose a talented kid. These days.....not so fast.
I think we need to slow our roll on "kids today." For one thing, lots of kids still stay. JJ McCarthy, for one. Indeed, I would argue the great majority of them stay. Terrance Williams II. The list goes on and on. Also, frankly, if I were a pretty good player, I'd be pissed to practice my ass off for four years and never get the chance to play, because I happen to be behind an all-star. Nothing wrong with saying, "if I do the work, I want the reward." You only get one chance at college.
I'm not saying that reflects Frankie Collins' situation. I'm just saying, if he thinks his prospects are better elsewhere, either for publicity or simply for playing time, how in the world can we criticize him for leaving? Damn. If I felt, as a grown-ass adult, that my career prospects would be better elsewhere, and another employer I liked offered me a job, it's hardly "childish" of me to take it.
Again, I'm not saying he was right to leave. Just making this about "kids today" is a little reductive. People of all ages make mistakes. And giving kids increased choices is a good thing, not a bad thing.
The Bates stuff really separated the true "insiders" from the fringe guys. Everyone who is really plugged in knew that Michigan was never taking Bates. The guys who don't know much got fooled by Emoni's camp. I won't mention any names but there's one guy in particular whose name rhymes with Brant Pright.
I think people -- including the MGoBlog team on the Roundtable -- may be underestimating the complexity of the NIL issue when they insist that Michigan should "get ahead of it." How do you enter into contracts with high school seniors when contracts with minors may not be binding? How do you decide which players get which amounts without pissing them off? What happens when another player at your position, or at another school, gets more?
I know the answer seems to be, "yes, they'll have to figure all that out," but I don't think it's the kind of thing one school, all alone, will be able to solve. This will have to come through trial-and-error, and learning from other school's mistakes, and it will take YEARS. (As I've said before, since this is essentially going to turn into payments from the schools (regardless where the money comes from, players are already demanding that the schools set systems up -- witness Hunter Dickinson's criticisms of Michigan, and not the booster community), I think this may descend into complete and utter chaos). At the very least, until you get some kind of collective bargaining from the student-athletes I don't see any one system "working" -- when another school can simply offer you more to transfer.
Jesus, every time I start even trying to think about where this might go my head hurts. With the combination of NIL and the portal, you're literally going to have all schools trying to steal players from each other by offering not only playing time but more cash, all legally. Need a quarterback? Hey, JJ McCarthy, how about $400,000 to come join us? Forcing what, Michigan to scramble to match that? But then Cade, the starter, is only making $200,000, so then he complains, and ...
Chaos. Anyway, I think suggesting that Michigan should just "figure it out" is pretty simplistic.
Comments