1 hour and 26 minutes

We are at the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, hiding from the angriest point guard who ever lived.

We Couldn’t Have One Without the Other

We can do this because people support us. You should support them too so they’ll want to do it again next year! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan there would be VERY long hiatuses between podcasts.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad,Human Element, Lantana Hummus and Ecotelligent Homes

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1. Ent Moot: The FSU Game

starts at 1:00

Emotional impact of 7’4” dude’s emphatic blocks was greater than their basketball impact. Michigan had a tough time getting into their offense; FSU kept them to just one or two actions. Nice to have Duncan to shoot some free throws at the end there because we almost died the way we thought we would. Is Reggie Miller fine? No, Reggie Miller is not fine.

2. Death from Above: The Texas A&M Game

starts at 20:36

People on Texas A&M bench putting their towels down and dying. Least hyped tip slam of all time. Z responded to T.J. Starks’s “unguardable” comment by setting a first-half turnover record. Every time it was about to stop being a solid, no-nervousness game, Charles Matthews took over. Both games he’s been way more effective stopping in the lane: got those breaks fixed. Thank you C.J. Baird!

3. Final Four Preview

starts at 38:13

Sorry, Sister Jean. Surprising Final Four team but closest thing to a mirror match Michigan can get unless/until Villanova, except Loyola’s got a Donnalish backup center. KSU wasn’t very good, so this isn’t the craziest 11-seed run. New challenge for this tournament: everyone on the floor can shoot. However there’s a big drop-off in defensive athleticism. Offense is kind of beautiful.

Nova: ridiculous. Z is big enough to switch on to centers but Z isn’t thicc like Jalen Brunson. If Nova tries to with win this with Brunson post-ups, be our guest. Kansas has 40% shooters and a thunderdunker.

4. Ace’s Frozen Four Hockey Podcast wsg David Nasternak

starts at 1:09:54

Mel has us in the Frozen Four in his first year! Ace watches hockey and has hockey takes now. BU: Most talented team in the country and one of the worst-coached (down-year Kentucky of hockey). More of that Wisconsin stuff where there’s one too many attackers. Crapshoot hockey is fun when we get a Lidstrom bounce. Slaker got away with a PENalty. Northeastern: surprisingly dominant performance by top line vs the best line in the country. FYI we’re planning on a hockeycast sometime this week unless y’all have a major objection to that idea.

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MUSIC

• “Still Alive”—(Portal End Credits) by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain
• “1,2,3,4”—Feist and the Cast of Sesame Street
• “Future/Now”—MC5
• “Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link
• What's with the theme music?

C.J. Baird is going to be 80 years old that’s still going to be his avater. He doesn’t have to think about that anymore. He’ll like stand in profile at Ashley’s and hold his fingers up the right way and someone will buy him a beer. And that man might be me.

THE ESSENTIALS

yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip!    

THE US

Michigan managed to stay out of the box long enough for their 5v5 superiority to tell, but it was a hell of a thing getting there what with the third-period goal from Northeastern that tied the score at 2-2 and set the stage for Michigan's traditional 3-2 playoff OT loss. But one bad leg-lift from Cayden Primeau and Cooper Marody's five-hole shot with under five minutes left sent them through. Hooray plinko!

THE THEM

It's us? Sort of? Like Michigan, BU was idling a couple games under .500 for much of the year before a late breakout got them to the tourney. Like Michigan, there are several players of great interest to the NHL on the roster—BU has three first-round picks and certain top-ten pick Brady Tkachuk. But the comparisons start diverging there.

BU's upset of top-seeded Cornell is welcome news if you believe ranking systems like Pairwise and KRACH; it's less welcome if you want to compare NHL draft picks. BU continues to be the Kentucky of college hockey, stacked with five-star prospects (if anyone bothered to rank college hockey prospects) and beset by puzzling swings in performance. BU had to win the Hockey East playoff title to even get in; they would not have been an at-large and only made it up to 15th by winning said title.

BU is probably the most talented team in college hockey, and went 12-8-4 in conference play. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some of this may just be bad luck. BU's possession numbers are on par with Michigan's but a 7.6 shooting percentage at even strength has held down their numbers substantially. NHL statheads look at shooting percentages in the same way Kenpom acolytes now talk about three-point percentage defense: mostly random and begging to return to the mean. But usually when they're talking about this they're talking about a specific player playing one season. In BU's case, they've had a team-wide low shooting percentage for all four years that College Hockey News has advanced stats on. It looks like a coaching issue. 7.6 is low even for percentage-challenged BU, though.

Jordan Greenway is one of 7 NTPD alums on the BU roster

As a result none of BU's top guys have gotten to a PPG except sophomore Dante Harper, who was knocked out for the year in early January. The remaining top guns are Tkachuk (8-22-30), Jordan Greenway(12-21-33), Bobo Carpenter(20-15-35), and Shane Bowers(17-15-32). From there it again drops off to guys scoring a half PPG or fewer. The forward corps has been somewhat disappointing.

BU's made up for it with a number of excellent offensive-minded D. They've gotten 30 goals from their blue line this year, a quarter of their total and the most in college hockey. Sophomores Dante Fabbro (a first round pick of Nashville) and Chad Krys (a second round pick of Chicago) are dangerous puck-movers to keep an eye on.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Michigan will have a disadvantage against just about any team in a penalty-filled game, but despite the buckets of talent BU possesses this game will be close-ish to even. BU's penalty kill isn't much better than Michigan's at 79%, 44th nationally. Their power play is good—15th—but not in Northeastern's class and just a few percentage points higher than Michigan's. Staying out of the box is job one for this team for as long as they get to keep playing; in this game it's not also jobs two and four.

GOALIE

BU's played first-round pick Jake Oettinger virtually the whole year; his Lavigne-esque .918 save percentage is also Lavigne-esque in that there's a huge gap between his even strength %, which is .932, and his PK %, which is .851.

THE KEYS

STAY OUT OF THE BOX. Just one of these this time.

Thunk BU's top line. Michigan's top line held Northeastern's big line to nine even strength shot attempts and got off 19 of their own in a shocking display of dominance. BU isn't quite as dependent on their top guys as Northeastern was, but that'll still go a long way towards a victory.

Quinn Hughes vs everybody. Hughes was the best player on the ice yesterday, and has been the best player on the ice for most of the past couple months. He has not yet turned this into boxscore numbers that match his impact. Now would be a good time for that.

PREDICTIONS

are stupid

Champions of the West. [Patrick Barron/MGoBlog]

Say it again, Dana Jacobson. Say it again and again, everyone.

Michigan is going to the Final Four. John Beilein, the true king of Ann Arbor, is one victory—against, of all teams, 11-seed Loyola—away from his second championship game in six years and an opportunity for the program's first national title since 1989.

The Wolverines got there in a most un-Beilein way. This was not Thursday, when they rained fire on Texas A&M. This is what many fans feared Thursday would look like, as a very large, athletic Florida State squad held Michigan well under a point per possession. Michigan, meanwhile, couldn't hit a three-pointer, going an appalling 4-for-22 from beyond the arc. Any past Beilein team would've lost this game.

But not this one. For as good as FSU's defense played, Michigan's was a cut above. The Seminoles had one more field goal (16) than turnovers committed (15). They kept a transition-reliant FSU scoreless on fast breaks; the Wolverines scored 12 in transition because of live-ball turnovers. That, above all, made the difference in a game featuring great halfcourt defense and ugly shooting.

"I've never seen a team work so hard and be so connected on both ends of the floor, even when things do not go right on the offensive end," said Beilein. "They were exceptional on defense. We had that string of plays where Moe was wide open, Charles is wide open, Duncan was wide open, and they didn't go down and sulk at the other end. They ended up just playing better defense so that we could win the game."

Charles Matthews surprised a lot of people tonight. [Barron]

Michigan's heroes weren't the ones you would've expected a month or two ago. Charles Matthews scored M's first points on an and-one dunk, flashed a rare smile, and proceeded to carry the offense through some truly ugly stretches. Using strong drives, sharp pivots, and tough finishes, Matthews finished with a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, a steal, and only one turnover.

"It was special," he said. "Last year all I used to hear in practice was turnover Matthews, turnover Matthews. And go see 212, that's when I have to run up to the top of the bleachers. But I stayed with it. Coach stayed on me. He continued to believe in me, and that continued to help my confidence grow. My teammates believe in me, and I believe in them. So it's just been a special feeling."

Zavier Simpson set the tone early, as well, when he ripped the ball away from FSU's Terance Mann as a parent would take a toy from an unruly child. While the stat line is packed—nine points on 4/8 shooting, three boards, five assists, one turnover, three steals—it doesn't do justice to Simpson's masterful control over the game. On a normal Michigan shooting night, Simpson threatens double-digit assists. Meanwhile, he hit a couple huge shots late and played his usual superlative defense. The two Seminole point guards, Trent Forrest and CJ Walker, combined to go 1-for-9 from the field with five turnovers.

Nobody else, though, could find any consistency on offense. Moe Wagner had an especially brutal outing, failing to hit a field goal in the first half before finishing with 11 points on 15 shot equivalents. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman needed ten shot equivalents to net his nine points. Duncan Robinson didn't make his first three-pointer until 2:25 remained, when his corner triple gave the Wolverines a seemingly insurmountable ten-point lead.

Florida State nearly surmounted it. Free throws, that familiar bugaboo, nearly cost Michigan dearly this time, as Simpson and MAAR went on a 2-for-5 stretch that included missing the front end of two one-and-ones to allow FSU to pull within a single possession twice. After Phil Cofer's putback got the 'Noles cut the margin to two, however, Robinson calmly sunk two free throws. PJ Savoy missed a wild, contested three-pointer with 13 seconds to play, Robinson grabbed the rebound, and for reasons unbeknownst to everyone other than Leonard Hamilton, Robinson was allowed to dribble out the clock.

"We knew they were going to make a run," said Abdur-Rahkman. "We each had to weather the storm and get stops when we needed it. And I think that's what we did."

Michigan is going to the Final Four—say it again—because they got stops. What a team. What a coaching staff. What a world.

[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]

our student manager turned walk-on is better than yours and knows it

The nature of the tournament means you may not get much of a chance to savor a great victory before much of its luster is worn off. Thursday night was, without question, a great victory, and I'm going to make a conscious effort to give it the savoring it so richly deserves.

Upon approximately my hundredth rewatching of the video containing all 14 (FOURTEEN!) of Michigan's three-pointers against Texas A&M, I came to a startling realization. I was genuinely, unironically glad that Reggie Miller, whose commentary I normally find obnoxious at best*, was calling the game for TBS. For one night, he was the perfect person to call a basketball game.

[*I'm pretty sure this video was made in jest. I hope, at least.]

Reggie Miller made a Hall of Fame career from hitting threes—often audacious, sometimes outrageous threes, seemingly always in critical circumstances—and talking a spectacular amount of shit. His game was loud, his personality louder still.

As Miller watched the Wolverines rip the Aggies limb-from-limb, his usual schtick disappeared and genuine joy broke through. He called shots and reacted with glee as they unfolded before his eyes. He found a kindred spirit in Moe Wagner. At one point he uttered "ooh, my goodness" while so taken aback it's almost lost beneath Kevin Harlan's exhilaration.

Michigan did not just rain in a torrent of threes. They matched them with Miller-like theatrics that escalated with each strike.

The show turned to a full-blown three-ring circus, Oakland-style, by late in the first half. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, the silent killer of the squad, lined up a long-range shot in transition. By the time the ball actually went through the net, 60% of the team was back on defense.

Robinson's arm went up the moment the shot did

Not a whole lot changed after halftime other than Michigan's willingness to cede Texas A&M post-up buckets, which lack both efficiency and swagger. Reggie wasn't here for that. Reggie's here for this.

Michigan's team shirts say "DO MORE, SAY LESS" this postseason. It's in the spirit of a John Beilein team, to be sure, but not this one, not anymore. This team is embodied by Moe Wagner removing his mouthguard to talk trash, Charles Matthews laughing in Nick Ward's face, Zavier Simpson's biggest mood, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman coldly staring down his shot while the rest of the team merrily turns the other way, and student-manager-turned-walk-on CJ Baird flashing three fingers after drilling a 25-footer. Effervescent ailurophile-slash-tournament hero Jordan Poole, perhaps the most brash of the bunch, inspires art such as this Smoothitron masterpiece:

This has turned into a team that'll take your lunch money and throw your empty wallet into the woods. Every once in a while, as they did on Thursday, they'll use that money to buy your mom a nice meal. Maybe they'll take her out again tonight.