Member for

12 years 1 month
Points
1328.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
I think at this point UM can…

I think at this point UM can push for blue chip/top tier recruits (Jaden McDaniels or Cole Anthony) through the season for a spring commitment.  That said, I wouldn't rest my hopes on Jaden at this point.

I hadn't thought about that…

I hadn't thought about that song in a while, thank you for reminding me!

 

Also happy with the commit, welcome Cole!

ESPN shows 3/23

No time though. Guessing that will come after the games finish tonight.  I hope you're right on Irvin, I forsee myself getting upset at the zebras again.

Not looking forward to

Dillon Brooks flopping all over the place and drawing fouls.  Feel good in a straight up match though.

This

People are play by playing this a bit too much.

Mo Bamba

That is all.

I'm sitting here

strongly hoping Mo stakes his claim as our starting big early on.  Time will tell.

Looks like we both

replied similarly.  I'd just say based on the media day bits I read, that Beilein is very much expecting both X and Walton out on the floor at the same time for good portions of time.  Although now that I think about it, probably will be X at the 1, Walton at the 2.

I also hope we don't keep RS for both Teske and Davis.  We'll want to be 3 deep at the Center position, especially if we're going to be more defensively aggressive.

Likely

1. Walton/X

2. MAAR/X/Watson

3. Irvin/MAAR/Watson

4. (toss-up) Robinson-Wilson/Irvin

5. (toss-up) Donnal - Wagner/Davis - Teske

 

4. and 5. are the "position battles"

As a Michigan Alum in the DC Area

I'm pretty stoked, but I understand the frustration.

I'll just say

At the core of GRRM's goal for ASOIAF, he's writing a high fantasy novel.  High fantasy follows a pretty standard trend of good triumphing over evil.  We've been bogged down in the "middle" of the books for so long that we dwell on all the archetypal subversion GRRM does with character deaths.  That said, chances are (I don't know this for a fact) that the song of ice and fire has to culminate in the White Walkers vs. Fire (guessing dragons).  So at some point, the pieces have to be in place for the "good" to be put up against the true "bad" (white walkers).

That said, I do think the fact that the showrunners do seem to be pushing towards a conclusion is going to make Occam's Razor a pretty valid guesstimate at how things play out.  If we had the next 5-10 years like GRRM will take to write the books (*sob*), then maybe we'd have a lot more twists and turns, but that's not how it will work for us sadly.

Anyway, not disagreeing with your point, just some thoughts from me on why it may be that way.

Quite a title

you picked there.

Sign me up

for a trio of Poole, Matthews being able to play in 2017, and Cain as a great addition for 2-4 depth/contributors.

This is why

You play the games.  Good team effort.

Hah

I know it's been already there, but I guess with the 2016 recruiting business behind, this is the next "start" for me.  No reason to not have expected it to continue, but I just kinda love it.

And so

the 2016 Jim Harbaugh news cycle domination begins.

I guess I'm just a sucker

for the good ol' dunce cap.  I feel it's underused in this day and age.

I considered going that route for a bit,

but didn't have a good idea of the perfect segue into it.

I find your proposed self-inflicted punishment

for not detecting sarcasm a tad extreme.

Something something growing pains

Something something experienced defense will pick it up quickly.

Something something kinks worked out by MSU game

Something something it's all good we got Rashan Gary

Everyone has their opinions.

I personally can't justify calling for a coach to be fired for two bad seasons with significant injuries for extended durations to major players.  That said, this team does need to change its mindset if they want to be competitors in the B1G this season and next.

Congrats to Caris

But I think from my perspective, Buddy Hield seems to be most deserving of the award this season so far.

I'm generally of the same mindset as you,

but I think Beilein has already gambled on Wagner's upside simply by burning his redshirt already.  Best case scenario for him at this point is a contribution like Caris in his freshman year, which would be great to get off the bench in someone who can play the 5.

So far

I'd rank the teams as follows

1. Brian (Overall best backcourt, I think Williams will be good this year)

2. Ace (Good wings, but no centers yet)

3. Alex (seems to have best options for a diverse frontcourt)

4. Seth (best centers, but McIntosh over SoboCop??)

Overall, great news!

Really happy that we get to have Beilein around for a few more years, and very clearly this is his last stop.

One potential downside is that I'd say this puts a damper on a "coach in waiting" situation with Jordan or BA to immediately follow Beilein.  But that may be for the best, we will have to see.

Oooooh

This will be fun to revisit come March....

Maybe didn't phrase properly

I didn't see highlights including him dunking, and I wanted to pass that interpretation along to say that he's maybe not as athletic at this point as some other similarly sized prospects in the class.  Not saying he can't dunk or that he will never dunk in his collegiate career, just saying it wasn't in the film I watched.  And yeah, maybe he doesn't need/want to.

Seems consensus top 100

Aside from Rivals which has him at 105.  Can't find him on ESPN.

My uneducated take from two highlight reels is he is a shooter.  Long range and mid-range.  Can get close to the hoop, but doesn't seem to quite be able to dunk it.  Also capable of distributing the ball.  I'd say he fills sort of a MAAR role or Stu Douglass where you could slot him at the point in a pinch, but you'd rather he play the off-guard spot ideally.

One note

Jordan Poole is from WI, not OH.  Despite the fact that we have indeed gotten many recruits from there recently.

Additionally

Evan Flood, who made a post saying the latest intel had Simpson going to Wisconsin hours ago, made a crystal ball pick to Michigan just recently as well.  I'd say we can maybe get a little optimistic here.

2:30 pm

http://forum.umhoops.com/discussion/2806/on-xavier-simpson#latest

I 100% agree

I actually like his game a lot.  Certainly hope we can generate some positive buzz.  I just didn't want people to think he was a 5 star by accident.

There's a Scout article

from Snow and Daniels saying Michigan may have made a late push.

"Update on top 15 PG Xavier Simpson"

To be fair, he is top 15 at his position, but he's not top 15 overall.  May be an exciting day.

Yeah, this is one of the reasons

why I'm not upset about the lack of media availability while the sub is "submerged."  The main thing we might be getting more of is insider impressions of camp.  But the media interviews are not going to be interesting information.  At least not to me.

Indeed.

I believe it's possible for people to re-evaluate their stance after an event as likely frustrating as the Battle/Langford situation was.

Was an interesting tidbit indeed.

Davis reclassifying only allows you to take your PG in 2016.  Then I think you start looking at an expectation that someone is going pro after this season (likely Irvin).  Going to be interesting beyond that.

That said, I'm all for taking another wing in 2016 if it means we can get Coffey or Bridges.

I missed these.

Glad they are back.

I had forgotten

How quickly I could scroll through and skim who picked whom.

Didn't see the Coffey tweet, so didn't know if I could say it.

But wow his film looks great.  I'd actually prefer him as a SG/wing prospect in the class over Battle.  Maybe not as much as Langford, but his film looks great.  I guess the question is if the ACL potentially becomes a larger issue.  Hopefully not.

We knew

a lot of the rumblings, but maybe soon we will start getting some clarity on what that was all about.  I am buckling down for this one.

Insert

*Oh Long Johnson Cat.gif*

This

is why I think the SEC and ACC can go stuff their opinions on satellite camps.

In after

stud.

Yeah,

At this point I think I can point to nearly any fandom of any book series, video game, tv show, movie, etc. and find a lot of divisive discussion at play.  I understand they are "fanatics" and not "rationals" but it feels slightly worse now than in recent memory.

Some interesting videos

on HBO's youtube channel.  Some 30 second character spots for the four main actors (Farrell, McAdams, Vaughn, and Kitsch).  Have to say they got me a little more excited for learning more about the other characters than I was before.

https://www.youtube.com/user/HBO/videos

Will be compared to Season 1

By pretty much everyone early on.  In that sense it's probably a small step down so far, but it's still very enjoyable TV.  I will say I latched onto Colin Farrell's character really quickly, so I'm invested in figuring out how that develops.  Will have to wait and see on the other characters.

Jon Teske

was a plan A type kid as he was offered day 1 by the coaching staff.  They got him.  Just because he isn't as highly touted as Battle does not mean he wasn't the staff's top choice for the position.

That's it folks

No confirmed spoilers left for book readers to spoil for you guys.  Now you just have to be wary of theory territory.

Word is

Both schools may be better off just not getting involved.  He's an amazing talent, truly amazing, but sounds like there's other things to address.