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Well, they had good offenses…

Well, they had good offenses. I don't know much about Herman's time at Texas but Mullen and Frost seemed to fail more for HC duty reasons than offensive philosophy. I'd take any of those guys as OC.

Contracts

Contracts

Alex's piece on the sad…

Alex's piece on the sad state of Michigan basketball under Juwan was mostly stuff we knew if you read this blog, but one thing I hadn't really thought about was how even the guys we lost out on never really did much. Frankie left and floundered at ASU. Josh Christopher and Isiah Todd haven't done anything impressive apparently. Diabate barely playing. Houstan appears to be getting a little run at least. Jett Howard. Still early for those guys of course but given all that talent no one appears to be tracking towards a good NBA career yet. Before that piece I had been thinking, "Well if they could just bring in some more of these guys or get them to stay...". I'd rather have someone who can find diamonds in the rough who are going to stick around.

I didn't realize Orlando has 4 former Michigan players: Jett, Caleb, and the Wagners.

I had a custom made Michigan…

I had a custom made Michigan t-shirt done for my brother and I like 20 years ago. I'm sure the guy never got a licensing deal. It was just 2 shirts and it's not like some cop or someone in the Michigan administration is gonna come up and demand to know where I got the shirt. So, probably supposed to, but do they care if they're literally making 1?

JC comin'. How about CE?

JC comin'. How about CE?

Oh let do it!

Oh let do it!

Juwan didn't handle it well…

Juwan didn't handle it well but Wisconsin basketball plays pretty dirty.

I don't think that was ever…

I don't think that was ever totally serious but I could be wrong. It was just because he doesn't punt.

Can't tell if serious 

Can't tell if serious 

Part of this is also that…

Part of this is also that Michigan basketball is not Michigan football. It's a very good program to coach at, but it's certainly not in the upper echelon. If this was Duke looking around for a new coach, some bigger, more established names would be possibilities.

I barely even played…

I barely even played driveway basketball and, being a bit ambidextrous, never was even sure which hand I should be shooting with. But I'm not quite as old as mgrowold (my back and knees are working hard to catch up) so sign me up.

He got the all clear on the…

He got the all clear on the background check and said, "Fuck it."

So he's had 2 good seasons…

So he's had 2 good seasons as head coach?

The Warde hate here has…

The Warde hate here has gotten ridiculous. I just find it hard to believe Warde hasn't even entertained the notion of what coach he may want to hire.

It's not fair. He's the AD…

It's not fair. He's the AD and you're questioning whether this was really his decision? If Ono thought he was that useless that he just worked this out himself, I think he'd have fired Warde too by now.

First I felt a little relief…

First I felt a little relief and then felt sad. The Fab 5 was the first thing I remember being emotionally invested in regarding any Michigan sport. Earlier in the season I would have been fine with keeping Juwan and letting him blow things up and start over, but they were just so freaking bad. Historically bad. Yes, he had heart surgery, but this has been consistently trending this way since he got hired.

They probably hired him to…

They probably hired him to get all the UM basketball secrets because how else can you win against Michigan?

Was Julian the Apostate a…

.

With Trente Jones as a…

With Trente Jones as a starter

I never got good enough with…

I never got good enough with either to know but could see that. Skiing was so much easier to pick up since my legs could move independently.

No, they don't face the same…

No, they don't face the same constraints. From everything I've seen they have no trouble bringing in transfers. The admissions problem is mostly about transfer credits, which isn't at all about whether someone is smart enough to get in at Michigan.

Having said that, Juwan could still have a better roster. We all basically knew the stuff in Alex Drain's nice piece on the program recently, but one thing I wasn't fully aware of was how even the 5 stars Juwan missed on have so far looked very underwhelming elsewhere. Hunter Dickinson is basically the only Juwan recruit who has turned out well.

He was the acting head coach…

He was the acting head coach at the beginning of the year! Juwan even made him HC again just for that game in Philly.

If Howard returns, there's no chance Martelli does because almost no one will. If he returns he needs to blow things up and start over.

"Do we think these places…

"Do we think these places have better NIL for basketball than Michigan, or in the case of Northwestern more lenient transfer restrictions?"

Hard to know for sure, but there was an article fairly recently saying yes Michigan is in more of a Nebraska/Iowa type tier in regards to NIL. We just lost Sabb to NIL. And yes, why is it crazy to think NW has a different rule in regards to transfer credits? Again, we've seen a lot of articles saying this is specific to Michigan. Never seen anyone report it's the same at Northwestern. It's not about how smart the kid is.

I'd also like a link to that…

I'd also like a link to that post, so I can write a nasty comment on it.

You mean BJM?

You mean BJM?

Beilein also had hiccups…

Beilein also had hiccups though. Benzig didn't make it. And there was a gap in the roster because he was banking on what's his face being here (went to Syracuse) and then no real answer for when he was gone. He adjusted, but not only did he not deal with the current college landscape, it looked like he left in part specifically because of the way college basketball was going.

I'd be fine with keeping…

I'd be fine with keeping Juwan with a total reboot. I don't know how this works in terms of number of assistants and staff allowed, but I think he needs a general manager for roster construction, admissions, etc. It's one reason I feel good about Sherrone too. Harbaugh is great but was definitely leaving meat on the bone in regards to recruiting.

Exactly. Brian called it the…

Exactly. Brian called it the "Yaklich line", which basically meant, "Not real excited about Yaklich but if no one else looks appealing at least we'll have continuity and a decent defense." Also, Yaklich may only be .308 in conference but that's better than Michigan's conference record this year.

Then I misunderstood. So…

Then I misunderstood. So when does the game actually end then? The first TD after both teams have had a possession? Should SF not have kicked the FG in OT? 

This also sucks but I…

This also sucks but I thought the same until seeing your comment

Well, they did tank beefing…

.

This is not accurate

This is not accurate. For one thing, how is Moore not part of the Jim Harbaugh coaching tree?

Its not just stats like pass…

Its not just stats like pass breakups though, I think it's based more on starts and percentage of possible snaps played

If Hoke had been given…

If Hoke had been given another year, I was really thinking about not watching games the next year or at least 0 effort to do so. I was in Korea so watching games means being sleep deprived. I had a buddy there who said he was a big college basketball fan and then one year just decided to stop spending his time on it. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Harbaugh ended that though.

Because Michigan HC is a…

Because Michigan HC is a better job than NFL OC.

I've thought the same…

I've thought the same. Recruiting is his strong suit compared to everything else. He should have a team like LSU had when we beat them in the tourney. Get 5 stars and roll the ball out and don't emphasize defense or rebounding and just let them play.

Yeah and one thing I heard…

Yeah and one thing I heard about the contract negotation is that it's definitely not normal to have an immunity clause like Harbaugh wanted. Jim balking at a buyout also makes me think he wanted to go to the NFL. Having said that, I definitely wouldn't be sad to see Warde go. Arguably the issues you bring up with Weiss, Schembechler, etc. are on Warde as well.

If you only took the first…

If you only took the first halves of these games you'd probably think Michigan is pretty good. Amazing how badly they collapse in the 2nd half repeatedly.

But that's exactly why all…

But that's exactly why all these local news programs have the same view on national events. They're written at the corporate level and distributed.

I agree it's wrong to blame the journalists. Journalists now work crazy hours for low pay and can't afford to do good investigative work. Can't afford an editor or don't have time for one.

That must have been tough to…

That must have been tough to post. Thanks for sharing. Not sure if you've ever heard of Allison Russell but I just heard an NPR interview with her and some of her new album that I haven't listened straight through yet. Demons and Springtime are great tracks from it. They're more uplifting songs than you'd think given her history. She's half black and was abused by her racist adoptive father. Mother mostly wasn't around and was schizophrenic and abusive anyway. 

Hell we've been developing…

Hell we've been developing guys like Ojabo who never played until high school. 

Because there's no source or…

Because there's no source or info. Did he actually get let go already? I don't see anything about him leaving Alabama if I Google his name.

You're definitely up there…

You're definitely up there for most miserable poster.

Right around when I started…

Right around when I started. My brother linked me to something here. I think it was the news or rumors Rich Rod was the new hire. I don't remember my start date on the board but didn't make an account for like a year.

OK but we're not asking them…

OK but we're not asking them to be Houston. They're really bad on defense (151st on Kenpom) and rebounding. Beilein didn't have better athletes and Juwan's teams play defense like his early teams did. This isn't a small team outside of Dug.

I agree and I'm shocked how…

I agree and I'm shocked how bad they were rebounding and on defense. After Beilein, and hiring a guy who was a big, I think most of us expected a physical team, and we haven't seen that at all.

Funny thing is I could actually see Juwan having more success at a bigger school where they'll take anyone in admissions and transfers and through NIL. He's obviously a great recruiter, so I could see him at another school bringing in tons of talent and having that talent make up for whatever he's lacking in building the program and culture.

There's nothing they can…

There's nothing they can hang their hat on. They're not a tough rebounding team. They don't take care of the basketball. Their defense sucks. They shoot decently well and that's about it. Been trending that way since Juwan took over.

The Imjin War by Samuel…

The Imjin War by Samuel Hawley is a great book. Yi Sun-Shin saved Korea's ass because he prevented the Japanese from getting their navies and therefore logistics around the south and to the west coast. Korea is very mountainous, basically the whole country, with the southwest being the flattest. The highest peaks are around 6,000 feet. The Japanese got all the way to Pyongyang but logistics were even harder 400 years ago, so they couldn't consolidate their gains.

My uncle died from an aortic…

My uncle died from an aortic aneurysm. I was wondering about getting checked myself so thanks for asking. Although seeing that I will probably pay out of pocket I'll put it off. Can't afford to spend money on that now. Yay.

You don't even need…

You don't even need fancystats. YPG is not a helpful stay, especially considering Washington is very explosive. Quicker drives for them means more drives for the opponent to rack up yards. Yards per play is a much better stat. Simple and more informative than YPG.