SeattleWolverine

History

Member for

32 weeks 17 hours

Blog

View recent blog entries

Karma

Current value

2

Recent Comments

Date	Title	Body
5 weeks 1 day ago	Wrong Game	I don't know how much football talent he has but he has no future in rap. Dude makes Soulja Boy look like Nas in comparison to Datbull 4 Life.
6 weeks 1 day ago	Stonum	You give a guy a second chance, not because you necessarily expect him to take advantage of it, but because helping college age men grow into productive adults who are responsible, learn from their mistakes, and don't have problems with drugs/alcohol is important. It's too bad that Stonum didn't take advantage but it was still a worthwhile risk to take even if it didn't work out. There are limits to what you can do, of course, but giving up on a person too soon can also be a missed opportunity to help someone. I thought Hoke handled that one just fine. Ditto Hagerup. Opportunities to come back but a severe season long punishment sounds right to me.
6 weeks 1 day ago	Recruiting	As a side note, this leaves us with one less scholarship for this class since Hagerup effectively becomes a redshirt junior for 2013 rather than a senior and will now be on the 2014 roster. Assuming that he does not screw up again and that he is retaining his scholarship status.
6 weeks 3 days ago	Phones	I understand it is crazy to text/call during an interview.   But I'm not about to leave my $500 phone with all sorts of info and data on it in my car when there are hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of phones being stolen every year in this country. Employers expect you to protect their property, proprietary and sensitive info and in fact my employer has policies about phones and laptops. For example, if I leave my hotel room to go eat dinner I am supposed to have my laptop attached by a security cable or in a safe to protect it. In turn, I am going to protect my property and data and keep my phone in my pocket where it is more secure than it is in my car. Of course it will be turned off and unused during an interview.
6 weeks 6 days ago	Kings	It's pretty clear that regardless of whether the Mastrov/Ranadine group or the Hansen group winds up owning the team it is going to be sold. Neither the Maloofs nor their front office is going to have anything to do with that team for much longer so that is not a concern at all. But yeah, the players on the team are not an ideal group to be around for Trey.
7 weeks 3 days ago	OSU	I'm not sure how they are going to score at an efficient clip. I mean they will be a good team and maybe a great defensive team but without Thomas they don't really have too many guys who can score much on their own. We'll see. Maybe Ross steps it up. Or perhaps Scott or Thompson.   I think most folks will have MSU, U of M and Indiana predicted ahead of them anyway. Iowa is debateable I guess but I like them a lot for next year. They return basically everybody and they lost a lot of close games this year, 7 games by 4 points or less so they may have been better than their record indicated. Kenpom even has them finishing as #23 with their NIT run.
7 weeks 3 days ago	2014...	I would imagine the preseason polls will have the B1G order as something like: MSU Michigan Indiana Iowa Ohio State Wisconsin Purdue Minnesota Illinois PSU Nebraska NW
7 weeks 3 days ago	Frequency...	That's not really true. If you play 8 games with a 14 team league then you play 6 division and 2 non-division games every year. Which means that you do play every single team every 3.5 years so with a 4 year player's career they would see every other school. The only way you don't see all of the other teams in 4 years if you repeat home and away with schools over 3 years rather than just playing one or the other and then playing different schools the next year.   It is true that you would not travel to other schools during each players career you wind up only playing 4 road games against those 7 teams in 4 years so they never get to visit 3 of those other 7 schools. Though I can't think of a reason that not visiting another campus really matters as they don't do much more than play and hang out at the hotel on road trips.
7 weeks 3 days ago	Each team...	That doesn't quite add up. We play 3 games a year against the other division so 63 games in 21 years. You have us only playing 61 games.   Let's see, from the Purdue perspective they play only 2 games each year against the other 6 teams in the other division [since 1 of their 3 non-division games is tied to Indiana]. So 1 in 3  years we will be playing against Purdue so 7 in 21 years. But there are two leftover games. I believe that just means that we will play 9 against 4 of those teams in a 21 year cycle and 10 against 2 of those teams.   I think the way it will work is that they schedule out Purdue and Indiana in 3 year cycles and then repeat with the home games flipped away. Then you start filling in the other teams randomly or whatever but because of the Purdue Indiana thing you will start to repeat 2 of the 3 teams that you played in Year 1 in Year 3 but will not see the 4th team that you played in Year 1 until Year 4. I think. Might have to fire up Excel to verify but expansion will change it again anyway.  The actual frequency of playing each of the other 6 teams should be 4/9ths of every years. Take 6 teams * (4/9) = 24/9 + (3/9)ths for Purdue = 27/9 = 3 games a year. So it is like a 9 year cycle. Or really an 18 year cycle if you count home and away in even quantities. I think. We play Purdue 6 times in 18 years and play the other 6 teams 8 times in 18 years. That adds up. So a home game against Purdue every 6 years and a home game against Nebraska (or the other teams) every 4.5 years.
7 weeks 6 days ago	MSU	I don't think Izzo and MSU are on the decline although I certainly think that things are more competitive now. I think what Izzo really did was take advantage of a lull when we were down, Indiana was no longer able to get top guys under Knight, OSU was not as good as they are with Matta etc. Had that very successful 3 year period from 99-01. The competition is better now and they won't have a run like that again. But they can still be a good team/program.   As you look at their roster though, you see a real good team next year. But I don't see much after 2014. Payne and Appling will be gone. Probably Harris goes pro after next year as he can be in the lottery. Dawson may turn into a scorer but besides that I don't know that guys like Trice, Valentine, Costello, Guana, Byrd etc have really shown much. Then these other 2 new guys who were clearly Izzo's plan B. They're young and they'll develop but their freshmen and sophomore and recruits don't catch your eye and make you think they will ever be first team all-B1G or anything. On the one hand, you can play young guys right away and reload quickly these days, as our team shows, but looking at their roster it also looks like their talent necessitates having a killer class in 2014 unless they want a dropoff over the next few years. Huge recruiting pressure for them in this class.
7 weeks 6 days ago	Heathcote 2.0	Izzo is way better than Heathcote. Heathcote won ~53% of his B1G games and won exactly half of them if we exclude tthe 2 years with Magic. Izzo has won like 70% of his B1G games and while Michigan's troubles certainly helped him build MSU up he's still way above the level they were at before. Even now, with us on the rise they are a top 10-15 caliber team. You're either shortchanging Izzo or else forgetting how much mediocrity Sparty had under Heathcote. Probably the latter. In the 80s Heathcote's Big 10 record was better than 10-8 just 1 time in 10 seasons and they went 6-12 or worse for 5 of those 10 seasons. There was a lot of bad Sparty basketball in between Magic and Mateen Cleaves.
8 weeks 1 day ago	Ryan Evans...	Reggie Evans was a grit/rebounding/defense type power forward for Iowa back in the day who managed to scrape out a surprisingly long NBA career for a guy with limited offensive skills.   Ryan Evans is a FT jump shooting Badger who takes a ton of shots for a guy who is bad at shooting the basketball.
8 weeks 1 day ago	4	It's true that most college teams only have 1 big but I am not sure that I view having 2 as creating a poor matchup. Matchups go both ways. If another team is playing only one big then that means that either McGary or Morgan can post up and rebound against a non-big. That's a huge advantage for us on offense though it obviously presents a challenge on D for McGary.   A lot of this discussion is general and about total minutes but in reality matchups, foul trouble and injuries are really going to decide this and it will vary by game. If say one of Irvin/Stauskas/LeVert were injured then you have to go big. Or if McGary is in foul trouble then you go small because you can't play 2 of the other bigs since they are not skilled enough. If you are playing the new look Pitino-pressing-Gophers then you go small for ball handling but if you are playing Sparty and don't want to get killed on the glass then you go big. Etc etc.   In an ideal world I think it would be great if you could mix in the zone. But I think again we are looking at a lineup with 9 of your 11 guys being Freshmen or Sophomores. Until they put in the time to really be better at man to man and to be stronger and more physical I think your practice time is better spent towards perfecting your base D instead of learning zone.
8 weeks 1 day ago	Minutes	I think you will see a lot of tall ball. Partly this is a function of roster construction. With Morgan, Horford, McGary and Bielfeldt you are cramming 4 guys into one position if you stay small and then 7 guys for the other 4 spots. I also have a sneaking suspicion that playing these guys at 3/4 may have been agreed to by the coaches as an inducement to get them to come back for another year. As far as spacing, you can still do a lot of the things that we do with I do think it is essential that McGary hit that 12 foot jumper if he is going to play the 4 but I think he has shown some flashes that he can do that. And pass out of the post. It does put a lot of pressure on him but he has the skills to make it work. So much of what we have been doing the last few years anyway is just ball screen stuff and that can still happen with tall ball.   Rebounding is also a big part of this and that did not come up much in this article except the point about OSU having everyone rebound. Well, that is part of how the lineups and the hope for defensive improvement tie together. A higher DREB % will be one of the ways we can improve our D and the bigger lineup should offer that. Basically we are trading Morgan's rebounding for Stauskas'/Irvin's rebounding. We finished 7th in the B1G in OREB and 8th in DREB in conference play and we all saw Behanon abuse GR3. Even if our eFG D is not much better we can be a better defensive team if we limit 2nd chances.   Not too worried about GR3's low usage and stepping up into a bigger role. He was very efficient in what he did do and Burke and Hardaway were taking over half of the shots anyway. He was not assertive because he didn't really need to be but I think he still has the game to maintain that efficiency even with higher usage.
8 weeks 1 day ago	2/3	Well we have two open spots so he could add one player and still have room for McLimans. We need practice players too. This is McLimans looking for playing time.   We're fine for 2013 at the 2/3 with Irvin, LeVert, Stauskas and GR3 at the 2/3. More guys than minutes, barring injury. You can assume that GR3 is leaving after this year for roster purposes but even still the solution to that is to add a Booker caliber 2014 2/3 rather than a last minute guy who is a role player like we did with LeVert last year.
8 weeks 1 day ago	Stauskas/Irvin	We can play Irvin at the 2 and Stauskas at 3 when GR3 slides to the 4 and we go small for short periods of the game. Or when GR3 is on the bench. However, for the 20+ minutes that GR3 is on the court and playing the 3, per Beilein's own comments, then yes Stauskas/Irvin will both be playing the same position at SG. Not sure why this was upvoted since it is incorrect, at least for the majority of the 2013-2014 season.
8 weeks 2 days ago	B1G - ACC	I'll bet you a shiny penny that we are @Syracuse. A Final Four rematch with the home court tilting the storyline towards a chance for the Orangemen to get revenge for that loss.
8 weeks 6 days ago	Yeah...	I think mostly we are in agreement. My guess is that Beilfeldt only gets in during garbage time or if someone is injured or in foul trouble but that will happen. I'd save Donnal's eligibility if he is only going to get a sprinkling of time and redshirt him.   Basically, you are seeing LeVert get more minutes in a smaller type lineup with GR3 at the 4 versus having more minutes with Morgan/Horford on the court at the same time as McGary. I hear you and I think you'll see some of both depending a lot on matchups. You go big against Sparty probably for example so that they don't slaughter us on the boards but against the press that MN will now play you use LeVert more and play with GR3 at the 4. Foul trouble and injuries will affect lineups. And there will also be situational stuff where you go small with a lead at end of game for ball handling and FT shooting or big for defense and rebounding.
8 weeks 6 days ago	5th Year	Agree with this for the most part. Attracting a 5th year will be tough too. I still think that if you can get a 5th year then maybe you take one. Even if the guy just sits on the bench, it gives you a practice player and perhaps some leadership skills. Also, yeah there really aren't minutes if guys are healthy. Probably one injury even doesn't matter as minutes would go to LeVert or just different lineups but it provides some insurance in case you are unfortunate enough to have two injuried guys. All you are really losing by doing so is the scholarship money so there is little downside. There's gotta be some combo guard who avged 8 points a game in the MAC or Horizon and would be willing to mostly ride the pine in exchange for the chance to be on a B1G team that made it to the Final Four last year and has dreams of doing so again this year.
8 weeks 6 days ago	2014	One thing I really like is that this is a bigger lineup. Our PGs remain 6 footers but all of your 2/3 guys are now 6'6" with Stauskas/Irvin/GR3. Then you've got two legit sized bigs when McGary is on the floor. With size and athleticism, I really expect to see the best rebounding team that we've had under Beilein.   I expect GR3 to be assertive and a first team all conference player. You could see the skill in games where he showed out like South Dakota State. Next year he'll have to be more aggressive.   I think the main concern is shot creation off the dribble with a finishing threat. We've got shooters and to some extent GR3 and Stauskas and even occasionally McGary can take it to the rim. All need to work on their finishing. But will Walton, and to a lesser extent Irvin, be able to create penetration and then kick it out for 3s? If so then we will be really good. Albrecht can shoot and can penetrate but I'm not sure he'll be able to finish off the bounce that much which means that people will not help to him. Need a guy who can finish and force help and then hit the open man.   This team is one, especially if Stauskas puts in the effort, that can be better defensively. We'll miss Burke obviously and Hardaway but it will probably be easier to make up for their losses on offense if we have more active defenders.   Can't wait until the season starts.
8 weeks 6 days ago	Minutes	These are the positions they will play in the league so both are probably cool with this. I'm not too surprised. There were some serious tradeoffs with rebounding and defense that the typical Beilein lineup tried to offset with ball handling and shooting. But as the talent level rises those compromises become less necessary. It was obvious that physical teams gave our small lineup a lot of problems. If Beilein has proven anything it is that he is able to adapt and be flexible. Showed it in changing assistants and in recruiting and in moving to man to man and now in going bigger. GR3 losing the rebounding battle to Behanon in the 2nd half showed the limitations of this lineup.   Also I think that this recognizes that with the current roster construction without Burke/Hardaway has a lot of bigs. If you play GR3 at the 4 with Donnal you have Beilfeldt, Morgan, Horford and McGary all playing at the 5. We'll still see smaller lineups sometimes when McGary is out of the game.   Winner is clearly Morgan as he now can start at the 5 and get his 20-25 minutes. On the other hand, hard to see where Caris fits in for next year if Irvin is as good as advertised and everyone is healthy.   Bearing in mind that Beilein's starters traditionally avg over 30 minutes I think we will see something like: Walton 25/Albrecht 15  Stauskas 30/LeVert 5/Irvin 5 GR3 20/Irvin 20 McGary 30/GR3 10 Morgan 25/Horford 15 I suspect Walton starts at about 20 minutes but will be up to 30 by the end of the season. I think you redshirt Donnal and go small when McGary is out. Can't play of 2 of Morgan/Horford/Bielfeldt simultaneously as there is not enough skill there. But I guess the choice between Donnal at the 4 and sliding GR3 back there in a small lineup all depends on how good Donnal is. I have a sneaking suspicion that you are better off going small and having Stauskas/Irvin on the floor at the same time rather than Donnal on the floor.
8 weeks 6 days ago	Culture	The university's culture may not change but the 10 year ban and disassociation ends a month or two. The new president/administration will not be restricted by that NCAA ruling.   Also, the president may well be an outsider or even if it is an insider it will probably be someone who wasn't very involved on the athletic side of the school. So the perspective will likely be different. Time heals all wounds etc etc. MSC was around since 2002 including the end of the investigation, the sanctions period when other athletes suffered for other people's transgressions and the period during which the program was struggling which a lot of people blamed on those 4. Those experiences would likely shape her views in a way that is probably less favorable to a reconciliation than would be the perspective of someone new who hadn't been around during that period. The scandal will probably be less personal and more historical for the new President.
9 weeks 1 day ago	Hardaway	Actually his FT shooting was down a couple % points and he got to the line a lot less often. And while his total assists was up, his assist rate was actually down from 14.2% to 13.0% this year. That reflects a lot of other buckets for Stauskas/McGary/GR3 that were being created by Burke. Anyway, Hardaway pretty much had the same season as last year except that he shot 37% from 3 instead of 28%. All of the other differences in Hardaway's final line are pretty minor differences.
9 weeks 1 day ago	Most Improved	Yep. Hardaway was better than last year by a hair but the truth is that Burke was the most improved player. With 6 freshmen eligibles and 2 seniors who didn't play much that really only left Burke, Hardaway, Morgan and Horford. Morgan was injured and less effective when he did play this year. I can understand giving it to the less deserving Hardaway over Burke I guess just because Burke had already won every POY award on the planet. To me, even though his year was more of an injury comeback than an improvement, Horford would have been a worthy choice for that one because at least he played and contributed this year, unlike last year.
9 weeks 2 days ago	Irvin	He looks like a 2/3 naturally. He doesn't seem quite as muscular or athletic or GR3 and even GR3 had some definite matchup and rebounding shortcomings.   But where the suggestion of Irvin playing out of position at the 4 gets serious is if GR3 leaves. In particular, what if Hardaway stays and GR3 leaves? Then you've got Hardaway, Stauskas and LeVert at the 2/3 but the 4 is real iffy. Donnal has the closest skillset to the ideal Beilein 4 but is he good enough to play major minutes, especially as a freshman? If he is OK, but if not then your choices are either an undersized Irvin playing out of position at the 4 or going with two bigs and McGary at the high post while Morgan/Horford/Bielfeldt try to set tons of screens and get boards. Would be a better rebounding team but you lose skill if those guys are getting more minutes. Tricky.   Or what if McGary and GR3 both left? I don't think you can go with 2 of Bielfeldt, Morgan and Horford on the floor simultaneously as there is just not enough offensive skill. So again it gets down to Donnal versus Irvin at the 4. Donnal fits the position better but Irvin is almost certainly the better player and more useful on offense. Actually, they might both have to play some at the 4. At that point, we are starting to get thin if those two are gone.   Really this is not so much about Irvin as it is about whether GR3 (+ McGary) comes back. And then it is also about either finding a true stretch 4 who can play Beilein's offense but also has the size/athleticism to defend and rebound better than some smaller guys have in the best. Or whether Beilein adapts again and goes big. Or whether we sacrifice on the defensive end/boards at the 4 to get the best players all on the floor. Hopefully GR3 comes back and makes this all moot.
9 weeks 3 days ago	3	Best of luck to him. He's going to be the first M player in quite a while who is not a fringe NBA guy and I look forward to seeing him play in the NBA. As much as I would love to see him play in a Michigan uniform again, this is clearly the best decision for Trey.
9 weeks 4 days ago	Yep	I was just thinking, Congress and Lobbyists or the NCAA and Compliance Officers? Which is the bigger incestuous cesspool?
9 weeks 6 days ago	Tressel	He's not going to say jack about OSU violations or anything about that.   Ask him what he thinks about the NCAA concept of "amateurism" and the O'Bannon lawsuit? It would be hilarious and ironic if he sided with the Emmerts of the world.   The stories suggestion is a good one. He won't be telling any OSU recruiting stories but I wouldn't be surprised if you can get him to tell some funny recruiting stories about other things. Ask him if he has heard anything about all of the rumors about Ole Mi$$.   If you really want to be ballsy, get a pic of Clarett from the 2002 MNC game and ask him to autograph it.
10 weeks 10 hours ago	NBA	I don't think that you can criticize anyone for choosing the NBA versus college. I do think that you can judge the timing of that decision as well as the assessment of how likely they are to be drafted. We've seen several Michigan players like Darius Morris, Manny Harris, Sean Higgins etc make the decision to go early, not get picked in the first round w/ a guaranteed contract and then not stick long or make any impact in the league. If the ultimate goal is to have an NBA career, sometimes you are better off waiting. Trey coming back probably flipped him from a 2nd round pick to a lottery pick. Every year there are guys who go pro and do not get drafted and never play a game in the league. Nothing wrong with wanting to go to the league but there are only a limited number of spots available and a lot of guys are out of the league by 25.
10 weeks 1 day ago	Pitino	A lot of times with the zombie movies you don't really get the whole backstory about how the zombies came to be. I guess the unspoken assumption that we are all just supposed to make is that Rick Pitino:Zombies::Adam:Mankind.

more