News Outlets Confirming Goldin Transferring to UM
April 29th, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^
Now that's how you start a Monday morning off!!
April 29th, 2024 at 10:09 AM ^
Was never in doubt, hope the doomers hush now.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:12 AM ^
New here?
April 29th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
Time for the dance of joy!
April 29th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^
Dare we think… The Big Dance? 🤔
April 29th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
The thought crossed my mind if we deserve Muppets for "We have a men's basketball team".
April 29th, 2024 at 11:48 AM ^
Time for the dance of joy!
Hell yeah.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:10 AM ^
Now that's a good way to start the week!
Welcome, Vlad.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
I just might have to watch a few more bball games next year. This year was unwatchable....
Go Blue 🏀🏀🏀
April 29th, 2024 at 11:03 AM ^
Did you reserve your seat on the Bandwagon?
April 29th, 2024 at 11:20 AM ^
Heck yeah, brother!
April 29th, 2024 at 11:46 AM ^
Please stop with that. The product on the court was horrible. I stopped watching after the shit show started. It's a waste of time to watch a team that bad.
Wife and I stopped watching and started listening to the games on radio. Then we stopped doing that as well.
When a program that has gone to two national title games in the previous dozen years goes 8-24, fans have a right to check out.
You must be joking with that comment.
By season end only low-key MSU/OSU fans were still watching.
As for the rest of us it was too painful to watch.
It's hard to watch something you love get the shit beat out of it.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
The addition of Goldin to next years team automatically upgrades the floor from .500 b1g/potential NCAA bubble team to a 7th to 11th seed and top five/six b1g team. If the team gels very well they’ll be a top-25 team by season’s end.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:19 AM ^
I certainly won't argue about potential and expectations for next years team being what you state. But the floor...I think any team with as much roster and coaching turnover as this one has a floor much lower than tournament team.
April 30th, 2024 at 11:46 AM ^
I think the floor is high even with the nearly complete turnover of roster and coach in part because of the coach’s success thus far in fairly quick turnarounds, and in part because the players weren’t just merely deep bench pieces on their previous teams but most were starters or the first or second off the bench, meaning they all have played significant minutes on either p5 or high major teams. Yes, the primary offensive and defensive philosophies will be new but they’ve all likely played within those philosophies at times as change ups on their previous teams. The transition will have some bumps, but they should be much lower than if the roster was guys who hadn’t played much college basketball previously. That’s my take, anyways, even if it does seem overly optimistic.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
I've been accused numerous times of being way too optimistic abut UM sports generally and, weirdly, MBB in particular, to the point that I was rather graphically described as performing sexual acts to multiple individuals at the same time due to my zealotry, and even I think 1 7/8 seed might be a bit too high in year 1. It's not that these guys aren't talented (they are) but they are mostly players in a new system and with relatively limited experience playing together even with an offseason to prepare.
There will be hiccups, missteps, guys in the wrong place at the wrong time or not being on the same page. And a lot of them are up-transferring to one extent or another. Yes, Donaldson, Gayle, and Walters are coming from similar programs but Goldin, Wolf, and Jones are going to run into a different level of competition than they're used to, while Pippen, Brooks, and Cason are all HS kids making that transition to college ball. There are 5 guys (if you count GW III) on this roster who've played some level of P5 basketball, and even that's got caveats about playing time and effectiveness. That's actually worse than last season's roster on paper, which is sort of insane to think about.
They'll likely show growth during the year and I like the pieces they have, but I've contended that .500 in conference and on the bubble is the floor for this team, and being on the bubble would be the expectation. This year the conference was really down so .500 gets you in the 5-6 range but next year there are 4 new teams in the conference and, in theory, they'll mostly be solid teams. But a 7/8 seed this year were teams like Texas, Wazzou, FAU, etc. Not great teams but ones that had coherent approaches with more experienced (at this level) rosters. Thats what "scares" me about this team - they're are a lot of unknowns and even the floor requires them to really hit on a bunch of these transfers and signings in a way that would be great if they happened but aren't statistically a given.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:58 AM ^
"If the team gels"
That's it. That's the kicker right there, and the big massive question mark that we won't know for some time.
No one will argue that on paper, this is a pretty good team now. They're not going to win the Big Ten, but they've got some players for sure. The issue is that almost none of them have played together (not the guys who will be starting or be important rotation pieces anyway) and they've got bad history going against them when it comes to teams that have built through the portal. I think NC State was one of two teams last year that built mostly through the portal and made the tournament, and Final Four run aside, they barely made it in as a 17-14 team to begin with.
Granted, Dusty built this roster through the portal out of sheer necessity, so he gets a pass for that this season. But these guys still have to learn how to play together, and do it in a relatively short amount of time. I think they have the talent to make the tournament, but I hold no expectations about them actually making the tournament.
"They're not going to win the Big Ten"
Honestly, they could. Purdue won't be as strong, though likely still a good team. FAU might have been close to a top big ten team last year and Dusty is setting his sights on exactly that goal, big ten championship, final four team, in year one. That's probably coach talk, but it could be done. Maybe Dusty is as good of a roster builder and keeper as advertised, his coaching staff seems experienced and believes in him. I would push pause on any projections, but also why say what we cannot do? Football recently surprised me....
April 29th, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^
Building B1G frontcourt that will challenge.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:19 AM ^
Amazing what a change from the last days of Juwan. From the basement of the B1G with a roster of mismatched parts to........THIS.
My optimism for the men's BBall team is extremely high right now. We have an excellent coach, and excellent staff and now an close-to excellent roster.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^
It's one of the biggest reasons to change coaches when things get "stale". A new coach injects optimism and causes a temporary spike in commits. We even saw it when Juwan was hired. The trick is to have success this year and keep that optimism going...
I continue to be nervous about our NIL situation. Basketball seems to have always had a culture about guys wanting $$ and if we are not competitive in that area, then our coaching won't matter we will always be at a disadvantage (more than football or hockey)
April 29th, 2024 at 10:30 AM ^
I can buy your argument for basketball in the portal/NIL era. Less so for football as it takes time to build. Experiments like RR and Deion don't necessarily work and you spend 8-12 years climbing out of your hole.
That said, welcome Vlad!
In this era, a major program is never condemned to 8-12 years of rebuilding. Under May our rebuilding process lasted about two weeks.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
I think that NIL money is a much bigger factor for one and done type players. Those guys seem to just chase the largest bag, knowing that they are only making a one year pitstop. For players who plan to be in school for 3+ years, while NIL definitely factors in, as long as Michigan has even an average and IL program, we should be fine in terms of competing for those recruits. As we’ve seen over the past couple of years in college basketball, it’s far better to build a program primarily with guys who will stick around for three or four years. With a rotating cast of 1 and done players. So, while we definitely need to improve our NL, I’m not as worried about it as some are.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:54 AM ^
I personally think people need to stop worrying — indeed, stop even talking — about NIL. For as long as I've been a Michigan fan (and it's well over 50 years now), our fan base has convinced ourselves that for one reason or another we simply can't compete. Our facilities are sub-par, and we won't be able to recruit. Our academic/admission standards are too high and we won't be able to recruit. Other teams cheat by paying their players, and we won't be able to recruit. Our coaches don't emphasize advanced passing games and flashy stats, so we won't be able to recruit.
And every time a new issue comes up, we insist that previous problems weren't serious, "but this one ...".
And yet, somehow, despite all odds, we manage to compete just fine, at a level (for major revenue-producing sports, at least) unlike any other university in the country.
Evidence suggests our athletic department knows what it's doing, and is sufficiently funded. Why not just let them do their jobs and focus on the games? I'm not saying not to be critical — I think, unfortunately, the criticism directed at Juwan's performance was justified — but this constant insistence that for some reason or another we're unable to compete verges on the hysterical.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
Regardless of NIL resources, Dusty kept the FAU roster together after the final 4 run because of the culture he built. Culture trumps all, I'm sure it will be developed at Michigan, combined with NIL that should be a huge asset.
Juwan inherited a program coming off back-to-back 30-win seasons. In no sense was the program he inherited stale or lacking in talent.
April 29th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
shooting is a bit of a concern to me. but hell, it's year 1 for dusty. pretty impressive thus far.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:31 AM ^
The momentum of the program continues to build.
Go Blue!
April 29th, 2024 at 10:38 AM ^
Football going 1-11 with all the good news basketball has been getting lately
(We will still beat Cryin Ryan)
April 29th, 2024 at 10:47 AM ^
Great get! Coach May seems to be the best of Coach Beilein and Deion Sanders. Even if he stops here, which he won't, Coach May has done a terrific job in a short amount of time. The Maize Rage should be something with this new influx of offensive and defensive talent and exciting style of basketball, not seen at Crisler in two years.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:07 AM ^
Coach has been seen in Frat houses selling the team - and presumably season tickets to the Maize Rage sections! I hope they show up and surround the court in the lower bowl.
April 29th, 2024 at 12:35 PM ^
well, don't do what that iowa state coach did several years ago...and visit the sorority houses.
That aspect of Coach May is more like Beilein " we had subs.. it was crazy".
April 29th, 2024 at 11:02 AM ^
Happy Monday! Gonna be a Goldin day!
April 29th, 2024 at 11:04 AM ^
Welcome big fella!
April 29th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
I hate the portal until I don't.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:08 AM ^
I love the Goldin Wolf big man package.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:09 AM ^
Are we a basketball school again?
April 29th, 2024 at 11:16 AM ^
Mondays are for croots! Can't wait til MBB adds another 3 guys next Monday!!
April 29th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
May sure had a great month of April.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
So does Dusty schedule major announcements only on Mondays ?
April 29th, 2024 at 11:32 AM ^
Is this the appropriate time for me to state my love for the portal? If so, it nicely balances the times I have hated the portal.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^
Huge