MGoPodcast 9.26: The Nicest Most Hated Pick and Roll in America
1 hour and 43 minutes
We are at the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, our gracious hosts and yours this fall if you act fast enough.
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.
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1. The Championship Game: Emotionally Drunk
starts at 1:00
Better to lose to a guy we respect than a criminal sex vampire. Brunson doesn’t bother us—like you can’t be mad about a guy Michigan wanted badly when Michigan gets is pure as the driven snow. Analysis is Donte DiVencenzo made off the dribble jacks four or five feet behind the line. Really could have used the Wagner Three Point Principle. Poor performances previously probably hurt Michigan in fatigue. Gameplan was fine: wide looks from three with their best shooters, 66% from two, lots of possible and-ones rimmed out. DiVencenzo heat checks prevented any getting back into the game, Nova ORebs were lucky and also Spellman, but that’s overstated: they didn’t convert them. Who could have predicted this Big Ten (/points at selves). Beilein as Tyrone Biggums of tape. Remember the bubble watch columns. Good feels.
2. Next Year: The Us
starts at 26:11
Position by position. PG: Indicators are if they want to get better shooting they have to cut into Z’s minutes. What’s a DeJulius who doesn’t have to start and can just come in to heat check? Eli Brooks is a guy Jay Wright wanted! POOLE! And Adrian Nunez? Anyway Skauskas/Levert breakout for Poole. Matthews expected back, think they can make him a shooter. Poole should take some pressure off him. Also Iggy should…be a McDonald’s All-American. The four, Livers?—feels a bit like early D.J. Wilson. Was 1/12 from three in last 14 games. Johns has a physical presence, Iggy gets buckets. Center: Moe has a decision to make. Unleash Teske: between great and game-changing rim defender. Redshirt Castleton if you can and use Davis.
3. Next Year: The Them
starts at 1:06:39
Around the Big Ten: anyone good? Wisconsin? Isaiah Roby? Let’s go with Roby. Penn State is interesting even though they lost their best player. Michigan State will need to lean on their back court. Don’t trust Indiana or a Pitino team despite some intriguing guys. Northwestern fans suddenly care about recruiting. Ohio State will be dangerous but maybe not in 2019.
4. Ace’s Hockey Podcast wsg Anthony Ciatti
starts at 1:22:42
ND is a very interesting matchup given the previous games. Sticking with ND was the turning point in Michigan’s season, sweeping them was the destiny punch. Typical Jeff Jackson team that’s super disciplined, lacking in high end scoring, great goaltending (not Hobie-worthy). Have not scored a lot of even strength goals. ND has the best player—the guy in net—but Marody and Hughes are the best two players on the ice. A moment for Quinn Hughes: he’ll be on the ice a lot!
Ohio State or Duluth? M-D has more variance; Michigan hasn’t played a team like that with a lot of young, well-coached talent except Wisconsin, and Wisconsin is a worse matchup than even “we’re 0-5 versus” Ohio State: don’t count the first two games, the second two M outshot OSU 3-2 since. DON’T TAKE PENALTIES!
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MUSIC
- “It’s Not Too Beautiful”—The Beta Band
- “Countdown”—Phoenix
- “Brother”—The Rural Alberta Advantage
- “Across 110th Street”
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It does feel nice to not have it be the criminal sex vampire.
+1 for Phoenix
Song selections have been (especially) on point lately
At one point, Michigan got it down to 10 or 12 in the second half and Poole got a rebound or steal, and went coast to coast to throw up a bad layup attempt (that was not a fast break as Nova got everyone back) and that led to a breakout transition 3 by Nova.
That was what broke it for me.
Great season, looking forward to next year when Poole is a year older, Matthews gets mroe efficient, and the recuits coming in can hopefully put another nice run together.
Yes, that was the point where Villanova got separation and kept it. Poole was completely out of control.
Had he made that and avoided the 5 point swing, it could have been interesting perhaps. Perhaps.
They were missing some shots around then and we were making some. The swings in confidence for us and them could have been a reset.
And if all that had happened . . . I still think they would have won.
*sigh*
Is what it is.
We'll just have to lick our wounds and console ourselves with a final #2 national ranking and occupying a third of "One Shining Moment".
Rich People Problems.
This team had one star player - Wagner, and he's still considered a 2nd round pick. Getting ushered out in the Round of 32 or Sweet 16 would have been acceptable. Except that they played together all the way to the Championship Game! Coming up short against Villanova sucks, but they went farther than a bunch of role players ever should. I didn't feel any sting after this loss, because it was all house money.
I do think, though, that Mo may have played himself into the 1st round against FSU, Loyola, and Villanova. He showed well in those games...
So you'd put Matthews on the bench to keep Livers on the floor at the 3? Hmmm... That's a bold strategy. Not sure I'd agree based on this last season. But Livers could take a big enough step to make that feasible from time to time (I hope he does).
Disagree heavily with Ace that losing Moe doesn't change the outlook of the season. Losing Moe means deciding between having 3 non shooters on the floor or taking one of your defensive stalwarts (Z or Teske) off the floor. If Teske's off the floor you lose the great defense/rebounding/rim protection that entire segment focused on.
If Z's off you lose your defensive leader and PG who makes the offense go. No matter who comes on after him is going to be a big defensive drop, and even if Brooks/DeJulius are a big offensive/shooting improvement (which you'd think they would be), does that offset the defensive drop? Maybe, but I don't think you can expect that by any means.
Even only having 3 shooters on the court this year was a struggle offensively. To get back up just to 3 without Moe (while also keeping the elite defense that carried this team) you have:
- Poole as a given.
- Assume the 4 (Livers/Johns/Iggy) is a good shooter, which isn't a given but probably likely with Livers.
- Z jumps to at least an average shooter, which could maybe happen but relying on that is going to be a bad time
- Matthews jumps to a good shooter, which is probably the most likely scenario but still not a given or even likely
- Teske develops a 3 point shot, which is possible but we haven't seen it. Also the Spellman comparison is way off, Spellman shot 43% on 3.8 3P/G, Moe shot 39% on 4.1 3P/G. Spellman is a true stretch 5 by any definition.
So you either have to sacrifice the defensive eliteness, sacrifice shooting even moreso than this year, or just rely on at least one of Z/Matthews/Teske to develop into a shooter which is probably a bad idea.
I agree with whoever said it above. Without Moe this team is probably a year away from being elite. Still very good, but some more early season growing pains and the ceiling is probably limited. The B1G as a whole should be a lot more even however, the bottom should be a lot better and top a lot worse, so Michigan should still be competitive for a league title.
I think 2019-2020 is the year for Michigan, as long as at least 1 of Poole/Matthews are back for that year. Granted if both are gone, hopefully it means Matthews developed a shot and Poole lives up to the hype pushing the timeline forward a year.
I think they're going to be good. They ended the season pretty well, even before the close MSU loss in the B1G tournament.
But, Happ is gone.
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