Unverified Voracity Bangs Nonexistent Pads Comment Count

Brian

I'd probably ask for this at my wedding, too. It just makes sense.

FIRED UP NOW LET'S HAVE A 45 MINUTE SPEECH FROM THE FATHER OF THE BRIDE

You might have to watch the Nets? Jonathan Givony's post-lottery mock draft includes one Moe Wagner at #29:

The Nets don't have much in the way of shooting in the frontcourt and aren't really committed to any 4s or 5s long term besides promising rookie Jarrett Allen and the dead-weight contract of Timofey Mozgov.

Wagner brings floor spacing and a high-energy style of play. He was one of the breakout players of March, leading Michigan to a Big Ten title and a surprise run to the NCAA championship game.

The Raptors have traded that pick to the Nets, so that would mean Caris Levert, Nik Stauskas, and Wagner were all… uh… Nets. Since mock drafts are deadly accurate, NY-based Michigan grads should buy their season tickets now.

This is not a layup-focused point guard. IA PG DJ Carton's latest highlight video is mostly nasty contested dunks.

Michigan hasn't had a PG who dunked regularly since… Darius Morris? Except he couldn't really get to the rim?

Who needs long twos? Bart Torvik tracks a remarkable drop in non-rim twos over just a few years:

I preferred our previous ignorance about Crisler's scorer, because back in those innocent days I could point out that Michigan's defensive renassaince was in no small part because they were elite at forcing non-rim twos. Now I can only suspect that. Now I know that some part of that is a home scorer who thinks only uncontested dunks or layups are "at the rim."

Well, yeah. A slice of life from All Or Nothing:

One of the more telling sequences from Amazon’s behind-the-scenes look at Michigan’s 2017 season came during the Wolverines’ 42–13 loss at Penn State. After another failed drive, Michigan quarterback John O’Korn came to the sideline. “No blocking,” O’Korn told Harbaugh. “There’s no blocking.”

Andy Staples inserts that into a piece about Shea Patterson's attempt to save Michigan's offense. I do have an issue with Staples citing raw yards per carry numbers from Michigan's less successful outings on the ground:

Last season, they averaged 2.6 yards a carry against Michigan State, 2.5 yards a carry against Penn State, 1.5 yards a carry against Wisconsin, 2.8 yards a carry against Ohio State and 2.2 yards a carry against South Carolina. That places even more pressure on the quarterback, figuratively (because he’s expected to do it all) and literally (because blocking poorly leads to large humans in the quarterback’s face and the lack of a run game means defenses can dedicate more bodies to covering potential targets).

Once you move sacks to the correct bin, Michigan averaged 3.9, 4.3, 2.2, 4.6, and 2.9 YPC in those games, which is not good but is a considerably more accurate evaluation than sack-included numbers for the #117 pass pro team in the country.

And Staples gets the causation backwards in his final hypothetical. To pick one example from many, here's this site's take after Penn State:

Another thing to note on this one is the safety who eventually tackled Evans: he is rotated back by the motion and spends a second or two reading the play out before barreling downfield. That makes for a good gain instead of good blocks and three yards. The difference between that nine yard gain and this three yard one is evident:

PSU safety to top of screen

PSU also got a DT out there on a stunt, but that's just a thing that happened. It's not a trend. The trend is the safeties firing at Michigan's ground game with impunity. PSU's safety froze on the first one because he didn't know what he was looking at. Once he saw the play once he was able to fire because nobody cares about Michigan's passing game. That's a version of what happened to early Rodriguez offenses where the new stuff would work for a bit and then when the defense had seen it they curled up and died, because they could only do one thing.

Michigan's lack of a passing game stifled their run game, not vice versa. Patterson's worst case scenario is a thousand times better than what Michigan got from the spot a year ago. It'll all go to hell if Michigan can't pass protect better, but Patterson really does solve a swath of Michigan's issues just by being a proven P5 quarteback.

Speaking of. If you can stomach it, James Light highlighted a couple of Michigan's many, many missed opportnities against Ohio State:

Patterson certainly would have won that game, for one.

Can anyone catch up? A Jalen Wilson post-visit interview($) is mostly unrevealing, but he does omit UCLA as a contender and say he's going to commit before his school year starts.  Wilson's visit generated a big Michigan run on the crystal ball, with both Steve Lorenz and Josh Henschke joining various others.

Wilson has as-of-yet unscheduled visits he wants to take to Baylor, Marquette, Oklahoma State, and Kansas. Hopefully those remain vague.

Pitino flips! In the media! The Washington Post has an extensive story on new IU recruit Romeo Langford's college decision featuring one Rick Pitino:

In January 2017, Pitino said, two Adidas officials met with him to discuss their efforts to keep Nike and Under Armour from landing Langford, whom Pitino was recruiting. Pitino’s account was supported by text messages he shared with The Washington Post for a previous story.

“The way they phrased it, it was [whichever shoe company] was going to pay the dad’s AAU program the most money, gets it,” Pitino said in a recent phone interview. A few days later, Adidas’s league added a new team: Twenty Two Vision, featuring Romeo Langford on the court and Tim Langford as team director. Shoe company sponsorships can reach $100,000 to $150,000, and team directors who limit expenses can pay themselves salaries from those amounts.

“That’s the way that world works,” Pitino said. “Which is completely legal, by the way.”

This space is in full heighten the contradictions mode about college basketball and welcomes any and all revelations about how ineffectual the NCAA's attempts to prevent money from flowing to folks with marketable skills are. A pissed-off Rick Pitino napalming everyone he can in the Washington Post is a boon for everyone.

Etc.: A Villanova rematch looms.

Comments

Birdman

May 16th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^

But if he can't make it more than a game into the B1G schedule it will be for the same reasons as last year...
'no blocking'

It didn't take a genius to see our qbs couldn't keep their eyes down field. Mind you having one coach for tackles and guards might help cover the B gap a bit better...

Birdman

May 16th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^

O'Korn was suffering from PSTD no doubt. The other 2 fellas might have been in a similar mental state. My understanding is its hard to quarterback well when you're getting lit up frequently.
When you snap the ball and pull the Will Hagerup face every play... Probably not gonna go well

OCBlue

May 16th, 2018 at 9:43 PM ^

Been documented that blocking schemes were too complicated in the past and coaching adjustments were made. Believe we have the talent but scheme and technique I am confident will improve this year with an elusive QB and a good run game we will be better. WR talent needs to produce and I beleive they will. We can be as good or better than 2016 on offense and that will be fine with me to get back to 10+ wins with a tougher schedule. I beleive!!

Kevin14

May 16th, 2018 at 4:15 PM ^

Are the same Jet Motion RPOs highlighted by the previous post before this.  They obviously didn't work as well against PSU.  It doesn't look like PSU's line was slanting.  

I don't really have much to add.  Just an obsevation.

DoubleB

May 17th, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^

First play got 10 yards or so, but just a god awful play by whoever the force player for Penn State is.

The second was a good play by the Penn State safety. If he doesn't make the play, it might go.

Pin and pull is a tough play to defend. It often puts 2 guys in a gap so, if it's blocked right, the offense is going to have numbers.

Gr1mlock

May 16th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

Obviously, but if the point that's being made (Michigan was only gaining two, maybe three yards per rush, therefore the QB had to do everything) is dependant on those total rushing numbers being artificially deflated, then showing the actual "how many yards the running backs ran on average" sacks removed number is a much more accurate and useful tool.  

panthera leo fututio

May 16th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^

If you look at all the guys that the Warriors played at the 4 and 5 this year, there's an overwhelming emphasis on defense: they go with either guys who can switch everything and get their hands on a million balls (Dray, Kevon Looney, Jordan Bell), or guys who blot out the sun and/or can box dudes out into the 3rd row (West, JaVele, Zaza). In both cases, though, they rely on these guys much more for their D than their O. So Moe is actually a particularly poor fit with the Warriors -- I'd be shocked if they take him.

Leaders And Best

May 16th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^

Looks like some last minute invitations to the NBA Combine went out. Theo Pinson (UNC), Ray Spalding (Louisville), Carsen Edwards (Purdue), and Isaac Haas (Purdue) have been added from several different reports. I haven't seen Charles Matthews though.

Clarence Boddicker

May 16th, 2018 at 6:31 PM ^

Just having one damn line coach, with a single single teachable system, focused on them during the game will make a big difference in pass pro: Warinner (Warriner?). As noted, the run blocking was actually pretty good, especially after the switch out at tackle.

Communist Football

May 17th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^

I'm no Pitino fan -- but he makes a reasonable case that he's innocent of any criminality -- simply of doing what was "allowed" in order to steer recruits his way. The point about Dawkins shooting his mouth off, and the FBI using that to implicate Pitino, makes sense.

jmblue

May 17th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^

 

I preferred our previous ignorance about Crisler's scorer, because back in those innocent days I could point out that Michigan's defensive renassaince

Is that the Appalachian pronunciation of renaissance?

jpo

May 17th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^

While I think it might be true that UM would have won The Game had we competent QB play, it is also the case the OSU schemed against us on the assumption Michigan would not have competent QB play. Some of the things that were open, were open precisely because the OSU staff believed, rightly as it turned out, that O'Korn couldn't make the play. Defenses have to pick their poison, and opposing defenses last year had the enviable option of daring one of our QBs to beat them. With any luck, it will be different this year, and that will put a lot more pressure on the opposing defense.