WTKA Roundtable 7/2/2026: Retention Dominos

WTKA Roundtable 7/2/2026: Retention Dominos

Things Discussed: * World Cup: When our nation needed rascally anti-slavery hicks with guns, Michigan provided. When our nation needed factories that could turn out more war machines than the rest of the world combined, Michigan provided. When our nation needs unfathomably pedantic sports lawyers, * Mo Thiam returning: HUGE news for Michigan, because they needed a frontcourt. Sam: strategy is a retention domino effect: keeping Boynton helped the keep McKenney, which may have influenced Akeem Miskdeen to stick around, which means holding onto Cadeau, which was a big question for Thiam, and if everyone's here you have a shot to keep Estrella. * Sam: needs to be more strategy here. Got to back Mike Boynton, let him sign his staff to long-term contracts so he can attract good people. * Craig: Misrepresenting how Dusty left. Not okay with the way his players found out, don't think he left for the same reasons as Beilein, despite the interview, because the context of that interview was the NCAA issues were an aside and the main reason was the Mavs were willing to pour resources into him and it's the friggin' NBA. * Seth: don't make the 2024 football mistake again by prioritizing keeping the roster together, because most of them—Cadeau, McKenney, Thiam, Estrella, McCoy, Reed—are only around for one more year. You can give Boynton a chance, but obviously Warde is working the back-channels. Sam: Need to support Boynton without boxing yourself in. Craig: Can't hamstring your current guy with less than full support. * Ideally Boynton does a fantastic job, is lining up guys for beyond, wins again, and is Tom Izzo but with championships for 30 years. * Craig: Schertz is this year's model. He isn't just the hot name; in Ken Pomeroy's article for VALIANT [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mgoblog/valiant-a-celebration-of-michigan-basketballs-2026-season?ref=1ixbvh] he showed which coaches were dominating in 2PAD: the top-six teams went Schertz, Schertz, Nate Oats, Dusty May, Dusty May, Dusty May. Dusty got Boynton because he defended the rim. * Cason to return? Sam thinks so. * Break: Craig thinks Dusty should have exited more gracefully. Seth says if you're getting a divorce because you fell in love with someone else, *how* you tell your wife isn't the reason she's mad at you. * Football recruiting: Big deal that they can go into a Buckeye family in Cincinnati and get a cornerback that Ohio State wanted. * Scouting report: Monsanna Torbert is FAST. Saban always talked about DBs with basketball skills because they can play the ball. Nickname is "Sookie" (sp? Suki? Sukki? Siucci?). Need to watch the film still—love when we get a kid from Cincy because the competition level is strong and the kids are so well-coached. * Height: only 5'11 man in America who's really 5'11. Sam was thinking he'd be Smith Snowden's size. If Ohio State wants you that bad—was trying to get him to not even take a Michigan visit—you're probably something. Comp: DJ Turner II. * Good to see how their GM is working with the coaches regarding what level they can recruit. Was an issue last year when they had Coach BJ recruiting linebackers that he didn't have the money for.

WTKA Roundtable 6/25/2026: Napoleon But Good

EVENT: THIS SATURDAY [https://channel-6.ghost.io/dont-give-up-the-ship/] EDSBS will be in town to celebrate Michigan fans once again dominating the Charity Bowl. Brush up on your shipwrecks trivia, find us at the library, and meet up for drinks afterwards at Venue. It's free but RSVP here [https://channel-6.ghost.io/dont-give-up-the-ship/] so we can get a head count. BOOK: If you want a VALIANT, THE KICKSTARTER [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mgoblog/valiant-a-celebration-of-michigan-basketballs-2026-season?ref=1ixbvh] is still going on. If you want your name in it or need to add something to your order, email me. Things Discussed: * Make Sam happy: We've got the #1 pick in the 2027 NHL Draft coming. Even better, DuPont falls under The Shouneyia Law: All Michigan stars should be 5'11" wigglers who score in droves. * Dusty May reaction: We're blindsided that it happened in late June, but didn't expect Dusty to be here for 30 years. It takes a Tom Izzo who loves being the king of a tiny country to do that. Could be a Mike Macdonald/Jesse Minter thing: sometimes you get a legend on his way. * Circumstances of college basketball today amplified Dusty's genius. His ability to put together a roster was especially effective in a situation where everybody's rosters are poachable. Converse of Bo, who was the right guy for a time when players were really trapped at one school through the course of their development. Sam: Dusty could have won in any era (point conceded). * Boynton/staff? What does "interim" mean? Probably that it's a "you've got a year to show it." Will he be interim for the entirety of next season? Yeah. Then why aren't we calling Josh Schertz? * Brian: Disabuse people of the notion that going from college to the NBA is a good idea. Brad Stevens is one man. Dusty? Based on history he'll get chewed up, because NBA coaches are disposable and not really in charge. Beilein lost his damn mind (yes, would say this to his face); he was a fundamentals-teaching college lifer. * Counterpoint: Dusty's not as much of a college coach; he's a roster-builder and a locker room guy who loves to watch film, isn't interested in spending half of his time fundraising. * Brian goes off on Warde for losing four great coaches to better jobs, Craig argues Dusty told Warde I'm staying and every one of those events is explainable. Sam: There was plenty of evidence you were going to lose Dusty next year, but not this June. * Seth argues (borrowing from a commenter) is it doesn't look like we're being proactive (is there any AD in America who wouldn't give Dusty the best contract in the Big Ten?). Consideration: If you poach another coach, that's two rosters and coaching staffs you can build from rather than fighting Dusty for your staff and fighting everyone else in college basketball for your roster. * Canham always had three coaches in his drawer. Being a leader doesn't just mean defending your tower; you have to be agile, and ready to make decisive, advantageous moves. From an outsider's perspective, does it look like that's what's going on in our athletics department, or does it look like we're making decisions on ChatGPT? * Why Duke kept Scheyer: they grew him, and they have a basketball culture.

MGoPodcast 17.35: What's Water?

2 hours and 23 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing [https://undergroundshirts.com/custom-t-shirts?callout=mgoblog] for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com [http://undergroundshirts.com/]. 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What Dusty Just Done Did Starts at 0:51 Not only did we have this team come out of nowhere to be the best in the history Michigan basketball. The Dusty May Era is now a fever dream. Takes a little bit out of it. This is college basketball now. Understand why he wouldn't want to be a college coach today; he explicitly said he never got to feel like they won a championship. NCAA can be blamed for letting it get here but also they have no power whatsoever to fix all the things that mean the second you win a title you have to recruit your new team. Second time in a row the college coach the NBA took was Michigan's. This is not the Cavs; Dallas is a good gig. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. The Future of Michigan Basketball Starts at 19:04 They're promoting Mike Boynton to interim head coach, with a possibility of permanence. Greater that 50% chance he's the HC without the interim title, but might execute a search. Five days after they announce a hire the portal is open for Michigan alone, which is probably what scared them into this now. McKenney is back, probably Cadeau back, direction of things is a battle to hold onto the transfer bigs. Boynton: got tagged by the FBI thing, can see his tenure as not successful, or successful for the Minnesota of the Big 12. He has a trademark, which is defense: five of six years with a top-20 unit. Still relatively young, can recruit. Program: "What option do we have?" UNNNNNGGGGGHHHHHH. Actual option: Josh Schertz! Trademark is twos, built a real roster there, is Dusty's best coaching buddy. Don't care as much about roster continuity (Brian Ellerbe, Sherrone Moore) because the players won't be around long. Also if you poach a coach you have access to another team's roster and coaching staff, whereas right now Michigan and the Mavs are competing for Michigan staff and Michigan and the world are competing for Michigan's players. Other names to look at: Niko Medved was our next pick two years ago, did as well as possible with Minnesota last year. Where is Michigan Basketball in program rankings? Would Purdue swap with us? Purdue built their fanbase over years of having a program, just like Michigan hockey. 3. The Warde Talk Starts at 53:17 What are you supposed to do with a guy who alternates between asleep-at-the-wheel scandals and national championships? Push back against Brian's assertion that people "don't want to work for him" because these are all individual situations. He's not a bad guy, but he's also not a guy who *does* things, unless that's milking the fanbase or turning Michigan Stadium into an F1 race of ads. His oeuvre is not doing anything, because that worked with Harbaugh in 2020, and now that's a modus operandi. Talking ADs history since Canham. Push back against Brian's lionizing of Canham: he was a visionary, but his record also includes Dr. Anderson and trying to prevent/undermine Title IX. We end up preferring Bill Martin of all our lifetime ADs—he built the boxes to prevent ads in the stadium. Don't think missing out on Les Miles was a loss. Brian's Warde assessment: He typed "how to AD" into ChatGPT. Does losing Dusty May like this change your opinion on Warde Manuel? No. But it's weird that he keeps surviving (no president to fire him). 4. 2027 Football Recruiting Starts at 1:20:46 Doesn't look any different from a Harbaugh class at this point. If you're good at scouting and developing you're fine. OL class is small but Lipsey stacks another elite tackle and they had to fend off ND for Louis Esposito, Rouleau is a Frey-type. Xavier Muhammad is a very good DT, Tavares Harrington a find at CB, and they held onto some important guys in-state in a good Michigan year. LB recruiting is still underfunded, Brian is fine with that because it's very a "what's in your head" position with no consensus on what schools want. State of the recruiting industry: Paramount got bought and 247 is getting raided as incompetent ownership sets in. On3 is more reactive to scouting this cycle, and almost universally rate M commits higher. White whales: #1 is CB Josh Dobson, Seth Tillman would be a big, big deal because DTs are hard to come by, Monsanna Torbert would be a big win over Ohio State. Lincoln Mageo would be a good OL to finish with. Would like to have more TEs coming in. 5. World Cup Starts at 1:50:04 Takes hotter than Dusty May's agent. Count how many times Brian calls USA "Michigan." Are the Americans the most pleased with their performance in Group Phase (2nd to Canadians). Freeman (son of Antonio) is very reliable defensively, main thing is you can put Dest at wing. Sauciest player in US history? McKenzie is everywhere, runs into the box from deep were especially effective vs Paraguay. Pulisic injury: not going to play him in the useless Turkey game, should be fine. Tim Ream has been trying to play soccer for us forever, always been the best guy on the ball. Decent draw, should be favored (when they make the field) for a couple of rounds. Success point is get to the quarters; they can go into a game against a world power and expect to compete, not win, and not win three in a row. Four years ago they were too young. Don't mind the 48-team format; it saps a lot of tension out of the Group Stage when three teams advance, but a lot of "small teams" have battled. Brazil is still working back to being BRAZIL. Germany is Ohio State but not a peak year Ohio State. France is super talented. Alex: If you play Bosnia and Herzegovina you play two countries at once. Seth: Actually it's more like seven point eight. MUSIC: * "Hit or Miss"—Odetta * "Take Da Charge"—Project Pat * "Love on My Brain"—Jim Ford * "Dog Has Its Day"—Toledo * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

WTKA Roundtable 6/11/2026: Don't Be Like Iowa

GET IN WE'RE BOOKING: THE VALIANT KICKSTARTER [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mgoblog/valiant-a-celebration-of-michigan-basketballs-2026-season?ref=1ixbvh] ENDS TODAY. If you want your name in the book, today's the last day to do that. Things Discussed: * VALIANT: Sam's getting background to tell stories nobody's heard yet from Dusty May. Ken Pomeroy is going to walk us through the 2PA Revolution and how it led to some of the best basketball teams ever. John Gasaway is going through the history of his understanding of the game, and the Michigan fans who pulled him along that journey. Will Warren is going to get into the way strategy and analytics created a special team. * Craig's book too. Alex Drain chopped it in half, and it's finally written. * Texas Tech and Sorsby: Craig walks us through the judge's insane decision, notes there's still a four-judge panel (of all TTU grads) that it needs to get through before this really is a thing. * The reaction of the league is loud, but they're not going to do 90% of what they threaten, for many reasons. * Comparison with reaction to Signgate: Difference was anyone who knows ball was saying it's horseshit. * What do TTU fans say? They say Texas has been getting players off for worse for a century. * What's the fix? Probably one part of the story that eventually leads to a CBA, because that's how the pro leagues control this. * In break: the 1950s NYU scandal in the context of 1950s NCAA and the players making no money as everyone was getting rich. * In-state recruiting: Some big guys going out of state. Guerrant: let's see if Michigan passes the ball this year before we take an impending Oregon commitment seriously. Gideon Gash: TTU means Michigan can come back around; big loss for MSU. * Whittingham has done a good job adapting to Michigan recruiting. Retaining Bellamy retained connections in Michigan and the East. Harding gives him credibility all over the Midwest. Way they reacted to the NCAA attacking SMSB was like early Harbaugh. * Pat Fitzgerald's slow start means little; he's got some OL, and that's what you really need. Seth likes the Frey-type tackle they got from Brighton.

WTKA Roundtable 6/4/2026: Bratislava Hustles Harder

REMINDER: ONE WEEK TO GET THE VALIANT KICKSTARTER [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mgoblog/valiant-a-celebration-of-michigan-basketballs-2026-season?ref=1ixbvh] FUNDED Things Discussed: * The Weddle comment: What does Bryce have to show this year to show this is working? * Craig: If they win more than 8 games. * Brian: Get the running game down. If he can read out an option everything becomes easier for him. Early Vince Young. * Seth: He's got to show us his Detroit Hustles Harder side. There's a misconception in sports that money equals softness, but Underwood was the #1 prospect in his class because he was as much a grinder as he was talented. Let that show, and he'll win hearts and minds. Get to where JJ was as a true sophomore. Terrelle Pryor Year 2. * Sam: Shoulda paid for a QB coach last year. He's got to stop looking at the rush. * Statistically he was better than he looked. We're overrating his dismal Spring Game performance and underrating how often he had touchdown passes that his receivers botched or interceptions they didn't fight for. Andrew Marsh wasn't even looking for the ball early in the season. JJ Buchanan isn't missing the plays Freddie Moore didn't make. * Whittingham recruiting: They're serious and they're recruiting the way they do, but it's interesting that they're also doing things that Harbaugh did. * Tank (metal name!) Watson wasn't a Utah-style recruitment; it's a Harbaugh trick to go to big Southern schools and look at the late-developing fifth guy the scouts aren't watching because there are 4- and 5-stars all over the field. Is he a pure linebacker? Might be an edge, might be a Cole Sullivan. * Sam: Dakota Guerrant is leaning Oregon but Michigan won't give up on him; they won't lose an NIL battle, but they need to prove they can pass the ball this fall. * Gabe Osborne is the best player in the country; don't care what it costs. Like that he committed to hometown Oklahoma instead of Ohio State. * Sam shares how Michigan flipped an NCAA decision to screw over SMSB by inviting all the campers to Michigan. Reminds us of the early Harbaugh alacrity in recruiting. * Milan Momcilovic: Sam is down on Pope, thinks you don't go to Kentucky for any reason but money. Brian gives him a mulligan because UK was injured; Sam says if they don't go further than Texas this year he's fired. Funny that BYU has money as soon as Pope leaves. * Michigan to play an outdoor basketball game at the Marlins stadium, because Fox was mad they didn't get to broadcast it if they played at MSG. B10 has rights to those games. Whatever the rationale is, it's a sad statement about how the sport is structured. * The latest frontier is streaming. Seth thinks this is a very bad turn; how many streaming services do you need to sign up for to watch every Michigan football and basketball game this year? Worse, putting games behind paywalls is putting them out of reach of fans, especially young adults, who will find something else, cannibalizing your future (and destroying smaller market teams) for a few bucks today. Can't fault Dusty May and Michigan because they're just playing the game. I do fault the commissioner of the Big Ten and the TV execs who can't see past what money sticks to their fingers. * Seth Dream: Cut out the TV guys, develop your own streaming network and keep all of the money. If you put a tenth of the money the TV guys get into production you'd have it. Brian: You're crazy; they outsource everything, and when they don't they create Big Ten Plus. * Seth: not crazy, because TV takes a greater share now than they ever have before, because streaming is a new frontier that hasn't calcified yet, sports fans would rather install a free app where they could watch all of their games for free than six apps they have to sign up for. What makes it impossible is Michigan and Ohio State etc. won't like it because it's too fair.