MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

1 hour and 34 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]. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], The Sklars Brothers [http://www.supersklars.com/], the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded [http://link.ag.fan/mgoblog] app, Champions Circle [https://givebutter.com/thosewhostay?utm_source=mgo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=cfp-championship-mgo&utm_content=keep-team-together], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://www.pestfreemi.com/], and Venue by 4M [https://www.experience4m.com/venue/] where usually record this. 1. Sweet Sixteen Vibes Starts at 1:00 Oh hey! We didn't expect to be here! Roddy Gayle just made more threes in one game than during Michigan's entire Big Ten schedule. He has risen from the dead and Michigan out-rebounded the best rebounding team in the country so here we are! Michigan got hosed by the selection committee but made it to the 2nd weekend anyways. Brian 'Roddy Gayles' the sponsor read. Going into next year, Dusty May needs a center and a backup center but should otherwise be set. 2. Men's Basketball vs Texas A&M Starts at 15:26 Nobody expected this game to go the way it did. Michigan started 1-7 on threes and then started hitting a lot of great shots against a top 10 defense. Michigan got a lot of un-contested rebounds which was weird considering that's Texas A&M's thing. Goldin was probably getting more tired than usual, he got pulled early. L.J. Cason was a game-changer in this one, he could be special next year. Why did Nimari only have 13 minutes? All of Goldin's energy went towards rebounding, his performance would've been very memorable if it wasn't eclipsed by Gayle. Just don't pass to Patrick.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs UC San Diego Starts at 37:20 Takes hotter than RODDY GAYLE. UC San Diego is such a weird team. Brian still can't pronounce their star's first name who fouled out in 25 minutes. Michigan should've had the bigs dunk at the rim but UCSD defended them well. Roddy Gaye and L.J. Cason played important roles, not quite as big as in the TAMU game. Michigan's shot parity is only -2 which is good enough. If Wolf played better then maybe Michigan walks away from this one. They hit the Kenpom spread exactly. How well will we remember this game years from now?  4. Previewing Men's Basketball vs Auburn Starts at 1:01:34 Michigan has drawn the #1 overall seed in the tournament. Auburn's greatest strength is shot making and are the 2nd best offense in the country (1st is Florida). They have some super seniors from the Covid year. Auburn has a similar Bigs setup to Michigan so they can handle Goldin+Wolf. One of their biggest weaknesses is that they foul a lot. Personnel wise, these teams are very similar and both coaches will likely match each other. Jahki Howard might be the worst teammate in the country. Auburn will want revenge against Danny Wolf after last year's Yale game. Everyone was watching the Michigan game on Thursday since most of the first round games were uneventful. This Auburn offense is 8 efficiency points better than the 2013 Michigan offense.  MUSIC: * "Where Do We Go From Here"—Charles Bradley * "Monstera Escalito"—Ciao Ciao Marigold * "What do You Like"—Tommy Richman * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: * Michigan wins Big Ten Tournament, it doesn't matter for seeding, and then the get the strongest 12-seed in the history of Kenpom. * UC San Diego preview: They figured out how to deal with a 7-footer in the third game against UC Irvine, the other good team in their conference of California state schools plus Hawai'i, but they haven't faced two 7-footers. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is their major usage guy who might end up having to play a lot of center because Nordin Kapic, their nominal big, is a 6'8"/245 stretch. * PG Hayden Gray has the #1 steal rate in the country, and this is part from him harassing you from all angles all over the court, and part playing in a league of teams with bad handles. Need a plan for getting upcourt and warning when he's coming. * Seeding: Proof that the Committee just needs to go, because they're trying to talk Kenpom now instead of rewarding seasons. Just use Wins Above Bubble like they do (with Pairwise) in hockey. * Sam thinks they way overvalued nonconference games, which hosed Michigan given the context of Michigan's losses; some two-way thinking went on where close losses in the nonconference are a big deal but close wins in-conference are luck. * The explanations offered up by the UNC AD were not inspiring. He was trying to make math cases but the guy is clearly illiterate in terms of math. Seth thinks they were trying to make a bracket instead of a field, using their own limited understandings of matchup stats to give top seeds easier paths, even though that's explicitly not what their job is. Evidence: they were talking about things like wins against Iowa State when their best player was out not counting as much. That's terrible. * Round 2? Brian thinks Yale can beat A&M who can't shoot. They're the Iowa of basketball: they rely on Cooper DeJean returns. Seth thinks A&M rebounds too well and they always manage to hit stupid shots in the last minute. Nobotdy thinks we're getting past Auburn and Johni Broome, a point forward whose TO rate is 8. * Louisville doing us a favor in Lexington? Chucky Hepburn isn't beating Auburn. * How far is MSU going? "Cakewalk to Final 4" what? Auburn as well, unless ISU beats them, but their injuries are too much to overcome. Rooting for the Young Martellis (that's a 30-point spread). Remembering Giddy Potts. Theory: MSU has too many centers for Izzo. That's a great thing in the Big Ten where * Our brackets? SEC-heavy. Florida, Auburn, Alabama…I mean I want to root for Houston but I hate their draw of upset specials and their slow pace that invites it.

1 Hour and 19 Minutes With David Nasternak and Alex Drain This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/] is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games. Segment 1: What Happened Last Weekend?   * Opener * Old Friends and Around the League * Pairwise Rankings and Rooting Interests * Who Might Go Where Segment 2: Stick Ball Sports and the NHL   * He Said/She Said * Hardball Rundown * Softball Catchup * NHL Chit-Chat   MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Praying For A Miracle" -- Dan Sartain * Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 28 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]. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], The Sklars Brothers [http://www.supersklars.com/], the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded [http://link.ag.fan/mgoblog] app, Champions Circle [https://givebutter.com/thosewhostay?utm_source=mgo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=cfp-championship-mgo&utm_content=keep-team-together], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://www.pestfreemi.com/], and Venue by 4M [https://www.experience4m.com/venue/] where usually record this. 1. The NCAA Tournament and UC San Diego Starts at 1:00 Michigan is your Big Ten Tournament champions! There was a lot of doom and gloom at the end of the regular season so not many people saw this happening. Michigan might be the most boned team in the tournament draw. Wisconsin is an 18 point favorite against Montana, Michigan is a 3 point favorite over UC San Diego. UCSD is clearly a top 50 team but they can't match up with Michigan's Bigs. Get familiar with the name Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (in pronunciation and basketball production). The Tritons give up a ton of threes. Yale is a popular upset pick over Texas A&M, TAMU's thing is missing shots but rebounding them. Who would you rather play, TAMU or Yale? That's a tougher question than it would seem. Clearly the results of the Big Ten Tournament don't matter because Michigan is seeded like it didn't happen.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Wisconsin Starts at 32:43 The shooting percentages in this game were... ugly. Wisconsin had good looks but just couldn't hit them. Goldin seemed absolutely gassed this game. L.J. Cason really helped bail out Michigan. Michigan only had eight turnovers! But missed on the boards.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 49:43 Takes hotter than your Big Ten Champion Michigan Wolverine Football Basketball team. This is one of the worst officiating games we can remember. Roddy Gayle had a great game... and MADE A THREE. He only had nine points but that level of production is what Michigan needs. The final play was a football play in its design.  4. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 1:14:01 A nice bounce back game that happens from taking care of the ball. Why does everyone want to kick Goldin in the nuts? Purdue gets more goonish when they're tired and they were coming off a tough game against USC. Michigan wasn't turning the ball over and was assisting well for each other, this was the Dusty May team we love to see. Michigan gets the night game on Thursday and will be played at 5,280 feet. Please fly over right now and get acclimated, you're invited to sleep on my couch (IT'S A NICE COUCH, SETH). It may be a 50/50 chance we preview Auburn next week.  MUSIC: * "Take This Job And Shove It"—Johnny Paycheck * "F*ck You"—CeeLo Green * "MUTT"—Leon Thomas * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

SKLARS TONIGHT Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak. Show's at 7:30, doors at 6:30, VICTORS books for sale and signing after the show. HOT TAKES segment during the show if enough MGoBlog fans are there. Tickets [https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/85553992/the-sklar-brothers-royal-oak-mark-ridleys-comedy-castle?mgoblog]. Things Discussed: * Basketball big picture: they're a good team, though they've been more of a 10-seed than a 4-seed since January because they hit their ceiling. * Strategy has stagnated but tactics are good, wins close games. * Take Michigan in the 1st round vs a 12 or 13 because they won't have someone who can stop Vlad. * Tre Donaldson needs to play better—ball is getting stuck in Wolf's hands, also Tre's defense has fallen off. * Cason? Very high upside: defensive athleticism, #1 on the team at getting himself to the rack, shooting is just bad luck—big difference between his shots that circle the rim and Gayle's shots that barely touch it. But he's not going to be ready this year. * During break: Craig uses the F-word. Is something wrong with Tre Holloman? Seth: If that guy played for us we'd love him. * MSU floor-kissing: mostly nothing. Seth believes the rule should be whoever wins gets the midcourt/midfield logo. That game was over. * Women's basketball: Michigan's playing five guards, the game has gotten much better, incredible what KBA did after her roster was gutted by the portal. They can stick with anyone in the country. * Hockey: Need help. No bid stealers. Comfortable that one of the many Big Ten and Hockey East at-large teams will win their tournaments, need Arizona State to go out, need Quinnipiac to go out early enough not to pass Michigan or win their bid. * Naurato: This won't be a problem again. What does he mean? Maybe he's going to raid Canada.