MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

REMINDER: BOOK RELEASE PARTY! SEE YOU TONIGHT AT VENUE, 6PM The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing [http://shop.undergroundshirts.com/collections/michigan] for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com [http://ugpmichiganapparel.com/], or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com [https://mgoblogstore.com/collections/mgoblog]. And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management [http://peakwm.com/mgoblog], Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender [http://www.realtorandlender.com], Champions Circle [https://givebutter.com/thosewhostay?utm_source=mgo&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=cfp-championship-mgo&utm_content=keep-team-together], Human Element [https://www.human-element.com/], Ann Arbor Elder Law [http://www.annarborelderlaw.com/], Michigan Law Grad [http://www.michiganlawgrad.com/], Venue by 4M [https://www.experience4m.com/venue/], Winewood Organics [http://winewoodorganics.com/], Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning [http://sharonsheating.com/], Royal Oath Insurance Group [https://royaloathinsurance.com/], Community Pest Solutions [http://pestfreemi.com/], Autograph: Fandom Rewarded [http://link.ag.fan/mgoblog], who just launched an app [http://link.ag.fan/mgoblog] where you earn rewards for things like reading MGoBlog and listening to our podcast, and SignalWire [http://signalwire.com/] where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Magic Toaster THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things said.] --------------------- 1. Bryce Underwood and Recruiting starts at the top High-five everybody! Is he the starter next year? What does it do for the class? Guessing this means Michigan gets Derek Meadows, who was a package deal, and keeps Olesh, and can finish strong. What to make of other flip possibilities, including an OT committed to Alabama? What happened to Jaylen Williams? 2 & 3. Northwestern Preview starts at 24:19 (offense) and 35:38 (defense) Offense isn't SO bad but still quite bad. Offensive line issues are not just injuries. Mirror Michigan in that they have similar weaknesses and an OC who doesn't really know what he's doing or how to evaluate what he has. Defensively well-coached guys but few dudes. One dude they do have is a cornerback who's playing hurt. 4. Basketball vs Tarleton State and Ft Myers Preview starts at 46:57 A glitchy shooting night and a lot of fouling in a low-care blowout, but we only care about the turnover rate. Well not ONLY: Vlad Goldin needs to stop and gather when he gets the ball low in transition. Defensively the starters are so much better than other lineups. Seeing good play from Pippen—has he earned a role? Fort Myers: Virginia Tech is Not Good but also important to beat because South Carolina and Xavier would both be very good resume games we'd like to get to. Xavier is on par with Michigan; South Carolina looks like Wake and TCU. About the Featured Artist: Magic Toaster [https://magictoaster.bandcamp.com/] $image%5B8%5D.png As far as I can tell we're getting in on the ground floor of this local dude—and I have to know is that a sample from Chrono Trigger at the beginning of Blue Night Oberon, which is his latest single? Magic Taster calls his music "igneous rock recorded in my basement" but it's got deep prog and rock roots. The lyrics are accessible, smart, and funny. He came up on a playlist of Indie Ann Arbor music [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2GiU50Y6j2oioclfkqlcC4?si=62642938af6b442d] and I wrote the last couple of articles with him on in the background. I don't know any more about him but I'm featuring and finding out and giving you a selection of three different songs that show off his range. FWIW the third one—Saturday Nite—is the one that caught my ears. Song choices: * Blue Night Oberon * Anything's Fine    * Saturday Nite    Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken now now, the opener and outro: * “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark * “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Things Discussed: * Northwestern: Offensively they’re terrible, defensively they’re well-coached. * QB is Davis Warren except they actually run with him. * Michigan’s offense: coordinating has been the worst we’ve seen for decades. It’s not a quick fix or even a bye week thing: they don’t evaluate their players, their stuff doesn’t look like their other stuff, and they didn’t have a plan. * Can they get a new OC installed by December 1st? Because I’d hate to go through a second straight portal season unable to answer “who’s going to be coaching me?” * Craig: Women’s BB is *FUN*. They’re blowing teams out, they don’t turn it over, they play fast, and they’re the hardest working team in basketball. * Men’s basketball: Not going to be top-50 in turnover rate but this will come down. They don’t have a single originator, but a lot of guys who can create a little. * They also won’t be 350th in TO-rate; they’re still getting to know each other. * The shots they do get up are super high-efficiency. * Getting Vlad going: * Nimari Burnett had to come to Michigan to become the perfect Alabama player

2 hours and 10 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 we recorded this. 1. Basketball After TCU Starts at 1:00 Gee golly willickers that was a lot of turnovers. Michigan’s team of point guards has none, unless you want to call Danny Wolf the point. Weird game where they turned the ball over 16 times, most of those steals, and still led at the half because when they do get a shot it’s always at the rim or an open look from three. How to get Goldin involved? He’s not really into the game, not just on his teammates not seeing him, but it’s that as well. Walters is the most efficient offensive player in CBB but he’s playing the same position as Wolf. Trying to figure out how the lineup shakes out because we’re not going to have an eleven-man rotation all year. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Big Ten Basketball Preview: The Bottom Nine to Kenpom Starts at 29:14 Washington: Great Osobor was a great portal pickup but they can’t keep C Franck Kepnang healthy. Rice transfer Mekhi Mason and NoDak transfer Tyree Ihenacho are uptransfers who had high usage at the 3 and 2, Butler transfer DJ Davis doesn’t really do to for us either. Injuries already. Predicted finish: 18th. USC: They got Terrance Williams and they’re all Terrance Williamses: 6’7” guys who can shoot save for “PG” Desmond Claude. Already injured. Projected finish: 16th. Minnesota: Speaking of injuries already; Year 4 for Johnson is another Year Zero after the guy they spent on in the portal got hurt. Seth likes (and pronounces) Lu’Cye Patterson at PG, and we all respect Dawson Garcia, but with their only other returner being carried off the court it could be rough. Predicted finish: 17th. Nebrasketball: Welcome to The Great Mid: Every basketball team from here on save Purdue is ranked closely together. Close loss to St Mary’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Injury to stretch 5 Rienk Mast really hurts them. We like Brice Williams and Juwan Gary, think Rollie Worster from Utah is a decent PG, but lost too much to make the tournament. Predicted finish: 15th. Rutgers: This is where I’m mad about the Kenpom format. Two top-5 freshmen join a very good backcourt of Williams and Derkack, but the loss of their center looms large. Problem is spacing. Predicted finish: 5th. Northwestern: Respectable loss at Dayton (71-66) and nonrespectable OT win vs #324 Eastern Illinois. No more Boo, and you can’t make Ty Berry into that guy. Matthew Nicholson is a truck driver, Brooks Barnhizer has a bad stache, Nick Martinelli will have to drive the team. True freshman PG? Ew. Predicted finish: 12th. Iowa: Payton Sandfort is going to have to shoot, and shoot he shall. Josh Dix is going to have to take on a lot more usage unless Brock Harding can learn to score. Will be bad on defense but mid their way to wins with Owen Freeman the latest yucky C. Predicted finish: 13th. Michigan State: What are they doing in this section? It’s a very Izzo team, with no idea what they’re doing at C because nobody gets developed, and nobody making threes. But they do have athletes and Izzo will make them play defense. Frankie Fidler from Neb-Omaha was the top transfer in the conference, Jaden Akins and Jeremy Fears have talent. They’ll be…MSU. Predicted finish: 5th, deservedly 8th. Maryland: I don’t know any of these guys –Brian. Julian Reese at center you know. They’re heavily reliant on a #12 overall Derik Queen, a one-and-done at the wing, but that’s working so far, got a 4-point loss to Marquette out of him. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Selton Miguel are a decent backcourt. Very mid. Predicted finish: 11th. 3. Big Ten Basketball Preview: The Top Nine to Kenpom Starts at 1:01:27 Penn State Way high at #34 due to a win over (very bad, no PG) Virginia Tech. Ace Baldwin is the latest PG who carries them, though there’s some upside in Tennessee transfer Freddie Dilione. Predicted finish: 14th. Oregon is also rated too highly. Altman gets the kinds of guys who get rated for NBA purposes but makes decent teams out of them. C Nate Bittle and SF TJ Bamba are good enough to carry them, got an efficient PF from Stanford and upgraded PG Jackson Shelstad to a sophomore, so they’re mid. Predicted finish: 10th. Indiana got some decent portal pickups but let’s say it again: no shooting! We like former 5-star Stanford transfer Kanaan Carlyle and PG Myles Rice from P12, Oumar Ballo is 5-star from Zona to rim protect. So athletic, so little shooting. Predicted finish: 9th. Michigan 6th. Wisconsin: Back to being extremely Wisconsin including a 103-88 win vs Zona that featured a parade of whistles. Steven Crowl is now a point center extraordinaire, Nolan Winter is the next 6’11” shooter and rebounder, John Blackwell, Max Klesmit, and former CSU guard John Tonje can all play but not well enough to go to the NBA. PG Camren Hunter injury could set them back. Predicted finish: 4th. Ohio State: Led the year off with a win over Texas and a closs loss at A&M. Kept Bruce Thornton out of the draft and got back Meechie Johnson from a two-year lease to South Carolina. Added bigs from UK and Duke so maybe they can defense their way through the season. Predicted finish: 7th. Illinois: Only returning starter is burlyguard Ty Rodgers but they picked up two internationals who are Working Out: see threeing the hell out of Bama in a surprising road win. Ivisic is a 5-star little bro of the UK/Arkansas one, Kasparas Jakucionis is a lottery pick, Evansville transfer ben Humrichous is a stretch 4 with range, and backup PG from Zona Kylan Boswell and L’vile transfer Tre White have evident talent. Upgraded to predicted finish: 2nd. UCLA: Have a loss to New Mexico (not too bad and UCLA shot 5/23). Might be a defensive nightmare. Got Eric Dailey who we wanted, also Tyler Bilodeau, an Iggy like PF. Skyy Clark is not a good basketball player but Mick Cronin manages to win in ways Brian hates. Predicted finish: 3rd. Purdue: Matt Painter is the best coach in CBB. Braden Smith it turns out is much better than “guy who lobs it to Edey.” They found three more huge centers, though none are 7’4”, and the new freshman Gicarri Harris fits right in, looks like a find. Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn round out the most complete roster in the league. Predicted finish: distant 1st. 4. Hot Takes and Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:36:13 Guys I want to get this out: you know the scores. Northwestern shot themselves in the foot, MSU has no pass rush, Purdue is dead as a door nail, Washington-UCLA is how we learned UCLA lost their 4th eligible year of a starting quarterback to being the holder in 2021.  MUSIC: * "Moving Without Touching”—Rubblebucket * "Old School"—2Pac * "Water Underground"—Real Estate    * “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed: * Wake game: Brian thinks it counts as a road game for NET purposes so this will be a NET Tier 1 as long as Wake's in the top-75. * A few moments of bad luck but the problem was Michigan's: they're not hitting the role man, way too much usage on Cason way too little on Goldin. Goldin himself has to be assertive. As a team they shied away from the rim when they saw length but the plays were there. * Things working: Sam Walters looks like a real defender at the wing, which is a big development because you don't have to play Wolf at the four against teams with a lot of good scoring wings. Jones is everything we thought he was. Phat Phat is a defensive dude too. * Playing games at LCA: Deacon-Wolverine Challenge? EMU game was a good atmosphere but if you're not playing them or Oakland what's the point? Seth: LCA is actually pretty terrible. They have great staff, but the design is 100% modern revenue-maximization and the cheap seats are extremely far away and extremely vertical. * Hockey v Notre Dame: Not like most Michigan teams because the talent isn't there—Hage and maybe a couple of other guys are Power Play-worthy. * CHL players now eligible, one CHL coach is mad about stuff, says people are gonna go play for Brandon Naurato. * Hallum in a race for the puck: yay! * Goalie plan? Friday/Saturday guys until you have to pick a guy. Stein's got a .934 save% right now so he's got the edge, but saw a couple of fantastic point blank stops from Korpi and you want to develop him. * They're old (mostly juniors) so we might be pretty good. Craig uses the BGSU example. CHL route might be a way for Michigan to get talented and older. * Football: Offense doesn't have their answers prepared, haven't figured out who their best players are—the Link thing, the Mullings thing. * Think it's the end of the road for Kirk Campbell. * Defensively they might be elite next year: Brandt came on, Benny is great, Guy is great, the linebackers might return? I doubt the NFL will let us keep Barham but Hausmann could use another year of weight training to see what he's going to be. Both had great games. * Wink's getting a 'B'. No he's not Jesse Minter but Minter is going to be an NFL HC in a minute. Interception was a good gamble, and then Wink was ready when Indiana tried to test that behavior. * IU was more the kind of offense this defense was designed to stop: Like Stroud teams they want to get 1-on-1 deep matchups. Quick-passing teams beat Wink shit, screen teams exploit our tackling issues. * Paige's tackling issues are manifest. * Secondary: They're playing Berry at CB and Paige at nickel but they have some young safeties so it's working as long as Berry can hack it. He had a good game: TD was a perfect throw.

1 Hour and 12 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: Domination that Needs OT  * Opener * A Tight Start * Domination, But Goal for Each * 5x3 missed chance, but OT Finisher Segment 2: Early Goals Lead the Way  * Goal Count * Weekend Takeaways * Old Friends and the League * Looking Ahead a Couple Weeks MUSIC * NHL on ESPN Theme * "Nancy Whiskey" -- The Town Pants * Ice Hockey (NES) theme