2018 ncaa tournament

1 hour and 43 minutes

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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.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad,Human Element, Lantana Hummus and Ecotelligent Homes

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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”

THE USUAL LINKS

It does feel nice to not have it be the criminal sex vampire.

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Let’s just get our “other than Rashan Gary,” out of the way. [JD Scott]

THIS ARTICLE HAS A SPONSOR: It’s Nick Hopwood, our MGoFinancial Planner from Peak Wealth Management. Nick spent last week in Florida with his in-laws because he’s smart with money and stuff. And he spent the whole week texting me he wishes he was in San Antonio or LA because he’s as much of a fan as you are. You should talk to him about your finances so that it’s only your in-laws in the way of going next time.

Legal disclosure in tiny font: Calling Nick our official financial planner is not intended as financial advice; Nick is an advertiser who financially supports MGoBlog. MGoBlog is not responsible for any advice or other communication provided to an investor by any financial advisor, and makes no representations or warranties as to the suitability of any particular financial advisor and/or investment for a specific investor.

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The Question:

Other than THAT MOMENT what was your favorite moment of the 2017-18 basketball season?

Also the sponsor is answering the question.

Nick Hopwood: Wagner behind the back, down the lane ANKLE BREAKER!

Alex: Yes. I was in attendance for the home win over OSU, in MSG for MSU and Purdue, and in San Antonio for the Loyola game. Those were each really special: the excessive booing of Andrew Dakich on Senior Day, authoritatively proving that this Michigan team was better than State, having Jon Teske spark a blowout over an eventual two-seed for a banner, and coming back against Cinderella in the Final 4 to knock them out.

But nothing will stand the test of time better than Moe Wagner absolutely embarrassing Nick Ward with the behind-the-back dribble.

slackbot: image

Ace: Let’s take a moment to watch:

Yup, that holds up.

Seth: The gfycat label for that is LateGorgeousIberianlynx FYI, in case anyone else has need to memorize that.

[After THE JUMP: We come up with several more descriptions of that event before moving on to the others.]

Comment Count

94

MSU 2 MG

Fight. Laugh. Dance. Live. [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

It would have been a good death, there at the water’s edge. If the Red Sea hadn’t parted, and the Egyptian army had mown down every Hebrew man, woman, and child on that salt-licked Levantine shore, maybe they would still tell the story, thousands of years of later, of the slaves who forced a Pharaoh to consent to their release. Other stories have made it as long of fewer slaughtered with the taste of freedom on their lips. Few gods had done more for their people than theirs had already done for them.

My people this week are celebrating what is objectively my second-favorite world holiday*. Passover is exactly what a religious festival would look like if a dadly nerd like me was asked to draw one up: a history lesson followed by family dinner under some thematic culinary restriction. And everything has meaning.

This annual dinner-lecture (we call it a Seder) has collected a bunch of narrative traditions in service to the primary function of educating the next generation of fans on the founding myth, i.e. Exodus. I’ll spare you the Charleton Heston movie recap, and the super-abridged version I told on Saturday to get the Hebrews out of Egypt before tip-off. After the Red Sea climax the story speeds up to get this rabble of aimless refugees with slave’s skills back to People status, and the way we do this traditionally is a folk song that Jewish kids learn before their vocabulary gets to 100 words.

It’s called “Dayenu” (dye-AY-noo) which means “It would have been sufficient” but like all laconic bon mots it has a stronger meaning that implies listener and speaker both know the story, so it’s also “We had matzah subs; it was crazy!” The intention of this one is really, you’ve done more than enough; how can I ever repay you? plus two drops of I can die now.

Each verse is a chronological event that takes us from slavery to freedom, for which God gets the credit, in a call-response.

If He had taken us to Mount Sinai and not given us the Torah?

DAYENU!

If He had given us the Torah but not shown us to Israel?


DAYENU!

So you’re building gratitude throughout the song. Parting the Red Sea will already make every gimmicky top five best miracles in 10,000 years of podcasts; if the ground is muddy, zero complaints. (The ground isn’t muddy).

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*[After y’all’s idea to spread gifts and good cheer during the darkest week of winter]

[After the Jump: What would have been sufficient.]