oblique references

in approximately five minutes the hero will walk in and all talk will stop[Marc-Gregor Campredon]
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The Bar Is More Dust Than Solid And Is Probably Named "The Black Rose" Or Similar
Brian • January 30, 2019 • 3:59pm

1/29/2019 – Michigan 65, Ohio State 49 – 20-1, 9-1 Big Ten

One of the most unexpected constants of the John Beilein era at Michigan has been the point guard's lip curl. The program has cycled between radically different styles of point—pick and roll pterodactyl man Darius Morris, all-conquering Trey Burke, pull-up assassin Derrick Walton, and now anger bulldog Zavier Simpson. But every single one of them could have said this:

May have taken Walton a while to round into his true Michigan point guard form, but he got there. Everyone else had that attitude from the drop. John Beilein's most unexpected talent is wading into the vast pool of available point guard talents every few years and finding the guy who is, in his heart of hearts, a Danny Trejo character. If I walk into a bar filled with former Michigan point guards I'm walking right out. Bullets and tequila are about to fly.

Even so, Simpson is the dogg amongst dogs. The dirtiest dude in town.

When the Virginia-NC State game went to overtime I had to scramble through the usual "you haven't updated your Playstation, also you haven't updated this app, also please register this device, oh and if you click on the ESPN2 broadcast you get a null pointer exception" rigamarole.

By the time I got the game on it had already started and I was listening to the Spanish broadcast. Amongst rapid-fire Spanish my ancient high school classes can't keep up with came two phrases, clear as a bell: "sky hook" and "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar." They did not clap like seals. It sounded like they wanted to, like every announce crew, like everyone on twitter, like even Deadspin. Like me.

And sure why not:

The hook shot, while delightful and a key component of Simpson's evolution into a functional offensive player, is only the most visible facet of the bizarre whole. The guy who just put up a triple double makes no sense. But he just put up a triple double, so this is the time for Simpson-related message board recriminations, the time when some random guy pops on to scold people for writing Simpson off when he was a freshman.

It was entirely rational to write Simpson off! Simpson was a "6 foot" point guard who literally did not have a jump shot. Beilein took the unusual step of grabbing grad-transfer Jaaron Simmons after Simpson's freshman year because it looked for all the world like Michigan had no point guard. Nine games into his sophomore year Simpson had taken a total of six twos and had gotten benched for Eli Brooks. If at some point you did not write Zavier Simpson off you are his dad or insane.

Most folks who find themselves at that crossroad never recover, because they're there for a reason. Carlton Brundidge did not prove the haters wrong. Ibi Watson did not shove in in the skeptics' faces. There are few dynamic lizard escapes once you're in the "change or die" phase of a career.

Simpson didn't really change, though. He doubled down on being Zavier Simpson. He's still a 50% free throw shooter and a 30% three-point shooter with a set shot. He's also the head of the spear for a 20-1 team. He's all the things a modern point guard isn't, and if he scores in the same way a 7'2" guy in goggles did that's total nonsense and perfect sense at the same time.

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[Campredon]

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