More Yaklich Dividends - Recent (successful) Coaching Against Loyloa
Luke Yaklich, fortuitiously enough, just keeps adding value. As an assistant at Illinois State, Yaklich's team went 7-1 against Loyola. In February 2017, his team faced 3 of their 5 starters in a 65-63 win. Luke has many friends on Loyola's coaching staff. He knows a lot about this team. Solid article (warning it is a Freep link to the easily offended):
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverin…
His value is his knowledge of the Loyola players, the team's philosophy/culture, the coaching tendencies, etc. His dominance over your school is just the cherry on top. Also, accusing anyone of putting too much stock into anything Yaklich is associated with... now that's just foolish.
How many other teams that Loyola has played in this tourney had a coach that had recent in-game experience against them? It's not a silver bullet, but it counts for something.
I disagree with the comment as well. We all know conference coaches know systems and tendencies of every team in their conference. Obviously this means more on a short turnaround vs having an entire week to prepare, but nonetheless it's still a leg up.
He knows their system, he knows those players, and he knows that coach.
Knowing coaches personally and coaching against them repetitively is an advantage. Also, your analogy choice does not compute here. This is a lot different than getting a transfer player from Loyola giving inside info. This is a coach transfer. Correction, a Yaklich coach transfer - the most valuable kind. Just prepare yourself for Yaklich to do what he always seems to do against Loyola - win. That means another Loyola loss. It has been a great run by a great team for Loyola. You have to respect the program and what they have been able to accomplish. Nothing on Saturday will diminish either school. However, let's just say WE are all glad to have Yaklich on our side.
I never purported that his 7-1 record was the entire story; not in my post or in my comments. It just happens to be the most fun part of the story! How much it impacts you is what really gives it the extra ooomph that Michigan fans on this board really appreciate (even though that was not my intention with posting).
Just because you make overly simplistic points and nonsensical analogies does not mean that others use the same strategy when making a point.
This seems like an odd position to take, and not just because of your faulty analogy. Conceding that it's advantageous to have a coach with intimate knowledge of a program doesn't mean you have to concede defeat in the game Saturday night.
Yes - it's helpful to have a coach that is familiar with the opponent. I don't think that can be argued.
But yes - Illinois State was simply better in the first place. For that matter, Evansville and Southern Illinois were also 6-2 each against Loyola over those 4 years. Those 2 schools were middle-of-the-road in the MVC over those 4 years. Yaklich may be a great basketball mind - but ISU's 7-1 record isn't strong evidence of such. His teams SHOULD have gone somewhere around 7-1.
Very true, but as others have said, even on a personal level, Yaklich is going to be able to "distill" the scouting reports & game tapes that Michigan will be pulling on Loyola.
They have a limited 1 week turn-around, and a guy like Yaklich being able to provide additional context & insight is going to help Michigan more efficiently wade through the potentially reams of raw data & video that they undoubtedy already have.
How MUCH more efficient is anybody's guess. But it's not unreaslable to think that having Yaklich adding context may be worth a 10% or 20% bump in scouting factor. Over a 7 day period, that's like adding an extra 1-2 days of time to review things.
Plus as an aside, my understanding is that rumors are out there that Loyola's head coach may be entertaining offers for bigger schools. Plus the national media is going to be pestering Loyola for media access, interviews, etc. far more than Michigan this week. We learned back in 2013 that Beilein had preparation duties reduced bacause he was accompanying Trey Burke at various media & award events for the POY stuff. We don't have that issue this year & conversely Loyola may have those distractions this time around.
Bottom line is if you comine the possible Yaklich scouting efficiency advantage, plus factor in some of the potential Loyola off-court distractions, you might be looking at a preparation "differential" of maybe 30%---not an insignificant advantage.
Might not Loyola's playing games against a Yaklich defense give them some insight into how Michigan's defense works as well? Otoh, essentially every Michigan game going back several years is available to view. I'm not sure how many of Loyola's games are. Also, seeing them in person, as Yaklich did probably affords some insight that video might not be able to provide.
Villanova.
A day and a half, doesn't give much time to change gears.
At least they are in the first game, so they can sit back and watch their future opponent.