Unverified Voracity Is Still Slightly Unverified
KICKSTARTER IS A GO. "Statement" and "Sponsor" tiers close the 12th.
Come to the library. It says something about the AADL that it's going to host the Fullcast your kind donations have won.
(extremely michigan voice)
— Shutdown Fullcast, the world's only CFB podcast (@ShutdownFullcas) May 31, 2019
SHUTDOWN FULLCAST: LIVE! WITH ESTEEMED @MGOBLOG GUESTS
- JUNE 21, 2019
- 7 PM
- AT THE DANG ANN ARBOR LIBRARY DOWNTOWN BRANCH - BECAUSE @AADL SAID WE COULD
- COST TO YOU: $0
- YOU FINANCIAL GENIUS
Also you can check out skeletons from them. Anyway: that. Preparation: minimal?
This week in probably unnecessary paranoia. There are enough outlets reporting that former St. Joe's head coach Phil Martelli is headed to Ann Arbor to become Juwan Howard's right hand man…
The source told NBC10 Sunday night that Martelli will work under new University of Michigan men's basketball head coach Juwan Howard, calling the move, “a done deal.”
hearing phil martelli to Michigan is done deal. so happy. will have to find my way to ann arbor. enjoy the ride, coach.
— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) June 3, 2019
…while it isn't done, it seems pretty likely to happen.
…that it seems done. I'm not pulling out the Hello post just yet.
My main concern is that none of this is coming from the Michigan side of things. Brian Snow, who's the third quote above, reached out to a Philadelphia source. Weiss was the NYDN college basketball guy for 40 years. And the NBC station in question is Philadelphia's. Philly's old boys network is notoriously tight and was furious that Martelli got the axe, so they might be racing ahead of the facts. One of their local blue check crew already did that a few days ago:
A source has told me former St. Joseph’s basketball coach Phil Martelli will soon be announced as the new coach at another college outside the Philly area. I wish him nothing but the best. #Big5
— Chris O'Connell (@CoconnellFox29) May 29, 2019
Probably a game of telephone there, but that dude seems to be reporting that Martelli's getting a head job somewhere.
So: yes, probably Martelli and probably not Mike Miller. I'm waiting for someone in Michigan to say it's happening before writing it up.
On the other hand this is tremendous content. Baseball plays for a regional championship tonight at 7 on ESPN2. That's what we're focusing on, not the fact that they went from 7-4 up to 11-7 down in the ninth inning last night.
[After THE JUMP: healthy WRs, suspended RB.]
Hooray, fireworks. Orion Sang caught up with Josh Gattis at the recent Best of the Midwest camp and got some good news:
Gattis, speaking at the Best of the Midwest camp hosted by Grand Valley State, said junior receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones "finally feels healthy," and that fellow junior Nico Collins, who had a surgical procedure this offseason, returned to the field for the final day of spring practice.
"He finally feels healthy, he finally feels back," Gattis said of Peoples-Jones. "He’s been working out, now it’s about him learning the offense."
People were talking about DPJ's hamstring like it had suddenly become Drake Harris's hamstring, and that would have been very very terrible. DPJ being back to full health in June is reassuring. Knock on wood.
In wide receiver-non news, a there was a recent Yodering about Oliver Martin. I laid it out on twitter; if you'll indulge me:
Step 2: various rivals posters extrapolate this is Oliver Martin, because anyone familiar with the DPJ/Collins/Black trio and Bell's strong FR year can put 2+2 together. One of them says offhand he's been passed by Sainristil, who is in no way a 1-for-1. pic.twitter.com/au8o4tcENn
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) June 3, 2019
Step 4: Sam Webb, who doesn't run to a message board with every scrap of info he comes across, is roused into action by a bunch of OLIVER MARTIN GONE questions: pic.twitter.com/PgLNozViAT
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) June 3, 2019
The Yoder: reading the premium message boards and extrapolating from things that seem likely to make it seem like you "broke" news, and getting your ass handed to you 20% of the time.
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) June 3, 2019
Martin is naturally concerned about his playing time but if he's still around after this year he's likely see the logjam clear as the NFL picks off one or more guys. If he's still stuck he'll probably be able to grad transfer with two years of eligibility left. Hopefully Michigan can get him some extra targets—there will be more to go around in Gattis's offense.
Chris Evans siesta. Chris Evans filed an appeal to get his suspension overturned. It was not:
Evans had appealed the decision to the university hoping to have it cut from one year to a half year, which would allow him to play football this fall, but that hasn’t happened.
“Chris Evans is suspended for the year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh told The Detroit News on Sunday after speaking at the Best of the Midwest football camp at Grand Valley State. …
Evans told The News that after the one-year suspension he can rejoin the university and team in January 2020.
So pencil him in for next year.
Also in Gattis speaks. This was an interesting bit of another Sang article:
"At times, we couldn’t even give it to them because we were still changing names, it was all brand new terminology, I didn’t want to carry over any of the same terminology that I’ve used in previous places. It took us some time to create the new words and vocabulary in our offense, to make sure all our coaches understood what we wanted to get done, and we (were) all on the same page, but our kids are awesome."
I wonder how common that is.
The emoji for this has not yet been invented. DX's latest mock draft has no Michigan players in it. FFS. They all get beat out by this person who is not even real:
Yovel Zoosman | SF | Age: 21 | Maccabi Tel Aviv
That is a character in a children's book who hates alphabetical order. His mortal enemy is the Philadelphia Union's Brenden Aaronson.
Another speculative name. Jaevin Cumberland is off the board to Cincinnati. Jaevin Cumberland 2, come on down!
New Mexico's Anthony Mathis will graduate and transfer, per his Twitter page. Averaged 14.4 PPG and made 106 three-point shots last season. LONG line for this one.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 3, 2019
Mathis is a 6'3" Just A Shooter who's hit 41% and 47% on big volume (a total of 444 attempts) over the last two years. He struggled inside the line this year, with a 17 TO rate and 39% shooting on twos but he is a knock-down shooter who would slot in neatly at the two. He's from Oregon, FWIW.
Etc.: Isaiah Livers offseason workout clips. Gonna need a usage boost from him. Can Juwan Howard crack Chicago? And how quickly can he mount the spiky untamed horse of NCAA regulations? RIP Marc Okkonen, Michigan alum and uniform obsessive.
Mathis is from Oregon, is best friends with Payton Pritchard, and Oregon needs a SG as they were also recruiting Cumberland. Not happening unfortunately.
It will honestly be crazy and depressing if all 3 Michigan guys go undrafted. You'd have to think that an NBA team would be willing to take a chance even in the second round on Iggy's scoring, Poole's shooting or Matthew's defense compared to a guy from some foreign country who maybe they've seen play once, is 21 years old, and averages 3.2 PPG
Poole is the most likely to be drafted, Iggy made a bad decision but it also wasn't going to change if he stayed all 4 years, dude doesn't stand a chance in the NBA athletically and isn't a good enough shooter to make up for it.
I mean, he shot 39.2% from three as a true freshman, and improvement is possible from your freshman year onward. Just ask the numerous guys from Michigan alone who improved over the years (Caris Levert, Derrick Walton, etc.).
I don’t really buy that Iggy has reached his potential because he is an older Freshman. Hell he is still a freshman that only played one year of college level ball after being in Canada.
Maybe he is not going to have the physically mature growth that younger guys may have but he can still get stronger, quicker and better at the game. 27 years old is peak physical maturity.
I would rank their NBA success likelihood at Iggy (overall game). Chuck (serious shut down D and maybe gets a jumper). JP. (Let’s hope he grows up).
Problem is none of them can really contribute anything to an NBA team right now other than take up a roster space. Poole's shooting isn't really good enough for someone to take a flier on, Matthew's defense alone isn't worth a pick, and Iggy is too raw and underdeveloped for the position he'll need to play in the NBA. Probably G-League or Euroleague for all of them. Maybe they can develop there and work their way to a 10-day contract in the NBA or something.
True, but still don't understand how some random guy from Europe is any better than any one of them
I'm not sure why you seem to think anyone will be drafting random guys from Europe. If a team doesn't believe they have enough evidence to support a draft choice they won't make the pick..
How is he random? Because you've never heard of him? Do you watch a lot of European basketball? Sure we got the human victory cigar but a lot of those guys have worked out well in the NBA.
For one, a kid from Europe is less likely to leave a small market. Beyond that, random kids from Europe can become the next Manu, Parker, or Jokic.
I bet Matthews would be a good enough defender in the NBA right now. Whether that's good enough with his offense, I don't know. I think and hope he can become a solid player though, at least with significant minutes off the bench. With his defense and athleticism, I think just adding a solid 3 point shot would be enough for him.
It seems likely that Iggy and Poole leaving had a role in Coach Beilein going to Cleveland. If they then aren't even drafted, I will...do my best never to think about this situation again.
oh ya...the forever salt in the wound. Please get drafted
While Iggy and Poole surely want/expected to be drafted before declaring, they also sound like two guys who really had no desire to be in college and were set on leaving even if it mostly likely meant taking the late second-round/non-drafted G-League route to the NBA. I don't mean this as a criticism. But based on their comments, those two were never the least interested in staying in school.
This is how I will think of it too. Fucking painful.
All three were 2nd-round picks at best. I still think Matthews gets a late flier, simply because he does do one thing really well and you can hope that maybe he turns into a competent shooter. He's not going to be a star, but a guy who is that good defensively can give you a couple of minutes here or there.
Iggy and Poole always felt like longshots to me to get drafted, especially Poole, and my guess is they'll first have to work their way through a lower league to get a shot.
I thought it would take 10 days it looks like it will be funded in half that time
I don't know if it's common to change verbiage for an offense when switching schools but Gattis' last two stops were (1) division opponent Penn State, and (2) at Bama with Mike Locksley, who now coaches division opponent Maryland. You don't want to make it easy to steal signs/calls or audibles by using the same language coaches at both of those might already know.
I don't think that's the terminology he's referring to. It's things like how Brown calls the hybrid position "Viper" and certain formations a certain thing. Those things are fairly common knowledge and not usually a secret. Coding them into play cards and signals is another layer of abstraction they add later and probably change game to game even.
It's everything. Position names, package names, play names, audible calls, line calls, etc. I've gone through coaching transitions before, and there are a lot of commonly used words that aren't the same thing from team to team.
Ram in one offense was Buck Sweep to the right.
Ram in another offense was a formation.
Ram in another offense was a motion for the running back.
So sometimes you come into an offense that used Ram as a code word for a formation last year, and you're like, "Well, crap, I don't want to use the word Ram at all because we don't use that formation/personnel grouping, and I don't want to confuse them. So I have to go into my playbook and change all the formations we used to call 'Ram' to being called 'Rocky.'"
The weird thing is how college coaches are so prudish about these terms. Michigan aside, as long as they're going to coddle criminals like they're VIPs, it's known that humans remember absurdity better than vanilla. So instead of "ram" use something like "dong" or "clown". This is supposed to be internal, everyone on the roster is a legal adult, and they'll pick up the playbook faster. Plus you get some amusing calls. "52 CLOWN DONG BLUE JACKASS HUUUUT. . ."
Yes yes I know, we can't have nice things.
I didn't know that Okkonen was a Michigan alum. Baseball has some obsessive fans, and he was the guy for uniform, which was shockingly not covered in the comprehensive way stats and other minutiae is tracked and referenced.
Ran in to Drake Harris at Chipotle the other day. He just started working as a freight broker. Nice guy.
Please do not verb and/or definite-article my surname over this small-time grifter.
Sincerely,
The (One And Only True) Yoder
Maybe Gattis needed to change the terminology in the offense because he was carrying around terms he used at PSU....which is still running that offense. Otherwise, why change things?
I'd be surprised if changing the terminology is anything less than SOP. I mean, maybe a coordinator brings a "Viper" position everywhere he goes, but what I mean is if you line up in a formation and then you call a play, like what Gattis wants to do, the routes and everything have got to have new words at every place you go.
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