WTKA Roundtable 1/16/2019: That's the Whole Problem
Things discussed:
- Anthony Campanile takes a bail move—turned down two DC jobs and Harbaugh blocked the Giants from talking to him. Just weird.
- John Beilein's jump to the NBA is the dumbest move of his career. Sam: yes, this is his retirement gig, thinks recruiting, offseasons off, and the fact that the FBI probe couldn't even get the coaches they got on tape removed all had something to do with it.
- Letting centers get career highs: worked when Garza went off and his buddies got zilch, not so much on the road. Cockburn, Trevion Williams, Oturu are just that good? Cassius Winston was making bad shots. Juwan's analytics betraying him when these guys are feeling it.
- Teske won with zero help last year against everyone but Garza in Iowa City. You HAVE to force the ball to less efficient guys to take advantage of their holes.
- We gotta talk about playing Eli Brooks less.
- We gotta talk about getting the lower bowl filled at Crisler
[Player after THE JUMP]
You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream.
Segment two is here. Section three is here.
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That's like saying I coached the Lions so I'm an NFL coach.
January 17th, 2020 at 8:14 AM ^
Oh good lord this is going to be a long off-season if we're not even out of January and Brian has already commented numerous times that Harbaugh has lost the team and coaches are abandoning ship.
And for the record I'm sure there is some discontent on the football team, but "head coach doesn't want to lose a key guy to the NFL right after he signed a new contract" doesn't seem...unreasonable. especially when that team is the Giants.
And he still wound up leaving, though I'm sure Ross had influence there.
Anyway, considering there's still this rumor that apparently Michigan passed on a UK position coach over $100k that seems sorta crazy, all of this reporting is starting to feel very hot take-y
January 17th, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^
Hot take-y? I'd say it feels more like we're living in a John U. Bacon book where the not always so pretty reality on the inside is being exposed somewhat to the public.
January 17th, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^
If anything that has come out in the past couple of weeks surprises anyone or seems out of place for a major college program, I don't know what to tell you.
January 17th, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
And what is the source of the "not always so pretty reality on the inside" that we're being told about? JUB did actual, y'know, research when writing his books. As far as I know, Brian has not cultivated any comparable inside sources -- in fact, he seems to pride himself on maintaining an outsider's perspective. Seems like we're getting rumors and, quite frankly, projection, rather than inside info.
January 17th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Brian and Harbaugh are both in the same burned out place. They need couples counseling.
January 17th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
This is all a consequence of losing (big) to OSU, and losing a bowl game, AGAIN, to end the season. Two consecutive losses makes the whole off season an ordeal of uncertainty. We've had a steady diet of it for damn near twenty years of it now, and everyone is dog tired of it. Now, it's in our face every day as it's become the easiest/laziest hot take for every CFB hack reporter desperate for content. Just win, baby, and all the cannibalism will go away.
January 17th, 2020 at 8:26 AM ^
If you want to fill the lower bowl of Crisler and make it more intimidating, get more students along the sidelines and make it so that more average Joes can get seats down there. Too many of the best seats are allotted to big wigs who don't bother to show or sit on their hands and don't get involved. The AD doesn't care about actually making Crisler a tough place to play, though. They just want money while simultaneously inundating real fans with patronizing garbage ("LIKE OMG YOU'RE TEH BEST FANS IN THE COUNTRY!!!!!") with the end result being that they just feel lucky to even be in the building.
January 17th, 2020 at 9:21 AM ^
It would also be okay-even nice if the fans and media understood that they likely do not make a damn difference in the actual outcome of a game. But yes, a university's BS to the contrary is just that-BS.
January 17th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
I did some analysis and wrote an article on home ice advantage in college hockey for Tech Hockey Guide a while back... The short answer is that (at least in hockey), the percentage of the arena that's filled absolutely makes a difference in a team's home ice advantage. I'd imagine a similar effect exists in basketball.
https://techhockeyguide.com/2019/02/07/analytics-home-ice-advantage/
January 17th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Completely disagree. The atmosphere in the arena definitely affects how the refs call the game. Home cookin' is a real thing, and especially in CBB.
So yeah, they can make a damn difference. Quite a bit.
January 17th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
I really don’t think we should “take advantage of their holes”.
January 17th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
Team is pivoting away from recruiting based on stars. Looking for really good and experienced coaches who are experienced talent evaluators. If you look at the biggest hits from the 2017 class in terms of on-field performance, the majority come from Don Brown's efforts in terms of identification and then development.
January 17th, 2020 at 5:05 PM ^
Please stop talking over each other.
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