For all of his hypocrisy Nick Saban never seemed to get into crazy fights with the NCAA like this. Dabo is a weirdo yet won two titles and, again, generally stayed above the fray. There are ways to perform while not creating more headaches for yourself and your compatriots, and Harbaugh struggles with that more than a lot of other coaches.
Again, I'm happy he won UM a title and I'm sure this will all be water under the bridge but there's no schematic or competitive advantage to fucking around with an NCAA investigator when it's clear they have the goods on you involved in some minor NCAA violations.
They suspended some coaches for 3 meaningless games because that was going to be the type of punishment the NCAA would have handed out. I don't get why people keep acting like every other school gets away with stuff when they get caught - they usually get probation and some recruiting restrictions, and UM's added suspension of some coaches is largely because Harbaugh was caught, at the very least, being uncooperative with an investigation. Yes is that petty? Sure, but that's the deal you make with the NCAA and so they took their medicine and it sounds that was basically it.
Also, save me this "UM's AD didn't stand up for Harbaugh" bullshit. They sued the fucking Big 10 to stop his suspension, and mounted a very public defense of him during the Signgate fiasco. Chris Partridge being an idiot and texting players not to help with the investigation is why they stopped fighting it in court, which again isn't something an AD can do anything about. They allowed Harbaugh to hire people like Schemmy even though a cursory review of his social media posting showed he was immensely problematic. Harbaugh antagonized the Burgergate situation from a bunch of minor violations into a major one, and there's nothing an AD can realistically do there. Warde Manuel and the school's AD has real issues but at some point "Jim Harbaugh being Jim Harbaugh" is the source of a lot of the issues and the AD is going to be stuck dealing with the fallout of his actions long after he returns to the NFL, so it's not a lack of "spine" to recognize you've lost this fight and try to make right with the shitty cops who still have jurisdiction over you.
Yeah, I totally get how his players and staff really like him but how he'd be exhausting as someone who works for you or you don't have a personal connection with.
I'm glad he won a title and I applaud him for his player advocacy but he's a bit of a chaos agent especially when he thinks he can get away with it
Yeah, Harbaugh acting like UM needs to defend his honor once he bolted is pretty stupid. Again, I agree with Harbaugh that the violations are BS but he didn't stick around to fight them and instead left that to his former employer so I'm not sure what he expected UM to do
I don't know what Mars and Harbaugh thought would happen - he left for the NFL and so he really doesn't have any skin in the game anymore. By comparison, UM and the current team and coaches are still on the hook. So of course they're going to try to figure something out to limit their punishment. Tom Mars is sort of a dipshit and Harbaugh is entitled to say his piece but grow the fuck up and take your shot at the NCAA and not at UM.
I agree that UM being consistently mediocre at zone defense and penalty kills (though this year they did do a good job after some early struggles), and that's something that will always hurt their chances to win a title. At the same time, Denver and as basically as bad as UM on that PK front and their goalie situation, while better once they settled on a starter, wasn't beyond the pale for UM to reproduce. It feels like BC is a bit of an aberration in that they had maybe the greatest recruiting class ever come in this year and then they basically all played like stars. We'll see if they can keep building and repeating that level of performance. And Denver is just in such a zone right now that you just have to hope they get tripped up in Plinko.
But I'm happy with the season and excited for how the team looks going forward, even with guys going to the NHL more frequently than you'd hope.
I agree, but nobody thought the Texans had a plan but them Ryans impressed as a first-year HC, they drafted well and had some talent on the roster that was under-utilized, and now they're a AFC contender. By comparison, the Panthers are a hot mess with bad vibes up and down the organization and Young looked pretty terrible.
The Chargers aren't grabbing a QB and neither are the Giants or Titans, but if he falls to the Falcons then that's a good spot because he'd be able to sit behind Cousins for a couple of years and then step into a starting role with a young, talented team. But yeah, if he winds up in NE or Arizona those aren't great spots unless, again, NE's new coaching staff really overhauls what is a bad offense.
I think Tebow's best traits didn't translate into that version of the NFL (late 00s, early 10s), but I do wonder had he gone to a place that was willing to continue refining his throwing motion (he had started in college a bit but it was still really elongated by NFL standards) if he could have hung on as a starter on a team. He was a plus athlete and while like a lot of Urban Meyer QBs seemingly didn't know how to read a defense that could stay with his receivers, seemingly had the ability to improve as a player. It sounds like there were issues off the field/mentally with him as it came to his role on a team that probably worked against him, but I'm not sure Josh Allen was any more refined coming out of college but the Bills invested in his development more than John Fox in Denver, who seemed annoyed having Tebow on the team almost immediately. I don't particularly like Tim Tebow as a person but I also thought going to Denver was a terrible landing spot.
That said, I agree that McCarthy is a much better QB than Tebow in terms of transferrable skills right now.
I'm not sold that any of the top 4 QBs in this class are actually going to be high-level NFL QBs (i.e. multiple pro bowls and guys who can seriously carry a team to a championship without significant help around them), but I think McCarthy's floor (along with Drake May's) feels the highest. I heard him referred to as a more athletic, stronger Kirk Cousins, which is maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek but also not a bad comp. An accurate guy who's better out of the pocket and is solid reading the defense will get you pretty far in the NFL, and I do think the (relative) lack of downfield throws compared to some of the other guys has led to over-analysis of his attempts compared to, say, Williams or Daniels who threw a ton more and so their mistakes get more lost in the wash. Doesn't mean McCarthy is perfect or that he doesn't have real question marks - his lack of touch on some throws is a real thing he'll have to address in the NFL, and he doesn't have the type of rocket arm that lets you get away with some of the throws he tried in college because of the improved defensive playmakers.
He's not afraid to throw in the middle of the field, which is something you have to be willing to do in the NFL, and he's clearly a smart guy who can work within the offense while also making plays off-script. That's something a lot of teams can live with at QB especially if you give him playmakers and don't ask him to throw 35-40 times to win each game. Stroud in Houston is a good example of a team that didn't leave their QB out there to carry them offensively alone, and so he was able to play within the offense with some confidence while also freelancing when he had to.
In reality, the NFL draft almost never goes purely on talent or ability because if it did you'd likely see a number of the WRs, DTs, secondary, etc. go far earlier than they are. But in a league where QB is king then yeah, McCarthy is a guy who's going to get drafted "too early" based on objective metrics but I'd certainly want as a QB if I needed to draft one early. Like, he's better than basically any QB from 2 years ago's draft and outside of Stroud I like him more than anyone from last year's class.
Just the dumbest thing in the world, and really disappointing.
This is somewhat different than the earlier incident with Scruggs because (I believe) this is his first offense but I'd still hope the punishment is pretty severe because this sets a terrible model for players. Get a fucking Uber; you've got the money.
With several good universities he could have gone to, the big question was which KB would have chosen.The 2008 NBA MVP would reveal his preferences, although it seems they boiled down to two schools – Duke and UNC.
OSU paying $2M to Kelly after it was clear few at UCLA liked him and his offense took a a significant step back after losing his 5th-year QB, then importing another QB who is unlikely to be much better than the guy they ran out of town, is sort of what I expected from the combo of Ryan Day and the AD who gave Fisher $75M guaranteed at A&M.
I do think it's funny how CMU still hasn't been able to confirm or deny who that Connor Stallions-looking MFer was on their sidelines. Seemingly nobody really cares to keep pushing on that publicly, which I assume it partly because Ryan Day...I mean Pete Thamel's sources don't have any dirt on that situation.
That's been Auburn's offense for a while. I think Pearl is a good coach but it seems like he's got some Calipari in him where he rolls out the ball and let's guys freelance a bit.
I suspect UM will get a number of these guys but this is also starting to look and sound a bit like head coaching season where guys get their names floated out there but then head back to their current stops (or to new, non-UM stops) with larger NIL paydays. I don't begrudge any of the players for doing it but I doubt UM gets 7-8 of the top 40 guys on the transfer market.
Nice write-up. I assumed BC would win; I thought people read too much into their (relative) struggles in the regional but as a current resident of Boston I've seen BC (and BU) on TV a couple of times and they are terrifyingly good. UM wasn't built to grind them down and pull an upset, and so sometimes you just lose. It sucks, but this wasn't supposed to be a great team this season and they overachieved to get this far.
Next year, assuming they get a goalie in the portal, will feature a ton of talent and depth that'll once again make UM a death star. Doesn't mean they'll win it all but the direction of the program is still up and that's exciting.
Credit to the players for getting this far and let's run it back and try to pick up some conference hardware next year as well.
I agree he'll be a solid player but I'm not sold yet that he can be more than a bench rotation guy. His shooting numbers last year were so minimal it's hard to read much into them but I worry about the times he did see the court not necessarily looking physically ready. Lots of growth potential, though, as he ages. UM still needs to get two starter level guys for the backcourt, which isn't ideal.
Nice. Hope he comes back and can get on the court and be productive; it still felt like he was pretty far away last season but guys do tend to make the leap after their freshmen seasons.
It's going to be so interesting watching OSU next year try to deal with immense pressure and expectations being helmed by a lot of guys who seemingly have the thinnest skin in the game. Just...nothing shows how Not Mad you are quite like saying you leaving a program for a better opportunity is because you are mentally tough, unlike other players who do it because they can't handle adversity.
Wish him luck. He had a lot of potential but I'm interested to see if a bunch of the deep bench guys find success elsewhere and so their struggles can be ascribed to poor coaching/team play but I worry that part of UM's issues last year was that they didn't have anyone on the bench who could reasonably play at the P5 level and thus the starters had to play way more than you'd like.
I guess I could see Calipari sort of beating the posse out of town and reaching out to both UM and OSU because they were available Big 2 jobs but I'm comfortable saying UM was never going to seriously consider him as HC and OSU wasn't all that likely either. The way he runs programs simply wasn't going to work at UM from a logistical or perception standpoint, and while I'm sure UM has money Cal seemingly despises being second fiddle to another sport and he'd never be the biggest game in town with football. That means he'd be fighting for resources, relatively speaking, between basketball and football and he already has gotten into numerous fights with Stoops at UK in situations where he's had the high ground.
Yeah, I don't think people understand how bad Iowa was in offense last year. The absolute worst non-pandemic offense UM had under Harbaugh was 2017, when they had a passing "attack" led by O'Korn, Peters, and Speight that was seemingly always injured and ended the year with 9 TDs, 10 picks, and about 6.4 ypa.
By comparison Iowa had a duo of QBs (McNamara and Hill) who combined for 9 TDs, 11 picks, and 5.5 (!) ypa. That's nearly a ypa worse than what was the worst passing attack in recent history, and you could argue it was an improvement on 2022 for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan's passing offense will be worse next year with the loss of McCarthy but they still have far more playmakers than Iowa has and, frankly, a much better offensive system.
Yeah, watching UConn's offense be so efficient even compared to top-level offensive coaches like Painter and Oats but also be lock down defensively is a huge credit to Hurley, even if the guy seems like an asshole.
Yeah, but that's been the case all season. Most teams wouldn't commit to just playing him 1-on-1 and daring everyone else to beat them, but UConn has enough horses to do it.
I have no issues with Purdue and want them to beat UConn just for variety but they don't look like they have guys outside of Edey who can consistently perform at the level you need to win a title. Edey is already looking tired at UConn isn't even playing that well.
I assume UM's new RB coach will give him a call but we'll see; I sort of doubt he'd get many more carries with UM than he would with OSU, so my guess is he looks somewhere else with a lighter depth chart.
Yeah, what I've understood tends to get guys is less the total necessary to graduate with a UM degree and more with the school not recognizing enough credits for them to be at the grade level they're supposed to given the number of years they've player collegiates sports. So for example, if a guy is going to the NBA in a year he might not care about the degree but if he's supposed to be in his third year of college and thus a junior, having only acknowledged credits of an academic sophomore means he's academically ineligible to play that year unless he catches up per the NCAA.
I like Matt Painter so I'll be rooting for them; Ryan Walters and Purdue football are such an afterthought that it's hard to really care about whatever BS he made up to justify why he got worked over by Michigan.
But honestly, both UConn (I assume they beat Alabama as they're leading now) and Purdue seem like good teams with stylistic differences that'll make for a fun game.
Good recap. Definitely a wake up call but to their credit they did wind up playing better as the series progressed. It's a team still lacking top end talent but the offense is young and improving at least.
I honestly think Iowa wins the WBB title this year - Clark is just such an offensive dynamo and Iowa has figured out how to play with her to such a degree that it's hard to see anyone outside if SC having much of a chance. Obviously SC is the overall #1 seed and undefeated but Iowa just slayed LSU and they feel locked in.
UConn is so much better than everyone else in CBB now it's hard not to pick them. I think Purdue is good enough to give them a scare but that's it; Alabama and NC State just aren't at that level. I hope that it's UConn vs. Purdue for the title because that's just a fun matchup and I harbor no ill will toward Painter or the Boilermakers. Plus, the upset-to-16-to-title-win story was done by UVa but I'm a sucker for sequel.
All basketball coaches who wander onto the court during play should be dragon-punched out of the arena, so we are team Weatherspoon all the way.
100%. Also, Kelsey is giving off huge Tom Izzo vibes during that entire exchange, as most college coaches are incredibly thin-skinned and love being little tyrants who can't fathom someone telling them to get off the damn court while play is going on. I really wish refs would do something about it because it's clear what they're doing is adding a 6th defender of sorts to plays.
As for Howard, I agree he got screwed both by his actions/decisions as well as things outside his control, and it sucks how it ended. I do think his reticence to talk to the media/be more open to them also stems from being in the NBA for almost 20 years and that informing a more antagonistic/less trustworthy view of them. While I'm sure there are fair reporters who cover the NBA, I've also seen enough of them just bury guys unfairly for clicks, or violate confidence for a scoop, that you'd have your guard up about letting them in. Or you wind up getting someone like Brian Windhorst who will repeat anything certain people say but is such an access merchant that there isn't any substance to discussions beyond that. Hell, Howard got to see it up-close with guys like LeBron, who are incredibly guarded with the media. So I get why he'd be reserved about talking to local UM media a bit, and how that lack of access and exposure hurt him. It's probably another factor why he might not well-suited for coaching at this level, at least without accepting he'd need to glad-hand more than before.
Maybe, but considering UM's HR department cleared him shortly afterwards and yet people just assumed there was some grand conspiracy amongst the University to protect a coach that they were clearly going to fire, I think there was some intentional misreading/lack of skepticism around his claims that the media covering it should have been more up-front about.
Perhaps, but that's the type of action that can get you fired and, depending on who did it and why, possibly exposed to legal consequences. That's a big risk to take to grease the wheels for a firing that everyone sort of saw coming.
It's way more likely that Sanderson or his lawyer leaked it because he knew it would make him more sympathetic and increase the chances and size of a settlement.
Yeah, that was my vibe when it first got out. Michigan media types were taking it at face value and not wondering why this supposedly private email to HR got out or if there was a motive behind it. I don't blame Sanderson for wanting to leave and I wish him luck but he absolutely didn't handle it great on the way out and people seemingly siding with him always struck me as people just wanting Howard gone and not caring how that result came about.
Yeah, I think the heart surgery issue and the unrealistic timelines was exacerbated by his struggles in 2022-2023 and knowing he didn't have a long runway in terms of patience. Howard talked about competitiveness and all that but he had just missed the tournament and if he missed it again he likely knew he was gone so he rushed back to give it a run. So he pushed too hard and the team suffered as a result because he was clearly "off" all year.
And yeah, I do think there was a path for success at UM for Howard. He'd have needed to change his approach and not sure he'd have done it but there was a path for him to succeed.
I mean, he literally says more in the next paragraph of the article so either (a) you didn't read it, in which case I'd be careful about betting with people, or (b) you did and just don't care about being wrong, which again is a bad approach if you're gambling.
People are allowed to dislike Juwan Howard and think he's a bad coach but it's sort of crazy how everyone reads a biased, lawyerly letter from Sanderson's people and assume it's the 100% unvarnished truth and then read Howard's words and assume he's full of shit.
An interesting read. Like the Sanderson piece you're getting a biased recounting from an unreliable narrator, but I do believe him that the heart surgery was serious and he returned too quickly. And while I doubt he was super mellow with Sanderson I absolutely believe Sanderson said some inappropriate comments toward the players (which was reported at the time) and him and Howard came to yelling. It does strike me as bad for UM that Sanderson's letter got leaked to the press and screams lawyer tricks to get a bigger settlement.
Anyway, wish Howard luck in his recovery and the next steps of his career and am excited to see what May can do with the team.
I doubt that Sanderson's account is fully truthful either. I suspect it's somewhere in the middle with both guys acting inappropriately but neither being the unbridled rage monster the other frames it as.
Yeah, simply importing FAU doesn't make this team a tourney team or anything but for as bad as this looked last year you didn't have to squint that hard to see a team with even average defense being competitive in a lot of these games. If May can get them to play even top 100 defense (which was FAU this year) it would be a massive step forward and keep them in games way longer.
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For all of his hypocrisy Nick Saban never seemed to get into crazy fights with the NCAA like this. Dabo is a weirdo yet won two titles and, again, generally stayed above the fray. There are ways to perform while not creating more headaches for yourself and your compatriots, and Harbaugh struggles with that more than a lot of other coaches.
Again, I'm happy he won UM a title and I'm sure this will all be water under the bridge but there's no schematic or competitive advantage to fucking around with an NCAA investigator when it's clear they have the goods on you involved in some minor NCAA violations.
They suspended some coaches for 3 meaningless games because that was going to be the type of punishment the NCAA would have handed out. I don't get why people keep acting like every other school gets away with stuff when they get caught - they usually get probation and some recruiting restrictions, and UM's added suspension of some coaches is largely because Harbaugh was caught, at the very least, being uncooperative with an investigation. Yes is that petty? Sure, but that's the deal you make with the NCAA and so they took their medicine and it sounds that was basically it.
Also, save me this "UM's AD didn't stand up for Harbaugh" bullshit. They sued the fucking Big 10 to stop his suspension, and mounted a very public defense of him during the Signgate fiasco. Chris Partridge being an idiot and texting players not to help with the investigation is why they stopped fighting it in court, which again isn't something an AD can do anything about. They allowed Harbaugh to hire people like Schemmy even though a cursory review of his social media posting showed he was immensely problematic. Harbaugh antagonized the Burgergate situation from a bunch of minor violations into a major one, and there's nothing an AD can realistically do there. Warde Manuel and the school's AD has real issues but at some point "Jim Harbaugh being Jim Harbaugh" is the source of a lot of the issues and the AD is going to be stuck dealing with the fallout of his actions long after he returns to the NFL, so it's not a lack of "spine" to recognize you've lost this fight and try to make right with the shitty cops who still have jurisdiction over you.
Yeah, I totally get how his players and staff really like him but how he'd be exhausting as someone who works for you or you don't have a personal connection with.
I'm glad he won a title and I applaud him for his player advocacy but he's a bit of a chaos agent especially when he thinks he can get away with it
Not a surprise but still a nice pickup. Let's keep them coming.
Yeah, Harbaugh acting like UM needs to defend his honor once he bolted is pretty stupid. Again, I agree with Harbaugh that the violations are BS but he didn't stick around to fight them and instead left that to his former employer so I'm not sure what he expected UM to do
I don't know what Mars and Harbaugh thought would happen - he left for the NFL and so he really doesn't have any skin in the game anymore. By comparison, UM and the current team and coaches are still on the hook. So of course they're going to try to figure something out to limit their punishment. Tom Mars is sort of a dipshit and Harbaugh is entitled to say his piece but grow the fuck up and take your shot at the NCAA and not at UM.
Good stuff.
I agree that UM being consistently mediocre at zone defense and penalty kills (though this year they did do a good job after some early struggles), and that's something that will always hurt their chances to win a title. At the same time, Denver and as basically as bad as UM on that PK front and their goalie situation, while better once they settled on a starter, wasn't beyond the pale for UM to reproduce. It feels like BC is a bit of an aberration in that they had maybe the greatest recruiting class ever come in this year and then they basically all played like stars. We'll see if they can keep building and repeating that level of performance. And Denver is just in such a zone right now that you just have to hope they get tripped up in Plinko.
But I'm happy with the season and excited for how the team looks going forward, even with guys going to the NHL more frequently than you'd hope.
I agree, but nobody thought the Texans had a plan but them Ryans impressed as a first-year HC, they drafted well and had some talent on the roster that was under-utilized, and now they're a AFC contender. By comparison, the Panthers are a hot mess with bad vibes up and down the organization and Young looked pretty terrible.
The Chargers aren't grabbing a QB and neither are the Giants or Titans, but if he falls to the Falcons then that's a good spot because he'd be able to sit behind Cousins for a couple of years and then step into a starting role with a young, talented team. But yeah, if he winds up in NE or Arizona those aren't great spots unless, again, NE's new coaching staff really overhauls what is a bad offense.
I think Tebow's best traits didn't translate into that version of the NFL (late 00s, early 10s), but I do wonder had he gone to a place that was willing to continue refining his throwing motion (he had started in college a bit but it was still really elongated by NFL standards) if he could have hung on as a starter on a team. He was a plus athlete and while like a lot of Urban Meyer QBs seemingly didn't know how to read a defense that could stay with his receivers, seemingly had the ability to improve as a player. It sounds like there were issues off the field/mentally with him as it came to his role on a team that probably worked against him, but I'm not sure Josh Allen was any more refined coming out of college but the Bills invested in his development more than John Fox in Denver, who seemed annoyed having Tebow on the team almost immediately. I don't particularly like Tim Tebow as a person but I also thought going to Denver was a terrible landing spot.
That said, I agree that McCarthy is a much better QB than Tebow in terms of transferrable skills right now.
I'm not sold that any of the top 4 QBs in this class are actually going to be high-level NFL QBs (i.e. multiple pro bowls and guys who can seriously carry a team to a championship without significant help around them), but I think McCarthy's floor (along with Drake May's) feels the highest. I heard him referred to as a more athletic, stronger Kirk Cousins, which is maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek but also not a bad comp. An accurate guy who's better out of the pocket and is solid reading the defense will get you pretty far in the NFL, and I do think the (relative) lack of downfield throws compared to some of the other guys has led to over-analysis of his attempts compared to, say, Williams or Daniels who threw a ton more and so their mistakes get more lost in the wash. Doesn't mean McCarthy is perfect or that he doesn't have real question marks - his lack of touch on some throws is a real thing he'll have to address in the NFL, and he doesn't have the type of rocket arm that lets you get away with some of the throws he tried in college because of the improved defensive playmakers.
He's not afraid to throw in the middle of the field, which is something you have to be willing to do in the NFL, and he's clearly a smart guy who can work within the offense while also making plays off-script. That's something a lot of teams can live with at QB especially if you give him playmakers and don't ask him to throw 35-40 times to win each game. Stroud in Houston is a good example of a team that didn't leave their QB out there to carry them offensively alone, and so he was able to play within the offense with some confidence while also freelancing when he had to.
In reality, the NFL draft almost never goes purely on talent or ability because if it did you'd likely see a number of the WRs, DTs, secondary, etc. go far earlier than they are. But in a league where QB is king then yeah, McCarthy is a guy who's going to get drafted "too early" based on objective metrics but I'd certainly want as a QB if I needed to draft one early. Like, he's better than basically any QB from 2 years ago's draft and outside of Stroud I like him more than anyone from last year's class.
Just the dumbest thing in the world, and really disappointing.
This is somewhat different than the earlier incident with Scruggs because (I believe) this is his first offense but I'd still hope the punishment is pretty severe because this sets a terrible model for players. Get a fucking Uber; you've got the money.
A nice return given a couple of guys departing earlier than expected.
They've got recruits coming in who are talented but obviously nice to have some veteran top-end talent as well.
Yeah, feels like a pick swap and Ferris will be getting a 3rd-line winger to be named later.
I mean...this is 7th paragraph in the article.
OSU paying $2M to Kelly after it was clear few at UCLA liked him and his offense took a a significant step back after losing his 5th-year QB, then importing another QB who is unlikely to be much better than the guy they ran out of town, is sort of what I expected from the combo of Ryan Day and the AD who gave Fisher $75M guaranteed at A&M.
I do think it's funny how CMU still hasn't been able to confirm or deny who that Connor Stallions-looking MFer was on their sidelines. Seemingly nobody really cares to keep pushing on that publicly, which I assume it partly because Ryan Day...I mean Pete Thamel's sources don't have any dirt on that situation.
That's been Auburn's offense for a while. I think Pearl is a good coach but it seems like he's got some Calipari in him where he rolls out the ball and let's guys freelance a bit.
I suspect UM will get a number of these guys but this is also starting to look and sound a bit like head coaching season where guys get their names floated out there but then head back to their current stops (or to new, non-UM stops) with larger NIL paydays. I don't begrudge any of the players for doing it but I doubt UM gets 7-8 of the top 40 guys on the transfer market.
Nice write-up. I assumed BC would win; I thought people read too much into their (relative) struggles in the regional but as a current resident of Boston I've seen BC (and BU) on TV a couple of times and they are terrifyingly good. UM wasn't built to grind them down and pull an upset, and so sometimes you just lose. It sucks, but this wasn't supposed to be a great team this season and they overachieved to get this far.
Next year, assuming they get a goalie in the portal, will feature a ton of talent and depth that'll once again make UM a death star. Doesn't mean they'll win it all but the direction of the program is still up and that's exciting.
Credit to the players for getting this far and let's run it back and try to pick up some conference hardware next year as well.
I agree he'll be a solid player but I'm not sold yet that he can be more than a bench rotation guy. His shooting numbers last year were so minimal it's hard to read much into them but I worry about the times he did see the court not necessarily looking physically ready. Lots of growth potential, though, as he ages. UM still needs to get two starter level guys for the backcourt, which isn't ideal.
Just win.
Nice. Hope he comes back and can get on the court and be productive; it still felt like he was pretty far away last season but guys do tend to make the leap after their freshmen seasons.
Good.
It's going to be so interesting watching OSU next year try to deal with immense pressure and expectations being helmed by a lot of guys who seemingly have the thinnest skin in the game. Just...nothing shows how Not Mad you are quite like saying you leaving a program for a better opportunity is because you are mentally tough, unlike other players who do it because they can't handle adversity.
Excited for him. Also, really like the fact that when he played someone here posted their named one of their goldfish "DeShawn Swims".
Wish him luck. He had a lot of potential but I'm interested to see if a bunch of the deep bench guys find success elsewhere and so their struggles can be ascribed to poor coaching/team play but I worry that part of UM's issues last year was that they didn't have anyone on the bench who could reasonably play at the P5 level and thus the starters had to play way more than you'd like.
I guess I could see Calipari sort of beating the posse out of town and reaching out to both UM and OSU because they were available Big 2 jobs but I'm comfortable saying UM was never going to seriously consider him as HC and OSU wasn't all that likely either. The way he runs programs simply wasn't going to work at UM from a logistical or perception standpoint, and while I'm sure UM has money Cal seemingly despises being second fiddle to another sport and he'd never be the biggest game in town with football. That means he'd be fighting for resources, relatively speaking, between basketball and football and he already has gotten into numerous fights with Stoops at UK in situations where he's had the high ground.
Not a surprise if he wants to stay in the state and work as a major program. Wish him luck.
Some weird stuff going on with WBB. Not sure if it's a problem yet but this is now two major players leaving via the portal in about a week.
Yeah, I don't think people understand how bad Iowa was in offense last year. The absolute worst non-pandemic offense UM had under Harbaugh was 2017, when they had a passing "attack" led by O'Korn, Peters, and Speight that was seemingly always injured and ended the year with 9 TDs, 10 picks, and about 6.4 ypa.
By comparison Iowa had a duo of QBs (McNamara and Hill) who combined for 9 TDs, 11 picks, and 5.5 (!) ypa. That's nearly a ypa worse than what was the worst passing attack in recent history, and you could argue it was an improvement on 2022 for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan's passing offense will be worse next year with the loss of McCarthy but they still have far more playmakers than Iowa has and, frankly, a much better offensive system.
Yeah, watching UConn's offense be so efficient even compared to top-level offensive coaches like Painter and Oats but also be lock down defensively is a huge credit to Hurley, even if the guy seems like an asshole.
Yeah, but that's been the case all season. Most teams wouldn't commit to just playing him 1-on-1 and daring everyone else to beat them, but UConn has enough horses to do it.
I have no issues with Purdue and want them to beat UConn just for variety but they don't look like they have guys outside of Edey who can consistently perform at the level you need to win a title. Edey is already looking tired at UConn isn't even playing that well.
I assume UM's new RB coach will give him a call but we'll see; I sort of doubt he'd get many more carries with UM than he would with OSU, so my guess is he looks somewhere else with a lighter depth chart.
Yeah, what I've understood tends to get guys is less the total necessary to graduate with a UM degree and more with the school not recognizing enough credits for them to be at the grade level they're supposed to given the number of years they've player collegiates sports. So for example, if a guy is going to the NBA in a year he might not care about the degree but if he's supposed to be in his third year of college and thus a junior, having only acknowledged credits of an academic sophomore means he's academically ineligible to play that year unless he catches up per the NCAA.
I like Matt Painter so I'll be rooting for them; Ryan Walters and Purdue football are such an afterthought that it's hard to really care about whatever BS he made up to justify why he got worked over by Michigan.
But honestly, both UConn (I assume they beat Alabama as they're leading now) and Purdue seem like good teams with stylistic differences that'll make for a fun game.
Good recap. Definitely a wake up call but to their credit they did wind up playing better as the series progressed. It's a team still lacking top end talent but the offense is young and improving at least.
I honestly think Iowa wins the WBB title this year - Clark is just such an offensive dynamo and Iowa has figured out how to play with her to such a degree that it's hard to see anyone outside if SC having much of a chance. Obviously SC is the overall #1 seed and undefeated but Iowa just slayed LSU and they feel locked in.
UConn is so much better than everyone else in CBB now it's hard not to pick them. I think Purdue is good enough to give them a scare but that's it; Alabama and NC State just aren't at that level. I hope that it's UConn vs. Purdue for the title because that's just a fun matchup and I harbor no ill will toward Painter or the Boilermakers. Plus, the upset-to-16-to-title-win story was done by UVa but I'm a sucker for sequel.
100%. Also, Kelsey is giving off huge Tom Izzo vibes during that entire exchange, as most college coaches are incredibly thin-skinned and love being little tyrants who can't fathom someone telling them to get off the damn court while play is going on. I really wish refs would do something about it because it's clear what they're doing is adding a 6th defender of sorts to plays.
As for Howard, I agree he got screwed both by his actions/decisions as well as things outside his control, and it sucks how it ended. I do think his reticence to talk to the media/be more open to them also stems from being in the NBA for almost 20 years and that informing a more antagonistic/less trustworthy view of them. While I'm sure there are fair reporters who cover the NBA, I've also seen enough of them just bury guys unfairly for clicks, or violate confidence for a scoop, that you'd have your guard up about letting them in. Or you wind up getting someone like Brian Windhorst who will repeat anything certain people say but is such an access merchant that there isn't any substance to discussions beyond that. Hell, Howard got to see it up-close with guys like LeBron, who are incredibly guarded with the media. So I get why he'd be reserved about talking to local UM media a bit, and how that lack of access and exposure hurt him. It's probably another factor why he might not well-suited for coaching at this level, at least without accepting he'd need to glad-hand more than before.
Thought he improved as an offensive player and gave a shit, which are things you can build on as a coach.
Maybe, but considering UM's HR department cleared him shortly afterwards and yet people just assumed there was some grand conspiracy amongst the University to protect a coach that they were clearly going to fire, I think there was some intentional misreading/lack of skepticism around his claims that the media covering it should have been more up-front about.
Perhaps, but that's the type of action that can get you fired and, depending on who did it and why, possibly exposed to legal consequences. That's a big risk to take to grease the wheels for a firing that everyone sort of saw coming.
It's way more likely that Sanderson or his lawyer leaked it because he knew it would make him more sympathetic and increase the chances and size of a settlement.
Yeah, that was my vibe when it first got out. Michigan media types were taking it at face value and not wondering why this supposedly private email to HR got out or if there was a motive behind it. I don't blame Sanderson for wanting to leave and I wish him luck but he absolutely didn't handle it great on the way out and people seemingly siding with him always struck me as people just wanting Howard gone and not caring how that result came about.
Great news. He'll be huge on the power play, and obviously a top pair guy.
Yeah, I think the heart surgery issue and the unrealistic timelines was exacerbated by his struggles in 2022-2023 and knowing he didn't have a long runway in terms of patience. Howard talked about competitiveness and all that but he had just missed the tournament and if he missed it again he likely knew he was gone so he rushed back to give it a run. So he pushed too hard and the team suffered as a result because he was clearly "off" all year.
And yeah, I do think there was a path for success at UM for Howard. He'd have needed to change his approach and not sure he'd have done it but there was a path for him to succeed.
I mean, he literally says more in the next paragraph of the article so either (a) you didn't read it, in which case I'd be careful about betting with people, or (b) you did and just don't care about being wrong, which again is a bad approach if you're gambling.
People are allowed to dislike Juwan Howard and think he's a bad coach but it's sort of crazy how everyone reads a biased, lawyerly letter from Sanderson's people and assume it's the 100% unvarnished truth and then read Howard's words and assume he's full of shit.
An interesting read. Like the Sanderson piece you're getting a biased recounting from an unreliable narrator, but I do believe him that the heart surgery was serious and he returned too quickly. And while I doubt he was super mellow with Sanderson I absolutely believe Sanderson said some inappropriate comments toward the players (which was reported at the time) and him and Howard came to yelling. It does strike me as bad for UM that Sanderson's letter got leaked to the press and screams lawyer tricks to get a bigger settlement.
Anyway, wish Howard luck in his recovery and the next steps of his career and am excited to see what May can do with the team.
I doubt that Sanderson's account is fully truthful either. I suspect it's somewhere in the middle with both guys acting inappropriately but neither being the unbridled rage monster the other frames it as.
Yeah, simply importing FAU doesn't make this team a tourney team or anything but for as bad as this looked last year you didn't have to squint that hard to see a team with even average defense being competitive in a lot of these games. If May can get them to play even top 100 defense (which was FAU this year) it would be a massive step forward and keep them in games way longer.
Good luck to him; will be interesting to see how he plays on a team that puts a premium on defense like KSU has under Tang.