2018-19 villanova

Brian’s sick so Seth hosts, Craig guest hosts, and Johnny Wangler can finally visit us without fear of white tuxedoed hair fellas.

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1. RUFRgers

starts at 1:00

A very uninteresting game. Michigan didn’t play their best game, but didn’t need to. Shea never pulled the ball. Did JH troll James Franklin? Tru Wilson had a good game. Craig thinks it’ll be a three-way RB battle next year with Evans, Wilson, and Charbonnet. Lots and lots of Down G. Didn’t run a lot of pistol in this game because the zone read wasn’t a legitimate threat. Shea had a terrific game. Higdon missed a few cuts. Pass protection in the UFR was 100% (!!!). Devin Gil had a really rough game, needs to stay in his lane. Gary had a terrific game.

2. Previewing Indiana

starts at 25:30

Craig’s numbers project a 28- or 29-point win for Michigan. He thinks their record indicates they may do better than that though. Seth rebuts by mentioning that Indiana has gotten a lot of turnover luck and is not a good team. However, Indiana is the forever ChaosTeam for as long as Seth has been a fan. The Hoosiers have zero pass rush whatsoever. Shea shouldn’t need to run this week against a depleted defense. Offense isn’t awful and Peyton Ramsey has a lot of receiving options.

3. Revenge Tour: Nova

starts at 1:45:44

Seth brags about his tweets and Craig asks people about the game at a drugstore. It was a complete defensive domination, but even Craig didn’t expect Brazdeikis to have the game that he did. The charge call early on set the tone for the game. Simpson might be the best defensive point guard Craig has ever seen. Craig thinks that Brooks and Livers are the best shooters on a team that can’t shoot. George Washington looks bad.

4. Gimmicky Top Five New Stadium Traditions

starts at 1:02:14

Seth and Craig discuss the fun new things we yell this year. Of course as soon as we finished up Wangler called so we’ll get him on the podcast soon.

MUSIC:

Featured tonight: Inner Recipe, an early 2000s Ann Arbor band I used to know.

• “Clear the Rain”
• “Shape Shifter”
• “The Stones Thrown”
• “Across 110th Street”

If you or a friend made some good tunes and don't have a label out scrubbing for them we'd be happy to feature you.

THE USUAL LINKS:

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link
• What's with the theme music?

So you don’t subscribe to the theory—put forth by exactly nobody until me just now—that Michigan was dogging it to match the Penn State score?

11/14/2018 – Michigan 73, Villanova 46 – 3-0

During the consumption-of-entrails portion of the game someone tweeted a question at me.

@mgoblog are we in death from above territory?

— Tres (@tresf333) November 15, 2018

Sort of but also no. "Death from above" is a particular genre of Beilein win where Nik Stauskas sticks contested threes in your face and no amount of scoring you manage is ever enough to climb up the Sisyphean treadmill that Michigan's offense presents you. Halfway through the first half your official twitter account issues a shruggie. The danger comes from the high-arcing artillery shells Michigan fires with unerring accuracy, and then a Lithuanian-Canadian dude dunks on your face.

That's Death From Above. This was different, except for the Lithuanian-Canadian dude. This was a shiv in the dark.

Michigan was most dangerous in the low places, where Zavier Simpson's fingers are stickiest and Ignas Brazdeikis's defense most implausible. The closest thing to a consistent perimeter threat Michigan presented came from Charles Matthews jumpers that started just outside the restricted circle and ended just inside the three-point line. The very, very burly Eric Paschall is going to hit 65% from two in conference play; he was just 3 of 13 against against a true freshman wing giving up 40 pounds.

At the same time Michigan was turning an All Big East C into a pumpkin they limited Villanova (VILLANOVA!) to 3 of 15 from behind the arc, on shots that were about 95% contested. Six different guys had steals. Zavier Simpson had five himself. Villanova had three turnovers for every assist.

At some point Gus Johnson said that Michigan was known for ferocious defense and a near-total lack of turnovers. I thought about tweeting out something in the "lol that's half-right" genre, and then stopped. Stopped like a wildebeest trying to drive the lane against Michigan. Maybe it's true. Or, at least, it's is going to be true.

And like, I don't know, fine? Let's go? I don't have the fingers to deal with this.

Never in the history of humanity has a program undergone such a dramatic 180 in how they get things done without losing its fundamental personality. And make no mistake: Zavier Simpson is as good of a Beilein-at-Michigan avatar as anyone despite the fact he'll hit 30% of his threes this year if he's lucky. He is not without precedent. He is the continuation of a theme. Seven years ago Darius Morris told Michigan State to "get the fuck off my court." Nik Stauskas terrified Kentucky fans despite Kentucky having 16 seven-foot jumping jacks. Charles Matthews?

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Charles Matthews spent the entire first half doing this to various Villanova Wildcats. Everyone wanted to punch him and someone almost did.

These guys have always been assassins. Just not this kind. They've been guys who line your head up in a targeting reticle from two miles away. Now they knock on the front door and ask if anyone wants to play with all these knives they brought. You can say no all you want. The question is rhetorical.

Yes. Michigan is going to stab you until a palpably depressed Gus Johnson can no longer inject any life into the game. And then they're going to stab you one last time, because maybe you deserved it.

[After THE JUMP: some bullets and react from elsewhere]

Michigan basketball wanted some revenge too.

A national championship game rematch against Villanova was the highlight of the Gavitt Games series between the Big Ten and the Big East, and Michigan dominated from start to finish on the road against the defending champs and Big East favorites. On the Wildcats’ first two possessions, Colin Gillespie and Eric Paschall went at Zavier Simpson and Ignas Brazdeikis, respectively, and came up empty; those plays set the tone, and Michigan’s decisive victories in those head-to-head battles were essential components of the blowout win.

The Wolverines’ performance in the first half was basically perfect: they opened the game with a 10-2 run and gradually extended the lead to a 44-17 margin by halftime, outscoring Villanova by almost a full point per possession. Michigan made 70% of its two-point attempts and only turned it over once. Charles Matthews led the charge offensively with an efficient 16 points in that opening half, throwing down a few dunks (including a put-back off a missed layup by Isaiah Livers), drilling a couple mid-range fadeaways, and stealing a careless backcourt pass for a layup. He finished with a team-high 19 points, as well as three blocks.

It was a strong collective effort defensively for Michigan, but nobody made a bigger impact on that end than Brazdeikis. The freshman was tasked with guarding fifth-year senior Eric Paschall, and while the much bulkier big man repeatedly tested him in isolation situations in the post and from the mid-range, Brazdeikis held up almost every time, forcing Paschall into contested misses near the basket. Paschall finished 3-14 from the field with three turnovers. Brazdeikis put up 18 points on just 13 shot equivalents (mostly from tough drives and ambidextrous finishes around the basket), but his work on the other end was even more impressive.

He wasn’t the only Wolverine who was locked in defensively. It was a fantastic team effort, as Villanova’s 0.72 points per possession was their worst offensive performance since January 2013. Simpson took Gillespie off the dribble for a few layups of his own, but absolutely bullied him on defense, notching five steals and forcing a couple more turnovers. Villanova’s starting guards turned the ball over 9 times; the entire team gave it away on almost a third of their possessions. Michigan quickly decided that it would be better to have Livers at the five instead of Austin Davis when Jon Teske was off the floor, and the sophomore turned in a great two-way performance as a small-ball five.

Usually early-season routs like this take place in sleepy buy games against overmatched mid-majors at home, but Michigan just recorded what was arguably the most impressive result yet this season in all of college basketball by destroying the program that had won two of the last three national titles on their home floor. It’s now customary with Luke Yaklich on the Michigan bench: the Wolverines won this game with their defense. The game was effectively over at some point partway through the first half, and even though the Wolverine offense lagged in the second, Villanova had just no chance of overcoming such a huge deficit.

In the end, Michigan shot poorly from behind the arc (5-17, with the starters combining for just one made three) and the free throw line (12-19), but it just didn’t matter. Matthews and Brazdeikis were an effective one-two scoring punch, the latter locked down the veteran who’s probably Villanova’s best player, and the entire team harassed the Wildcat offense into a miserable night - turnovers galore and virtually no easy looks, especially inside. Villanova loves to spread the floor and exploit mismatches, but they couldn’t break down individual defenders, especially Brazdeikis.

Expectations will necessarily be ratcheted up after such a huge win. Michigan sleepwalked through their first two games and then demolished a top ten team on the road. In a few weeks, they'll get another chance at revenge in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge against North Carolina. After how well they played tonight, you’d have to like their chances.

[Box score after the JUMP]