MGoPodcast 14.19: Peak WWE
1 hour and 12 minutes
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1. Men's Basketball vs Ohio State
starts at 1:00
Bruce Thornton tha midrange god went off, but had to because Michigan kept them away from the rim. Okpara vs Dickinson was devastation. Hunter's defense so much better. Getting back in transition. OSU got no turnovers and no assists—also got *EVERY* loose ball. Jett is starting to understand the offense better, still leaves the corner open when they zone. Szelc T's up Saddi for saying "Bullshit."
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Hot Takes & Men's Basketball vs Northwestern
starts at 23:28
Michigan is taking good shots and missing, Northwestern is taking CHASE AUDIGE shots and missing; Michigan is dominating the boards to pull ahead. Dug vultures Hunter's assists. Jace and Yo-Yo lots of minutes, injury to Tschetter maybe? Not fans of the four rookies lineup. Seriously though: Chase Audige 10 points on 18 eFG, 0/7 from three. What an incredible player!
3. Hockey vs Wisconsin
starts at 44:21
Wisconsin doesn't know how to play defense, which means we get to see how Michigan wants to play offense. Love that they've put Samo on his own line because he gets to be a playmaker, and it allows guys like Brindley to shine. Think M is the 2nd best team in the all-tied Big Ten.
4. Gimmicky Top Five Reasons to Look Forward to the NIT
starts at 1:00:49
Let's remember some guys!
MUSIC:
- "Portrait of God"—King Tuff
- "Junior's Farm"—Paul McCartney and the Wings (remastered)
- "When It Comes to You"—Dead Ghosts
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link
- What's with the theme music
It's a picture of Dick Vitale and on the back it says "Don't believe his lies."
February 6th, 2023 at 8:05 AM ^
It's hard to take the first 10 to 12 games of a college basketball season seriously at this point. The amount of roster turnover due the one and done's and the transfer portal has you replacing 60%-80% of your starting five each year. You may not have a cohesive unit until midseason. Defensive communication was obviously a problem early on. Not sure if this team is actually going places, but hopefully they can keep from putting themselves in a big hole early on in future seasons.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
Yeah the problem with Michigan's season up until now is that left themselves so little margin for error the remainder of the season that they need a "luck rating" of at least 75% right now to get in the tourney. Every shot that rattles around and falls out, every random opponent that gets hot for 5 minutes, every ticky-tack foul that Dickinson gets in the first five minutes are all magnified ten-fold.
5-3 from here on out with one win in the BTT gets them to 19-14 with presumably 4-5 quad one wins and one major nut-punch against Central. That is so bubbly. That will be the bubbliest of all bubbles. Probably First Four.
6-2 with one win in the BTT and they are in.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^
I agree about the lack of a margin. I've said this elsewhere but get that win in Iowa and don't lose CMU and they're probably 10+ places higher in NET rating right now and it's more of a "are they skipping Dayton?" discussion than if they're in. They'd basically have the same ranking as MSU, a team that is bad but is in no danger of not making the tourney.
18-14 with a top-20/25 schedule (which is about where they are now) heading into the BTT probably gets them on the bubble. Weirdly, getting a double bye in the BTT might hurt them because they'd miss a 12/13 seeded team and instead wind up playing a better opponent in their one-game audition. Obviously you win and that cements you being in to the tourney but there's also the chance they take a tough loss and now they're 18-15 and that's a tougher sell.
Looking at the schedule the pivot games are home vs. IU and @Wisconsin. Win those plus Nebraska and they're sitting at 10-5. I'm not assuming they beat MSU but that's the typical pattern in this series for years; the home team wins. Win that and you're at 11-5 and barring a collapse you're getting to at least 12 wins, possibly 13 given the fact I'm not sure what Illinois is as a team.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
I agree as to the pivot games. I know Wisconsin is not vintage but winning out this homestand and then a win at Troll would be HUGE. (Juwan said he would "remember that.")
Five in a row, with 2-3 of them Quad 1, I think they would clear the bubble at that point on most brackets.
One ace in the pocket right now is Michigan's utter (and completely inexplicable) domination of Indiana at Assembly Hall in the last 7-8 years. At Indiana in the finale could be for all the marbles, and for some reason Michigan plays like the '97 Bulls there in the recent past.
February 6th, 2023 at 1:09 PM ^
I think Michigan would need to also take care of business at home against MSU to get on the right side of the bubble, ie win not just 5 but 6 in a row. And to stay there would have to take care of Wisconsin at home and win one of @Rutgers, @ILL or @IU so agree that it could very well come down to that IU game.
Finish 6-2 and they're in.
February 6th, 2023 at 1:03 PM ^
If they had closed out that Iowa win and not lost to CMU, they'd probably be 20 spots higher in NET and more importantly would be on the right side of the bubble. 15-8 compared to 13-10 is a huge difference especially when it would add a road Q1 win and remove the Q4 loss.
February 6th, 2023 at 2:38 PM ^
I honestly don't know enough how fluid NET ratings are to get a sense of the movement; you're probably right that they'd be up more than 10 spots. But I agree they'd be on the same side of the bubble as teams like MSU, UNC, OSU, etc. that aren't really sweating yet (though OSU might be in trouble if they don't finished at least .500 in the conference).
EDIT: I didn't realize OSU was now 3-9. They're going to finish below .500 in this conference and it's going to be really interesting to see how the tournament committee handles them. KenPom expects them to go 7-13 in conference, and even if they win a couple more games we're still talking 9-11 with maybe an "upset" of Iowa or MSU on the road. Not sure if that moves the needle enough.
February 6th, 2023 at 8:34 AM ^
Sometimes I wonder if Brian is watching something different than me.
First, this wasn't just Hunter being motivated. Seth was right - OSU had a non sensical strategy of single defense the entire game with either a 6-8 Key with a bad shoulder or a skinny freshman. Kudos to Hunter and the team for taking full advantage, but I'd anything it just showed why everyone is aggressively double teaming him this season.
Second, I will agree that this was Jetts best defensive game (perhaps because of the NBA scouts at the game?). But "has come a long way? Pretty sure one of the reasons Baker played so much against NW was that Jett kept screwing up defense. I am hoping he keeps getting better, but if he has already then it is from atrocious to bad.
February 6th, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
Yeah, OSU's defensive approach played right into Dickinson's wheelhouse. I also get a sense that he's been dealing with an upper-body injury this year (he's worn a lot of tape on his shoulder and had the cup treatment before Purdue), so maybe he's just been feeling better the past couple of games because he's looked much better.
And yeah, Howard being better defensively still means he's pretty bad. Baker isn't the athlete Howard is but he seems to at least know where to be, and that matters on defense. And when Howard isn't cooking offensively (as he was against NW) he's a major drag on your overall team play. I hope he's figuring it out because a two-way player like Howard raises the ceiling of this team immensely but he's really got string these together. I also thought he was bad against PSU defensively but the Nittany Lions were also hitting some bullshit so it's difficult to tease out how much was on him (and other defenders) and just the vagaries of a hot team.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
disagree re: how hunter was being defended by ohio. they frequently had two guys on him, sometimes three in the low post when the ball went down there. agree that it wasn't an automatic double-team like some other opponents, but still, hunter got extra attention. he also played well and got very little rest since reed got 4 fouls in about 20 seconds (slight hyperbole) so hunter was in for what, 37 minutes?
February 6th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
Those doubles were window dressing. Teams that have caused us big issues in the post send doubles early and aggressively.
I think Baker needs more minutes on the court. He was playing with his hair on fire yesterday and with him and Jett, Hunter can absolutely kill those double teams. I would start upping Bakers minutes and moving Williams down. Williams is a mini Ben Wallace without the rebounding or defense. We need scorers.
It is so crazy when you think about if anything happens to Dug or Bufkin there isnt just a bad option on the bench there is no option. 10 new players and ZERO PG/SG options off the bench? That is just nuts.
February 6th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
Williams seems confused about what he needs to be doing. At times he drifts toward the perimeter and is very close to useless, at times he embraces that inner-Ben Wallace and is actually very impactful on both the offensive and defensive glass. But all in all I agree with you, Williams is clearly better as a "microwave" as opposed to a starter. The only problem is that if he is relegated to that again he is going to transfer and I don't want to see him go.
February 6th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
At this point you could replace Williams with 1 of 100 transfers that will be on the market. I would rather have him stay but at this point he is Brandon Johns Jr. Jr. Williams is a bench player for energy. Baker is much more efficient and needs to be starting. We need that position to generate 10 pts a night minimum. That is basically 3 shots and a free throw for Baker.
February 6th, 2023 at 12:31 PM ^
Agreed. Williams does have a knack for being very timely with big plays in March though but it doesn't really matter if you aren't dancing.
February 6th, 2023 at 12:57 PM ^
i was impressed at T-will's rebounding in traffic yesterday on a number of occasions. he gets lost out there sometimes, especially on offense, but he was definitely hustling around the glass.
February 6th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
T-Will seems to be willing to do anything, but he just doesn't seem to know what that is most of the time. But again, he can be very clutch. He hit a turnaround in the second half while OSU was surging that may have been one of the biggest shots in the game. He has a knack for that.
February 6th, 2023 at 9:25 PM ^
There were probably less than 10 "true" double teams on Hunter in that game; in fact you could probably count the number of doubles Hunter faced on one hand. Sure, OSU was digging on him when he got post touches, mostly from the elbow defender, but that's not a double team.
February 6th, 2023 at 8:45 AM ^
Thanks Seth!
February 6th, 2023 at 8:52 AM ^
Couldn't find a better cover photo, Seth? You Groves people..;). this one of Reed with tongue hanging out is as bad as the Rumeal And Rice SI cover when we won the title.
February 8th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
Actually I replaced the photo right before I posted. Bill Rapai shot the game and took awhile to get us the photos, so I didn't have a shot to use when I posted it at 8pm Sunday and replaced the cover for the post on mgo
February 6th, 2023 at 8:54 AM ^
It was pretty wildly reported that Tschetter was sick during the NW and threw up at halftime, never returning to the bench. He came back for OSU but the coaches said in their press appearance leading up to the game that he was unlikely to play.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:32 AM ^
probably didn't practice much this week which makes it hard to be in game condition
February 6th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
Instead of throwing up he needs to be throwing down!
February 6th, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^
I have updated my 2023 MGoBlog music playlists with the songs from this episode - here are the links:
- Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2023-mgoblog-music/pl.u-11z0ofMkqvL
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2a7Hw0FHtgqw351LwW8wPz?si=8690043244a24050
Go Blue! NIT baby!!
February 6th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
Say what you will about Northwestern, but they have now won at Wisconsin (granted, they are down this year, but it's still the Troll Center,) at Nebraska (just kidding on this one, but Penn State just lost there, LOL,) at Indiana (Purdue couldn't do that,) and at MSU by 7. They are one of 6 teams tied for third in the Big10. They had the misfortune of playing OSU before OSU imploded. Seriously, that OSU team is awful. NU has the 2nd best road record in the B10. Defense travels. Audige gets after you on defense. Yes, he explodes in every direction on offense. I didn't see the 2nd M-N game. Sounds like Chase had a real bad game. Maybe he shouldn't be using 26.7% of NU's possessions because of his ORTG of 101.9, but who else are you going to go to? Boo Buie can only do so much.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:18 AM ^
I didn't find OSU particularly awful. Young, but not awful. Michigan played outstanding yesterday and OSU was in the game until very late. They are missing a piece or two from being really good.
February 6th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
Northwestern has a pretty good chance of making the tournament, right? They're a solid team and Ms wins over them are amongst the best on their resume, especially the road win.
February 6th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
Michigan may actually be the BEST hockey team in the B1G. We dropped 2 to MN at home when the team was devastated by a bad virus. We then went to their place and split 2 OT games in which we led both late in the 3rd period. A much better snapshot of how we stack up. Come tourney time we might be the beast of the conference.
February 6th, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^
Earth to Ascending...
February 6th, 2023 at 5:33 PM ^
I think when you're 13 points up with 6 to go it doesn't really matter. They'd still be up even if we had swept them at home.
Also that defense corps is just crazy good.
February 6th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
Went to the Wisky game on Saturday. My biggest take from Wisconsin was, I can't believe how much they just watch the puck in the defensive zone, especially in the first period. They paid absolutely no attention to any Michigan player who went to the net. It was worse than a high school team in that regard. Also, the goalie Moe, is a rebound machine. And not just small rebounds, or rebounds into low risk areas. The rebounds were juicy and in dangerous areas. Put that and puck watching together, you get scored on 5 times in one period.
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