2017-18 maryland

MGoPodcast 9.19: Vigilantism Not Sabotage

1 hour and 38 minutes

We are at the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, which now is the time to book those rooms for football next year because those fill up.

We Couldn’t Have One Without the Other

We can do this because people support us. You should support them too so they’ll want to do it again next year! The show is presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan there would be VERY long hiatuses between podcasts.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Peak Wealth Management, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, the University of Michigan Alumni Association, Michigan Law Grad,Human Element, Lantana Hummus and new this week introducing Ecotelligent Homes

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1. Hoopscast

starts at 1:00

Zavier Simpson erased Tony Carr gnat style, Mo Wagner three that re-tied swung the game from a loss to a win. Yaklich has magnificently moneyballed this defense, forcing opponents into the least efficient shots, e.g. M funnels the ball to the post. Twice in a row Beilein has gotten a DC from a defensive mid-major that’s outplaying their level. Bench guys are developing well.

2. Big Ten Tourney, Hardware and Bracketology

starts at 35:12

A continuation of our This Week’s Obsession yesterday. Who’s the best center in the league (since the league didn’t name one)? When you watch MSU you’re most terrified of JJJ. Penn State always has a 2nd team all-conference two guard and nobody else. Z got robbed; when the only guards who have good games are dudes making bad ideas…

Brackets: UM up to a six, should probably stick there if they get 1-1 in the BTT. If they face MSU maybe a five. Win the thing: fourth seed in Detroit? Would love to face West Virginia, Cincinnati.

3. Drevno and the FBI

starts at 58:15

Drevno got axed in the most dignified way: Michigan tried to find him a landing spot but nobody took him. Warinner thing all makes sense now. Warinner: “Never leave that double until you smell the linebacker’s breath.” OSU’s offense was much more power and counter so it’s not a spread misfit. Got an OL commit in the meantime. Maybe they can pick up a stunt.

Go FBI! Correlation between the wanton NCAA rule-breaking and program cultures that hide actually heinous things. The spreadsheet is just the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of other agencies out there operating this way. Adopt NHL draft/Olympic amateurism models. Base rookie wage scale on age so players aren’t incentivized to leave early/franchises aren’t incentivized to rush them out of school.

4. Ace’s Hockey Podcast wsg Ace Anbender (also David Nasternak)

starts at 1:22:50

Why are we in Fargo and Allentown two years in a row? The penalty kill is atrocious—don’t know if they can fix it this year. Any series win against Wisconsin probably puts them in the tournament. Outplayed in previous four games except for when goalie things went haywire. Even Ace has fond opinions on Quinn Hughes—one of his favorite things to do is pass it from the blue line then immediately asks for it back; shades of Jordan Leopold going Bobby Orr, and some Michigan examples Brian can sometimes pronounce.

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MUSIC:

“Rock Steady”—The Whispers
“Get Up & Get Down”—The Dramatics
“It Hurts Until It Doesn’t”—The Mothers
“Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS

you don’t want to see this is jordan poole for mr. spots? come on!

MGoPodcast 9.17: The Eclosion Stage

Seth •

We are at the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, or at least Brian and the equipment is; Ace called in.

We Couldn’t Have One Without the Other

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1. Maryland Game

starts at 1:00

What has happened to my basketball team, why are they running the Amaker offense? The Poole explosion. Cowan can ball—Z got six turnovers from him. M kept Hueter mostly off the box score, missed switch/moving screen got him open for the almost heartbreaking screen.

2. Nebraska/Rutgers

starts at 11:45

Michigan visits The Bank. Worst performance of the season by a lot—absolute dead legs. Just six assists. Credit to Nebraska/Miles for coming up with the just switch everything defense. This is a bubble team that’s not on the bubble: in 5/6 games Nebraska’s had an 80-90 Game Score on Torvik (% likelihood winning discounting luck)—that’s a good team. Also credit to Delany for those dead legs. Rutgers guy disputes “The Cable Subscribers”, gets no assist because Rutgers had ONE assist.

Suspect Michigan’s offensive problems aren’t just being tired: they don’t have a guy they trust to take the ball off the dribble. Barring a Simmons breakout that doesn’t appear fixable.

3. Bracketology

starts at 31:55

M seems headed for an almost certain tournament spot but it’s also very likely to be an unfairly low seed (10 right now). Big Ten looks bad to RPI but these teams are all dangerous and sweeping past everybody except road games at OSU/Purdue is no even likely. Torvik thinks 8 seed. M can’t get help from their noncon wins: UCLA is off the bubble. Texas predicted to miss the NCAAs because the Big XII is tough. Poor Maryland gets in if it’s not a bad year in the Big Ten. Need a Walton-level breakout from someone or a win at Purdue to move up a seed. Poole goes supernova?

4. Ace’s Hockey Podcast wsg David Nasternak

starts at 43:05

Michigan sweeps Penn State, which gets them ranked above Penn State and has them right smack on the top of the bubble. Win and a tie at Ohio State would be huge this weekend. M is reactive on the penalty kill—not very planned. Lavigne moved up from 56th to 18th in save % in a weekend (but what a weekend!). Marody is one guy. Love how Penn State plays hockey. The 2nd line was the best line.

MUSIC

“Where is My Mind”—Pixies
“No Rain”—Blind Melon
“Cuyahoga”—REM
“Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS

I’m gonna wear all my clothes backwards like Kris Kross.

106

Michigan 68, Maryland 67

Seth •

sure.

It was your typical trap game. Playing 51 hours after a season-defining road win in East Lansing, Beilein’s clearly exhausted Michigan squad barely scraped together 20 points in the first half. Then, as trap games go, they erased the 10-point deficit right out of the break, pushed it to a 10-point lead thanks to a little-used freshman sparkplug, lost the 10-point lead, went down by 1 point with 3.5 seconds, and won on two MAAR free throws, just another couple of points in a career that’s seen a thousand of them.

WITH TWO MADE FREE THROWS TO WIN THE GAME @theprophet_5 REACHES 1,000 CAREER POINTS!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/8FBqWMRzC6
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) January 16, 2018

Michigan certainly came out like they’d just played the biggest game of their season two days ago, missing layups, dunks and open threes as the Terps opened a 30-20 deficit at the half. In the frame the Wolverines shot just 31% from the field without getting to the line. MAAR in particular was scuffling,

Maryland, on five days rest, was able to collect a few early buckets in transition and capitalize on more than a few bounces. Michigan played strong defense, forcing the Terps to use the entire shot clock and take five desperation heaves—their eight points off of those low-percentage attempts were most of the 10-point difference in the half.

As Mr. Bridges noted after Saturday’s game, Michigan doesn’t really focus on toughness. Yet for the second time in three days these non-toughness-focusing players erased a halftime deficit out of the break. Zavier Simpson sparked the comeback with a few brilliant series, one a defensive set in which he cut off an Anthony Cowan drive, fought through a screen, knocked the ball out of bounds, assisted on a bad shot, and collected the rebound. Down three Z drove the length of the court, released a floater from the top of the paint, and sank the and-one to tie it 30-30.

Then in came Jordan Poole.

“Poole’s B1G eFG%: 70.6” —Ace [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

If the Purdue game was a taste, this was a coming out party for Michigan’s (arguably) most talented freshman. Poole immediately showed his characteristic awareness for the arc. In one sequence he sank a transition three, blocked a Maryland attempt at the same, and got back down to deliver Z’s drive and kick. In minutes Michigan had a 45-41 lead. Later he’d hint at his ceiling as a creator with a beautiful bounce-pass that set up a Teske and-one and pushed Michigan’s lead to 8.

Jordan Poole nicknamed his 2K player The Microwave, and himself: ‘Hey, shoutout to Vinnie Johnson.’
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) January 16, 2018

With Z’s backups struggling and Poole hot, Beilein experimented with a MAAR-Poole-Matthews lineup. This didn’t look bad—it got Wagner an open top of the key 3PA (he missed). It also opened up transition lanes for Maryland. A pair of Wagner free throw misses and a small Maryland run on two crazy buckets forced a timeout with the lead cut to four, setting up the ho hum finish.

Under two minutes, MAAR missed a layup and Wagner picked up a foul on a rebound as Maryland cut Michigan’s lead to 2 with 1:19 remaining. On the ensuing possession Matthews fought his way out of a trap, and Michigan passed it around the horn to get MAAR an open three and Michigan a two-point lead. The teams then traded layups, then with 20 seconds left Cowan sank an improbable line drive three, Z missed a pair of free throws, and Kevin Heurter sank one of his signature ladder triples to put Maryland ahead a point with 3.5 seconds left.

In typical trap game fashion, Isaiah Livers hit MAAR on a perfect deep flag route. Abdur-Rahkman, at 998 career points, tripped over a Terp and picked up the foul. The rest was academic.

Michigan escapes their murderous stretch at 2-1 (that shoulda been 3-0) with a tournament resume, and now has a few days to rest before their Thursday tilt in Lincoln, followed by Rutgers at home.

[After the jump: a box score, more photos by MG, some favorite tweets, and at some point you might want to breathe]