MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed:

Jalen Reed, longer and switchable.

Thiam: Shot selection is abominable. He's mobile, not fully a switch guy, can hedge. Offensively intriguing, takes fadeaways but was 48% away from the rim. VERY strong—gave as good as he got against Krivas—but didn't post up very much. His left hook looks more natural than his right hook. Closer to switchable than Mara.

Craig: four guys on the roster not playing.

Reed: Think as the season progresses he is going to make a difference, because he can give you a lot of different things. A 6-10 guy who can guard guards: yes please!

JP Estrella: Noticeably positive impact as an offensive rebounder on the #1 OReb team when he was rotating with offensive linemen.

Sam wants Trey to watch Late Michael Jordan the post player, which will make him more dynamic in the mid-range.

Cadeau is the guy who gets you good shots, McKenney is the guy who makes your bad shots.

Swing guy: McCoy. Shooting is questionable but instantly project him to a Roddy role. Gets downhill, has that wingspan. Could be the starting three: Yaxel-like ability to guard up and down the roster.

Ceiling? If Reed can be healthy for a season they're another 1-seed, otherwise 3-seed? Think other basketball teams have gotten much better.

Quinn Costello: Year as a bench shooter, needs that year to learn to play defense.

This is the least popular idea in sports history. NOBODY likes it except the major conference commissioners who've never filled out a bracket in their lives.

Hockey: no updates, except Denver picked up a defenseman. Michigan preseason #1 likely, except voters just vote the order of last year's F4. There will be guys on the 4th line who are like 3rd round+ picks.

Cockamamie ideas for renovating Yost.

1 Hour and 15 Minutes

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

Segment 1
Enjoy your retirement, Anže Kopitar. Kopitar was one of the most consistent and underrated players of his era. The Avs swept the Kings but lets recap some closer NHL matchups (NOT Sabres vs Bruins). The Oilers are underperforming with their star power, there are some fundamental issues within the program. Anyways, who's back for Michigan? Is Hage the favorite for the Hobey Baker award? There will be so much talent and you hope everyone can find their own niche because there's only one puck. Perron's still on the spreadsheet until he isn't. Garrett Schiftsky is going to be a dude going into next year. Slot Cole McKinney in as your 4th line center. Jack Nesbitt and Cameron Reid are coming in from the OHL. Expect JP Hurlbert to come in from the WHL. All four lines have depth and competition opportunities. 
 
Segment 2
Projecting the 2026-2027 defensive roster. Need Henry Mews to take on a huge role, but can he be an elite defenseman? Ben Robertson, Asher Barnett, Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen, and Drew Schock will give the team an unusually high amount of depth. Michigan might add one or two more players on defense to round out the roster. Expect Jack Ivankovic to remain the starter at goalie but Stephen Peck has at least earned some starts. This team should be stacked going into next season, but this time with more maturity. 
 
MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"We'll Meet Again" -- Vera Lynn

Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed:

Spring Game standouts: Hiter obviously. Buchanan, Tatum looks like a safety, Patterson, Edokpayi, and Palepale.

Concern about Bryce? Nah, the situation was not conducive to seeing what Bryce can do; if you play Cov2 back all day for real we'll run like 2021 Washington. It was a better situation to show off what Carr can do.

QB run game: rehash last year's issues: tactically it was there; strategically they hadn't run it so they screwed it up).

Hoops transfers: Juke Harris or John Blackwell? For this team: Harris. Needs work on defense but Juke makes his own shots. Craig: how do the pieces fit together? Craig thinks Juke is a three.

Is he coming? Sam was close to a gut feeling, but why have things dragged out? NIL numbers? Tennessee numbers embellished. Is it a bidding war? Don't know.

Sam thinks Liburd is good enough that they don't need all their eggs in that basket.

Thiam? Going against Pitino for him so that's big boy battle.

Rez: Opt-outs might be moving him up the Draft; the Florida guys coming back has bumped him. If he's in the teens he's in the Draft for sure.

Landon DuPont: first-ever status (can play younger) player in CHL, #1 overall potential, Denver/Michigan battle.

Michigan hockey summer: Hage is coming back.

1 Hour and 37 Minutes

With David Nasternak and Alex Drain

This Podcast Has a Sponsor: Michigan Law Grad Jonathan Paul is the guy with the C you want skating next to the ref and pleading your case. He's also a good guy to sit next to at the hockey games.

Segment 1
Which NHL match-up are you most excited for? Ottawa vs Carolina is intriguing. Avs vs Kings will probably be non-competitive and un-watchable. 

Evaluating the offense:

TJ Hughes - Hobey Baker level season. 
Jayden Perron - Dramatically exceeded expectations. Led the team offensively in the post-season. 
Nick Moldenhauer - Previously minimal production, huge breakout season.
Michael Hage - High-end playmaker, season cut short due to injury. 
Malcolm Spence - Up-and-down freshman season, started hot. 
Adam Valentini - Limited in size but played a bigger role as the season progressed.
Cole McKinney - Strong in faceoffs but underwhelming offensive production. 
Will Horkoff - Highly productive, highly streaky. 
Aidan Park - Depth freshman, lacked consistent impact.
Keenan Draper - Praised for role mastery, leadership, and penalty-kill value.
Josh Earnesty - Depth player who improved on offense and defense.
Kayson Musket - Exceeded expectation in limited minutes. 
Teddy Spitznagel - No meaningful playing time before leaving the program.
 
Segment 2
Evaluating the defense and goalies:

Luca Fantilli - Unexpected breakout senior year. Became a reliable leader.
Tyler Duke - High effort and physical despite his size. Took too many penalties.
Ben Robertson - Dependable, steady presence on the blue line.
Garrett Shifsky - Elevated his game late in the season, gets a special shout out.
Drew Schock - Limited as a freshman, grew throughout the season.
Dakota Raemel - Inconsistent with turnovers.
Asher Barnett - Excellent as a freshman.

Everyone else didn't contribute enough to get a fair grade.

Jack Ivankovic - Delivered high-level all season when not hurt.
Steven Peck - Exceeded expectations as a backup.

 
MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"One Thing Leads To Another" -- The Fixx

Ice Hockey (NES) theme

2 hours and 54 minutes

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers.

1. Spring Game - Offense
Starts at 0:51

Seth has a hypothesis that you can define running backs by the sound you involuntarily make when they carry the ball. You can practice this in the shower. Ohio State had a high scoring spring game, also a lot of rain. Bryce's play was concerning. He didn't look comfortable in the pocket and scrambled a lot. The defense wasn't allowed to do anything fancy or blitzed, they mostly played in a Cover-2. That said, not ever having the starting offensive line together does not help the quarterback. Tommy Carr was able to sit there and do some three step drop stuff, which are throws that Underwood didn't throw. He doesn't have the arm strength but he was making better decisions. Who would you compare him to, Tate Forcier? Dylan McCaffrey? Alex Smith? Did Michigan lose a year of Bryce Underwood's development? Kyle Whittingham has a track record of developing good running quarterbacks, so maybe what we saw in the spring game was not super relevant. Maybe Bryce is like a freshman Cam Newton or redshirt Freshman Vince Young. Even if they don't have a great passing game they can still run a good offense with the running tools they have. Some of the scrambling may have been a result of pass rush and playing against Cover-2. Poor Jordan Marshall getting ruled down after four yards. Savion Hiter is absolutely going to be the real deal. It was an up and down game from the wide receivers but they also didn't get many opportunities. There has never been an elite wide receiver who has worn #3 at Michigan. Browder had a ball bounce off his face mask but then got a nice catch later. Hogan Hansen has barely been able to play football for the last year and a half. The gang argues over fullback snap counts. Guys getting wrecked against defensive tackles is fine because we want to see progress from the defensive tackles (in the spring game). 

2. Spring Game - Defense
Starts at 43:54

It was generally encouraging that the defensive line beat up the offensive line. Sprague lost to Edokpayi a couple times. Cam Brandt beat Frazier at one point. Nate Staehling hasn't been available at all so there's still some hope that he'll be really good when he arrives. All the linebackers are defensive backs right now. Palepale really stood out. Benny Patterson was a defensive end to keep an eye on. What did we see from the linebackers? Uhhhhhh. Taylor Tatum might be a real safety? Corner has four names for three spots which is a good spot to be in. A kicker missed a 29 yard field goal, they should've faked a field goal for the game winning touchdown since they weren't trying to block kicks. 

3. Hot Takes and Basketball/Hockey Portal
Starts at 1:06:36

Takes hotter than the Kitchener Rangers GM after the Michigan hockey team stole from them. The portal has been slow enough to include both basketball and hockey. The roof of Yost fell off to conserve the vibes of the roster. Perron remains the only question mark. They're also about to get the top two picks out of the CHL. The roster is pretty much done, they don't even need to go to the portal. This team should be the #1 team in the pre-season poll next year. Michigan men's basketball turns its attention to Cincinnatti center Moustapha Thiam. A 7'2" rim defender who could replace a likely Mara departure. Apparently there is a situation with a handler from Senegal. It's looking more like Mara is gone and Morez is back. Is there a chance Mara returns? Probably not, but he needs to make a decision. Brian doesn't want to throw the whole bag at Juke Harris. Overall it's been quiet and they need to start making some moves. 

4. Gimmicky Top Five Moments of Basketball Season
Starts at 1:48:33

Everyone's top five moments of basketball season, plus Seth's 74 honorable mentions. Elliott Cadeau going 2-15 and controlling the Arizona game, undefeated on the road, and Dusty sitting in front of the Michigan State bench. They didn't just boat race those teams in Vegas but they broke the point system. Oscar Goodman thunder dunks. Scooping up confetti is like the fan version of raising a banner. Jeremy Fears kicking a Minnesota guy in the balls signified that it was not just a Michigan thing. Then Izzo fouling Michigan for ten minutes and complaining about Michigan getting more free throws. The Arizona win stamps this season as "one of the best teams of the last 25 years." You can just sit on a couch in a certain way and piss off Michigan State fans now. McKenney's mid-range jumpers in Breslin were the coldest mid-range jumpers ever. What have been your favorite tournament blowouts? Michigan's mascot should be Mitch McGary in an oversized Mitch McGary suit. 

MUSIC:

"Spring Game"—Biz Markie

"Going Shopping"—The Srokes

"Baby Steps"—Olivia Dean

“Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra