MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

1 Hour and 43 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
Does Daylight Savings Time bother you? Does the World Baseball Classic have too many teams? The tournament does have a lot of national pride amongst the teams. Let's check in on some old friends across the league. Notre Dame sweeps Ohio State (Notre Dame's final conference record is 5-17-2). Michigan State clinches the Big Ten despite a shootout loss. Discussing bracket scenarios. 
 
Segment 2
How are former Wolverines doing in the NHL? Updates on Luke Glendening, Jacob Trouba, Dylan Larkin, and Andrew Copp. Several deserving teams in the Eastern Conference may miss the playoffs. Player injuries and team projections. Michigan's pipeline is all over the NHL at various skill levels.


 
MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"C'Mon Down" -- Poor Man's Poison

Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 44 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, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers.

1. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State
Starts at 0:51

Michigan is the best team in the Big Ten since the 1977 Indiana team. You can't say they didn't earn it, they had to win at Breslin, Carver, and Illinois. They would still win the Big Ten outright if you only counted the games that Michigan won by double digits. It was Yaxel's deep shooting that propelled Michigan when they weren't shooting well. Michigan felt mortal with Tschetter at the four but MSU didn't exactly take advantage of that time. There were a lot of 1-on-1 opportunities, Michigan only had 12 assists. 1.27 PPP is crazy against Michigan State. Where does Yaxel Lendeborg rank all time amongst all Michigan players? They had a reel prepared for when Fears would kick someone in the jingle jangles, and it did happen. Credit Dusty for keeping the team calm when things start to go wrong. How is Fears allowed to keep playing the way he does? Congrats to Nebraska for getting the #2 seed. 

2. Men's Basketball vs Iowa
Starts at 32:06

A very slow game and a very annoying win. Their thing is fouling you constantly and hoping the refs don't call it. They fired Fran and we hate Iowa basketball now. Michigan finally gets some calls in the second half and turns the ball over a lot. Bennett Stirtz's 4-14 from three feels optimistic for him given the shot quality. There was a "sink or swim" moment when Cadeau had to sit out and it wasn't great. Cadeau played 30 minutes but in an important tournament setting he'll probably play more than that. Roddy Gayle has some at-the-rim difficulties that have lasted most of the conference season. Fran McCaffery was a beautiful Big Ten coach and now he's in the Ivy League.

3. Hot Takes and Spring Ball - Offense
Starts at 54:05

How excited is everyone for this spring practice? What will Bryce's role as a runner be? JJ didn't run much but in the championship season there were only 4-5 games where he would have needed to. Maybe Bryce looks a little better throwing downfield now that he has actual receivers. JJ Buchanan might have a Colston Loveland level catch radius. There was a moment of silence for Max Bredeson but we truncate silence on this podcast so you didn't hear it. What's the tight end depth going to look like? Evan Link to guard? We're expecting a big third year swing for Blake Frazier. 

4. Spring Ball - Defense
Starts at 1:22:09

Any sort of news about John Henry Daley being able to play would be high on the list. And Rod Moore. Also hoping to hear good things about Palepale and Cam Brandt. The North Dakota State linebacker (Nathaniel Staehling) transfer could be really good, he was a captain and these scenarios often work out nicely. Ideally he's the 3rd linebacker because that means some other guys popped off. How much much better will everyone look with better coaching? Unfortunately we won't be able to see if rotation on defense gets better in the Spring Game. Could Shamari Earls overtake Jyaire Hill? New kickers but kicking in April seems different than in the Fall. Looking forward to punting drills. Taylor Tatum for punt return? 
 

MUSIC:

"Any Major Dude"—Steely Dan

"Believe"—My Morning Jacket

"Broken Chair"—Luna

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

Things Discussed:

Illinois game: Impressed that they not just shut down Wagler with Yax but they hunted Wagler defensively. They're not physical enough to play defense and not quick enough to guard point guards—Dent did it to them, Fears did it to them.

Why didn't Illinois shoot us out of their building if they're five out? Mara was everywhere on defense, Boswell was left to shoot.

When Boswell got downhill he gave Cadeau issues. That's something to watch out for because burlyguards on top of a five-out offense are able to score vs M.

Yax went off-script to switch on defense.

MSU the second-best team in the Big Ten; Illinois is going to get physicaled out of the Tournament.

Rez was lit, and that maybe lit up Mara. When Mara gets himself to the rim he's unstoppable.

What do you do when someone takes away what you want to be?

Cason: Problem with losing him is ^. He was our answer. Best finisher on the team, critical in transition. Like with Rez last year, the play that he got injured on was the play that shows you who he is.

Replacing Cason: Cadeau has to back off to play 30 minutes.

Minutes-wise Trey and Gayle. Usage-wise, Yaxel can do more in transition and hunting his own buckets, want to run more offense through Mara.

Gayle would be nice—he's been that before—but he hasn't been good this year. McKenney is not a creator at all at this point. If they play without Cadeau opponents are going to blitz the ball. When that's Mara...good luck.

Who's the Big Ten PoY: Two different questions: Who's the best player in the Big Ten this year? Yaxel or Wagler, and Yax's defense puts him over the top for me. Who's going to win it? Probably Braden Smith, even though he's < Stirtz and Boyd and Wagler and Yax, because the Big Ten is an old boy's network. The way Michigan can switch is because Yax can guard all of the guards.

Iowa: Concern is we're playing a mini-Nebraska on the road. Stirtz and the Drakes make me nervous because can play like Nebraska but with more depth. They'll go with their stretch five and play small. Globetrotter-esque: duck inside the perimeter to pass out to duck inside to pass out until they find a cutter.

1 Hour and 33 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
It's that time of year to speculate on the NHL trade deadline and what teams are about to be like. Checking in on the NHL playoff picture. College hockey - this was a weekend where it feels like everyone took the week off. In game one Michigan had the puck a lot but just didn't do anything with it. Naurato press conference drama, but he was right. Minnesota somehow wins off of 15 shots. It seemed like Michigan would come back to win and then they just didn't. This was just a poor showing all around and by far their worst loss of the year. 
 
Segment 2
Frustration over what days and what times games actually start. Friday night was a better performance on senior night in a 4-2 win. TJ Hughes is one of the most productive four-year players of the 21st century and highlighted this game with a redirection goal. Malcolm Spence had a nice three-point night. A controversial hand pass waved off a goal but Michigan managed to kill a major penalty. Three points was disappointing in a weekend series that needed and expected six. Michigan is still in a solid national position.

 [Player after THE JUMP]
 
MUSIC

NHL on ESPN Theme

"Mykonos" -- Fleet Foxes

Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 35 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, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers.

1. Men's Basketball vs Illinois
Starts at 0:51

Hail to the Big Ten champions... before March! Dusty in year two has won at Mackey, Breslin, and whatever Illinois' arena is nicknamed. This was supposed to be a scary game and it wasn't even close, the players loved the energy. The major bummer is that LJ Cason is out for the year with an ACL injury. Can Yaxel check a top five draft point guard? Yes. No turnovers for Cadeau! But he probably has to go from 26 minutes per game to 35 and needs to be much more careful about foul trouble now. It just felt like Illinois had to work so hard to get anything in the second half and they weren't used to that. Illinois played their much better defender for only 10 minutes. Shot volume was similar for both teams but Michigan was able to win from 2-point shots.

2. Men's Basketball vs Minnesota
Starts at 25:20

Minnesota comes in with basically no basketball team, they're down on their luck. But they played zone better than a lot of teams on Michigan's schedule. In the first half Michigan had trouble getting to the rim so they kicked it out for open threes. Parts of it felt bad. This game felt like playing Maryland the week before Ohio State. Niko Medved did a great job with what he had, Brian is still high on him. Early in the season Iowa seemed like it would be a really tough game, now Iowa is tailspinning a little bit. Iowa's defense is improved from Fran but not in a way that will stop Michigan. Michigan is still probably a #1 seed if they lose out. They should raise the banner in Michigan State's face at pre-game. 

3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Minnesota
Starts at 43:34

Takes hotter than Morez Johnson sitting in front of that crowd and being like "I don't care, I'm gonna be the Kenpom MVP in a 20 point win spiritually because I'm Morez Johnson and nothing phases me at all!" Michigan splits against Minnesota, which almost didn't matter until Michigan State only got two points against Ohio State. This team is a little too Jekyll & Hyde. Starting the Thursday game 1-9 in shots isn't great. Powerplays used to be more whizz-bang and they've been lacking lately. Michigan's defense is like Nebraska running the triple option - they always need to have a 5'2" puck wizard defenseman. MSU's coach tried to chase down an official on the ice which is a silly thing to attempt. Michigan is up two points in the standings but Michigan State has two more games. Time for another year of complaining about the NCAA hockey tournament format.

4. Stickball and Gimmicky Top Five
Starts at 1:15:10

Baseball - good
Softball - not good

Gimmicky Top Five Things You'd Change in the Winter Olympics. Normal guy Olympics. Mountaineering should include getting a kid into ski gear. We don't talk about ski injuries. Winter beach volleyball? 
 

MUSIC:

"Don't Fight It"—Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry

"Better Way"—Motenko

"Take My Heart"—The Teskey Brothers

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