Latest / Mostly College Football / #287 - Michigan's Championship Secrets: Defense and Free Throws
Transcript
- Micaiah: Hello, everybody and welcome. It is fourth one podcast. I am your host, Captain Boy, and thank you for being here. It is great to have you. We are powered by you, the listeners, so do not forget to interact with us some sort of way. Drop a like, comment, subscribe, share. However you want to engage with us, please feel free to do so as it is the best way to keep this pod cast going. And thank you. to all who have been engaging with us to this point. College basketball season came to an end last night and I'm a very, very happy man. And the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Yukon Huskies 69 to 63. And in watching the tournament and watching, I'm a casual college basketball fan, especially over the last decade or so, as I've kind of dive deeper into college football. as I become more, as I became more of a casual college basketball fan, you know it when you see it. And I think most people, but I will say myself included all year saw that Michigan was a caliber above almost every single other team. Their losses during the regular season were to they went cold from three point range in the first half against Wisconsin and Wisconsin got really hot. Their center hit like eight threes or something in that game. Purdue got revenge in the Big Ten Championship game. Again, Michigan kind of just went cold from three. And then when they played Duke, again, Michigan got cold from three. And last night, Michigan did not have a good night shooting the basketball, but they got back to their roots, which was defense. being big and finishing around the rim. And then also what they did last night is they made free throws. At one point in time they made 20 consecutive free throws. I think they ended the game only missing two free throws the entire game. I'm looking this up right now. Three actually, they went 25 of 28. Yukon didn't do too terrible from the line. They went 12 of 16. Both teams, it was a boring game. if you like NBA basketball. Yukon, nine of 33 from deep Michigan, two from 15. Michigan shot 38 % from the field and Yukon only shot 31%. Elliott Cadeau was the player of the game, had 19 points and really was the driving factor. The, Yaxle Lindenburg, Lindenburg, excuse me, he was clearly not healthy. He got, he was four of 13. He even, He played just horrible. was playing horrible, but he did have 13 points. He just was not engaged both rebounding and defensively as he normally is. Maurez Johnson Jr. Double-double 12 points, 10 rebounds, and then Adey Mara, not quite as dominant as he was against Tennessee in the semifinal, but he did have eight points and a block. Again, last night he was just big and that is my fear with him moving forward into the NBA is he needs to be more athletic around the rim. I think if he were to return to college, be a little more athletic around the rim, maybe develop a little more of a jump shot. Then his defense, because right now all of his defense is just him being seven foot three, him being at least a foot taller than most people that walk into the paint on him, at least six inches taller than most people that walk into the paint. So I think if he were to come back, develop his skills a little bit more, that would really benefit him, especially with the way the NBA is going, because if he develops a little bit of a jump shot, he is going to just be a deadly NBA player and a very valuable NBA player, because he can block shots, he alters shots, and then if he's a great finisher around the rim, if he could just develop a little bit of a... jump shot and not have those spurts where he is such lackadaisical and where he is just seeming to be big, whether that is the end of his kind of shift rotation and he needs subbed out or what have you. Again, Yukon drug them into deep money water. They wanted the upset and the rule is on the upset, just hang around, hang around, hang around and you don't know. What could happen? ⁓ Alex Carabin was their leader. had a double double 17 points, 11 rebounds. But again, three of 10 from from beyond the arc. Braylon Mullins, who had the shot against Duke, three of 10 from beyond the arc, 11 points. Michigan got Yukon into foul trouble very early in the game. And that honestly is what kept Michigan alive in the first half, because they were so ice cold from three and they really weren't playing their game on the inside. I felt Michigan has an argument to be one of the most dominant teams ever. But I would like to pause and tell everyone that this season was not without their hardships. Yeah, they had a good tournament run, right? They beat Howard by 21. They beat St. Louis by 23. They beat Alabama by 13. They beat Tennessee by 33. They beat Arizona. by 18 and then they won the national championship against UConn. But even at halftime for Howard, it was 50-46 Michigan and St. Louis even at halftime, it was 48-39, both within striking range. And then Michigan is one of the best teams I've ever seen, again, casually over the last decade, of flipping a switch and just avalanching people. Tennessee is a perfect example for that. Again, it was 16-14 Michigan at one point and then it became an absolute avalanche. was at one point, it was, I'm sorry, was 16-14 Tennessee at one point in that game and that was at 11-03 to play in the first half. And then by the eight minute mark, was 25-16. By the six minute left to go mark, it was 33-16. With five minutes to go, it was 36-18. With three minutes to go, it was a 21 point game in the first half. Michigan just had a way that I have rarely seen in sports to avalanche people. And I hearken back to the 2016-ish Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry when he just walked on and they kind of changed the way basketball has been played over the last 10 years or so, which is threes and free throws for the majority. Golden State, even if you were hanging around, hang around, Steph would walk down, hit a three, Steph. They would go down, Steph would hit another three. Clay Thompson would hit a three. Andrew Bogut was a big seven-footer lob at alley-oop to Andrew Bogut. They would get a steal, Clay Thompson three. And then all of a sudden, it goes from a two-point lead Golden State to now you're looking at an 18-point deficit in the blink of an eye. And that's kind of what Michigan did this tournament, and that's kind of what Michigan did all year. They had some hiccups. TCU, it was a four-point win. They had some close games early Wake Forest was a one point win. TCU was a four point win, right? That was very early. Those were those were the second and third games of the season and everyone's like, well, Michigan has all this talent and we're not. We're not sure if they're playing Wake Forest and TCU. TCU was a tournament team. Wake Forest was not as far as as far as I know. ⁓ is Michigan for real? You know, and then they play Middle Tennessee State and then they went to this players era tournament and. The guy I follow on Instagram for college basketball, Ryan Hammer nine, go check him out and give him a follow. I don't know him, never talked to him, but go check his page out. He's very informative and very good with information and talking about college football as a whole, as a sport. Was really questioning what Michigan was at that point headed into the players era tournament. Then they played San Diego State, blew them out by 40. They beat Auburn. At the time they were ranked number 21, doing fairly well early in the season, coming into what was the national champion runner-up game from the previous year. They beat them by 30. Then Gonzaga came calling and people were like, all right, this should be very interesting. That was a runaway, 101-61, an absolute blowout. And then that got everyone's attention. And Gonzaga was the number 12 team in the country at And that got everyone's attention. And everyone at that time, Ryan, looked at everyone and said, this Michigan team might have it. And then they kind of just went on a run up until the Wisconsin game where it was a three point loss where again, Michigan just got cold in the first half from three. And after that, everyone said, well, this is gonna be Michigan's kryptonite. Michigan's kryptonite is they're gonna live and they're gonna die by the three. And if you go to that game, from three, were eight of 25 and Wisconsin was 15 of 33. So everyone's like, all right, the three can beat them. And if they get cold from three and then they didn't have a loss again, they had some close games here and there, know, not too close, but close enough, eight, 10, 12 points here and there. And then they got to the big 10 championship game all the way where they ⁓ took on Purdue. And Purdue kind of ran away with it in the second half and Michigan again went cold from three, seven to 24. So when the tournament came around, it was the only thing that can put down this Michigan team is going cold from three. Well, what happened last night? They went cold for three. It was clank, clank, clank, from both sides, both sides. And Michigan walked away with hitting two threes. But what did they do? What do good teams always do? They find different ways to win and what did Michigan, how did Michigan find their way of win? They went inside, they got fouled, they went to the free throw line and most importantly, they hit their free throws. They got 25 points from the line last night. UConn drug them out into deep waters and was fighting with them and Michigan... Well, they didn't drag them out far enough because the DeMar could probably just stand wherever they drug them out to. But they drug them out there and Michigan stood on business and put down the Huskies. Meanwhile, the Huskies, this was no small feat for them. They had three. ⁓ This was their third national championship game of parents in four years. They've won two in the last four years. Dan Hurley, I was calling him Bobby Hurley last week, I apologies, Dan. Dan Hurley is a psychopath in the best kind of way. He lives and dies with every possession. Lives and dies with it. He is a fan coach. And that's gonna sound derogatory to some of you, but he is just a fan of the game. He loves coaching. I'm afraid he might give himself an aneurysm or stroke or maybe even a heart attack because he is living and dying with every single put. If it goes in, it is yes. If it is a miss, if it is a foul, if it is anything other than Yukon scoring or if they're on defense getting a missed shot, a defensive rebound, he is just screaming and face is purple and it is quite the show to watch. But he is a very good coach. I'm sure the Huskies will be back. Michigan and Duke open as next year's early favorite for the national title game. Michigan's got to, they got to get some help in the portal. Elliott Cadeau's coming back. Trey McKinney's coming back. MaRez Johnson and Ademar may or may not come back. Their draft stock is rising, especially Ademar's with how he played in the tournament. So we will have to see. My fear is that when you have all of the, if all those guys come back from Michigan and you have all these guys coming back and they already hit the mountain top, now you got to climb back up that mountain again. And that's where really good coaching and Dusty May comes in. And Dusty May, this was his second final four run in four years as well. He took Florida Atlantic, then Michigan went and scooped him up. So, there's always an age old question. And Kyle Winningham is going to be answering this question this fall for Michigan football team coming from Utah. But Dusty May came from Florida Atlantic where people would always say, man, he can do more with less. At Florida Atlantic, I'm sure the budget's not as big. I'm sure the facilities are not as nice. They don't have access to the high level recruits that Michigan does in basketball. Same can be said at Utah if we want to flip it over to a college football analogy. Facility might not be as nice. They probably don't have access to as much money as Michigan does. They definitely don't have access to the amount of available talent, four and five stars that Michigan do, that Michigan does. And the age old adges for both these coaches was he can do more with less. He took Florida Atlantic to the final four. Utah was always in the hunt in late November, both for a conference title and possibly a playoff spot. They won a couple conference titles as well at Utah. But everyone went, ⁓ I would just like to see Dusty May, you know, get a shot with a big time program. I would just like to see Kyle winning him. Just see what he can do. Well, now Dusty May got his shot and it is very clear he can do more with more. He can do more with better facilities, with a bigger budget, with access to higher level talent. Ken Kyle Winningham, because some coaches can't. Example, Brian Harson, he got the rough end of the shaft there at Auburn, but he came from Boise where he was doing more with less. And then he came to Auburn where he had the opportunity to do more with more and he did not do well, well enough. Again, I still think they showed him the door. But with all the mid-major coaches, the Alex Golish and the John Summeralls and the Chesneys that are now stepping into Power 4 programs and that did more with less at their former schools. Are they going to be able to do more with more with what they're given? And that's really what every single school is trying to find. They're trying to find their Dusty May, their Kirk Cignetti, right? Kirk Cignetti was more with less, always, always, always gets to Indiana. Indiana again, maybe not cream of the crop in terms of talent, high school talent that they're getting, or maybe even portal talent, but better than JMU, more with more. And Kirk Zanetti was able to prove more with more. Dusty May came in two years, more with more, has lost 13 games in two years at the University of Michigan. Clearly one of the best coaches in the country. Both Kirk Zanetti and Dusty May have proven. without a shadow of doubt. No matter where they go, they are going to be high level coaches. Whether they have less talent, whether they have more talent than the other person, it is going to be a high product that you see when you watch them. And I think that guys like that are just so underrated because not every coach is like that, right? If you put Dan Lanning, Ryan Day, right, on a team with less talent, would they be successful? I'm sure that they would be able to have a reputable product that they would put on the field. But we just don't get to see that. And that is one thing we will probably never find out with those two coaches because they have their programs ascending in the right direction. Nick Saban, less with more at Michigan State, less with more with the Cleveland Browns, got to Alabama, more with more. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame, in terms of accessible talent, he had more with LSU and he did less with more at LSU than he did with Notre Dame. It is not easy, as always, just to assume that because a coach was able to do more with less, that he will be able to do more with more. And I'm saying the word more a lot, but I think everyone gets what I'm trying to throw down. So congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines. I've now seen the school I root for get two national championships in three years. It's very unheard of. Hockey goes for a national, Michigan hockey goes for a national championship. Michigan is the only school in the CFP era to win a national championship and in both football and basketball. ⁓ They have multiple national championships now in football, baseball, and basketball. They're the only school to do that. And the Big Ten has three schools only ever to win a national championship, both in football and basketball. ⁓ Well, that's not true because Florida in there, but I saw some stat or maybe it was multiple national championships in football and basketball. That's Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan. So so it is Big Ten is clearly right now the cream of the crop conference in. In all of college athletics. All we're gonna flip over to college football here just to kind of close it out. And I'm just kind of trying to find my voice. Do these little 30 minute episodes to find my voice. I really do hope that you all like them. If you want me to talk about a topic, drop it in the comments. For those of you who listen to me regularly, just drop it in the comments. I'll kind of talk about whatever you want. ⁓ Geopolitics excluded. ⁓ But yeah, right now is the season to kind of talk about that as we inch more towards summer, it's going to be previewing next year's college football season and then we're going to be rocking and we're going to be rolling right into that. But I I stay up to date with most sports. ⁓ So even if it's professional, ⁓ I just got to talk about this. I'm a Boston Red Sox fan right now. I am a Boston Red Sox fan. They were the second sports team I ever got interested in. In order, it goes to Philadelphia Eagles, the Boston Red Sox, and then the Michigan Wolverines. So the Boston Red Sox, got into when they came back from three nothing from the Yankees back in 04. And I was 10 years old. I just started Little League Baseball, fell in love with the game of baseball, fell in love with the game of baseball on TV, and then that spiraled into my level of sports even more. They're two and eight coming off of a playoff. No one's going to care because it's baseball. And I get that. more importantly, no one's going to care because it's the Red Sox and no one that I'm listening to that engages with this podcast on a regular basis lives in that area. So I do apologize, but just humor me. Who's ever running the baseball, who's ever running the Red Sox organization, and I think his name is Craig Braslow right now should be absolutely fired. They traded Rafael Devers last year for nothing. because Roman Anthony was just, they brought him up from the miners and he was producing right away. So they trade Rafi Devers because it was toxic because you brought in Alex Bregman to play third base. And then you asked Rafi to play DH. Rafi said no. You forced him to play DH anyway. Then Alex Bregman got hurt and you asked Rafi to play third base and he said no. So you traded him because it was too toxic. I get all that. And then this off season, so you trade him for pennies on the dollar. Then this off season, that's all fine. But then keep Alex Bregman. Nope. Alex, you let Alex Bregman go to Chicago. And you say, ⁓ well, the pitching staff is going to carry us and support us. Well, that's just simply not true. This pitching staff is so awful. And the guy you did bring in to play third base last night had two errors and allowed a grand total of four runs off of those errors. Sometimes the easy decisions are just not that hard. And I don't know if it's John Henry, if he doesn't want to pay a big premium in salary. I heard something that the Red Sox won the World Series in 2016. their payroll in 2016. was more than it is right now. Are you kidding me? That is just asinine. Absolutely asinine. The pitching staff sucks. The players you've brought in to replace your good players, Rafi Devers, Alex Bregman, suck. Your shortstop that you signed five years ago is batting like 118, sucks. He either strikes out or he hits a home run and he's striking out way more than he's hitting a home run. So just someone else need, again, I've kind of gotten into baseball because I got a free year of MLB TV because I'm with T-Mobile. Shout out T-Mobile. But like, it's just infuriating. Red Sox are infuriating. Okay, I'm gonna stop talking about the Red Sox and baseball because no one cares about it and flip it over to the president of the United States because that is a much less sensitive topic for all of you to listen about, I'm sure. That was sarcasm. If you don't get sarcasm, probably shouldn't be listening to this podcast. So the president did sign an executive order last Friday to design to limit how long athletes can play college sports and how often they can transfer. So in a five year period, he says you only get five years in college athletics and you can only transfer one time unless if your coach leaves, et cetera. Okay. And it's how I said last week in the podcast, the rule change is going to affect in August and a school that plays an athlete that doesn't meet these new limits could lose the federal funding. And that's how you're going to control. You're not gonna be able to control the players give up. Your lawyers suck, find new lawyers if you wanna play that argument. And I don't know how ⁓ an agency, ⁓ an agency with so much money has such crappy lawyers, but that's regardless. And don't talk about that. Move on, move on, move on. You got it. You got it. That's how you are going to have rules. You have to put strict limits either on the conference, and the conference has to do it, or you're have to put limits on the schools and tell them to take away money. You're gonna take away money. Should it have gotten to the point where the president of the United States had to get involved? No. But when you're playing with a spineless entity, that the NCAA is, this is what you get. So how would the schools respond to this? First and foremost, executive orders mean very, very little. And I think everyone knows that, right? Executive orders are like, I don't know, unofficial official mandates. As far as I'm concerned, right? Maybe my uncle can get in the comment section and correct me, but like, From what I understand, executive orders have no, they have power but they don't have real power. I don't know the best way to put that terminology. However, I do think that if you are going to limit and control player movement in cap numbers and. putting rules on the Wild Wild West. You're going to have to hold money hostage for the schools and that's what it sounds like it's doing. The order also states, and I'm sure that this will perk up the ears of some, ⁓ to create a national registry for players, agents. That's a really good thing because right now anyone can say they're an agent and... simply not true and create policies that prevent schools from cutting scholarships or other opportunities for women's and Olympic sports in order to pay their athletes. So I'm just gonna pause. I'm just gonna read opportunities for women's and Olympic sports in order to pay their athletes, prevent cutting of those. Just gonna leave that there. No other comments will be made on that. So again, it's kind of a two tier and I think that that second part is a very needed part. My uncle has been in the chats, he's been on this actual podcast before saying that these schools are cutting off their nose, cutting other departments to spite their face to fund their football program. And a school like Akron, whose basketball team just won the Mac for the third straight year. made the NCAA tournament three years in a row, is very good at soccer, is very good at esports, has lots of other things going, are funneling money from other resources, academia and other sports and funneling it into the football program that, let's be honest, their football program hasn't been exactly exemplary. And I'm sure that there's a better way and a more... blunt way to say that but I'm trying to be nice today I suppose I woke up in a good mood so it is more hopefully, hopefully this will prevent schools from cutting off their nose to spike their face. ⁓ NCAA president Charlie Baker said during media availability at the women's final four, he had not read the entire executive order. Slam my head against the wall until it bleeds and don't take me to the hospital. How does the president do something that affects your sport and you don't read the whole order? It's been four days. As the president of the entity that is being affected, you need to read that five minutes after he signs it. I'm trying not to get as angry. It's not gonna work because I'm talking about the worst entity in all of sports. So someone who listens to this podcast regularly, please tell me, am I being too hard on the NTAA? Are my expectations too lofty? I just feel like if you're gonna run something, if you're gonna do it right, you might as well just do it right. My expectations are to be in charge, to have firm rules, firm but fair rules, most importantly, and I think this is where they get into most trouble, just be a forward thinker. And if the president and if your boss sends down a mandate, again, I guess the president's, technically everyone's, whatever, again. But if, let's take it to the real world, if your boss, signs a mandate and sends out an email about a rule change. I'm reading it no more than five minutes after he sends it. I'm not waiting. Four days, let alone one day, let alone four days. I mean, what are we doing? He was in, ⁓ the Final Four did conclude, for the women where he was, did conclude Sunday, but still, like I'm reading that, if he signed it at 6.05, I'm reading that at 6.10, the whole thing. And I'm having a conference call at 8 p.m., an emergency conference call with all the leaders to get things handled. It's just, it's... It's very frustrating because it seems so simple. Again, let me know, am I being too unreasonable in my expectations of a leader, right? Let me know because if you guys are like, my guy, just, gotta expect less from him. Then okay. Okay, I will back off, but I think my expectations are fair. Please let me know in the comments. Please let me know in the comments. Some other things in sports, if everyone's just interested in sports, the Masters are this weekend. I'm not a big golf fan. I'm not gonna come on here and pretend like I know or talk about golf. The most I know is that Tiger Woods flipped his car yet again recently. just, sorry about that. ⁓ Tiger, if it's drug-related, seek help. If it's just your bad driver, go to driving school. I'm not really sure. He has a history of this. That's as much as I know about golf. ⁓ Baseball underway, talked about that a little bit. ⁓ The NBA playoffs, NBA season will conclude this Sunday, regular season, and then the playoffs then start thereafter. NBA playoffs are very exciting, Stanley Cup playoffs. NBA and NHL season follows each other, so that'll be extremely interesting and fun to watch, and I can kind of report on that as we go through. ⁓ That'll do it for me today. Again, just let me know, what do you guys want me to talk about here? Because I'm down to talk about anything. I'm down to educate myself on anything and then educate you guys on something you want to know more about. ⁓ But just kind of be specific with what you want to know and I'll make it happen for you guys. Thank you again for being here. I really do appreciate everyone for being here. Wash your hands, you filthy animals. We'll see you soon. We'll see you next time. Until that time, God bless you and peace out.