Michigan Thursday: UpState New York State of Mind

Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach
Or to Hollywood
But I'm taking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River Line
I'm in a New York state of mind

Michigan has had a special basketball season where they won the regular season Big Ten Title and earned a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Today marks the day, the start of the final journey in Buffalo, NY around 7:10 PM against Howard.  

Michigan did not play well in Chicago and in fact looked like a tired team.  If I'm understanding this correctly, they got on a bus and drove 6 hours to Buffalo?  WTF? Was that due to weather or for team building? (Or were they just in a NY State of Mind?) Either way, they should be flying.   

Michigan Basketball needs to find that "fun" and play making abilities they had when they went to Vegas.  Guard play is really important in the NCAA Tournament and we need the Michigan's seniors to step up as this is their final ride.  Gayle, Burnett, Yax, and The Cheese Man all need to take it up a notch or two.  Yax has to dominate when the Wolverines get in a funk and Gayle/Burnett have to make better decisions with the ball.   Tschetter is an important player off the bench for defense, rebounding, and shooting 3's.  He has been struggling in all 3 areas lately.  

Cadeau is the engine that drives this sports car.  Keep making good decisions with the ball and score when you get your opportunities.  We also need Rez to get out of his funk and get back to being an elite defender and a finisher down low. 

Nobody saw Dusty's FAU squad coming, this team everyone knows is coming.   It will be Dusty's most difficult coaching situation of his career.  He has to be careful in his rotations and always make sure there is a scorer on the floor.  The time is now.  Let's Go! 

Wolverine Wednesday: Spring Ball Number Updates

Number Changes:

WR Kendrick Bell — No. 10 to No. 0
CB Jyaire Hill — No. 20 to No. 0
S Rod Moore — No. 19 to No. 1
S Jordan Young — No. 14 to No. 6
DE Dominic Nichols — No. 33 to No. 8
WR I’Marion Stewart — No. 8 to No. 28
WR Jamar Browder — No. 6 to No. 81
DT Ted Hammond — No. 90 to No. 92

Transfer:

CB Smith Snowden #3

WR Jamie Ffrench #10

WR JJ Buchanan #13

LB Alsea Moa #13

QB Colin Hurley #18

S Chris Bracy #20

S Taylor Tatum #26

LB Max Alford #30

LB Nathaniel Staehlings #44 

LS Gavin Magorien #46

LB Christian Pierce #67

DE John Henry Daley #90

DT Jonah Lea'ea #91

K Trey Butkowski #99

Early Enrolled Freshman:

RB Savion Hiter #5

WR Salesi Moa #12 

QB Tommy Carr #14

LB Aden Reeder #15

QB Brady Smigiel #17

WR Jaylen Pile #20 

S Jordan Deck #22

LB Markel Dabney #23

CB Jam Vincent #24

S Ernest Nunley #27

RB Jonathan Brown #29

LB Kaden Catchings #33

DE McHale Blade #51

OL Ace Hamilton #52

OL Marky Walbridge #78

WR Travis Johnson #86

Other Updates

Manuel Beigel has moved from the defensive line to the Offensive line.

OL Larry Hattar is not on the roster and may not have any eligibility left after being in transfer portal and hopping out. 

QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, CSU transfer is not with the team right now and expected to come in this summer. 

Michigan Tuesday: News and Notes

• Reports are that Yax turned down a $7-$9M offer from Kentucky and picked Michigan for $3M.  Smart kid. 

• 4 former Wolverines are in the UFL: Taco in Dallas, Chris Hinton Louisville, JBB in Columbus, and Michael Barrett in St. Louis. 

• Scout Michigan's Thursday opponent tonight! UMBC vs. Howard in Dayton.  6:40 on TruTV

• Coach Whitt's first Spring Practice starts today! 

• Coach Lou's son Louis who is a Michigan commit and a high rising recruit will be on campus today for the 1st practice! 

• You know what the NBA regular season needs? 2 more expansion teams.  Seattle and Vegas are in play.  Just like Baseball, the NBA needs to cut down their regular season by a month at least. 

• Michigan Basketball leaves for Buffalo today, seems a little early.  

• Sounds like teams are seeing if JJ is available after the Kyler Murray signing. 

• Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Update on Spring Practice from Coach Whitt:

• OL Andrew Babalola, DL John Henry Daley and DB Rod Moore will not be available for Spring Practice and want them ready for Game 1.

• Andrew Marsh, Jamie Ffrench, JJ Buchanan and Salesi Moa all have the chance to be great Big Ten receivers.

• Expectation is to contend for a Big Ten Championship every year.

• Hiter is going to be special and Carr is trending to be QB #2

• Already gains made with Winter Conditioning

Michigan Monday: Sloppy

I've told this story before but I feel its relevant again.  My son for many years played Travel Baseball here in Florida.  The tournaments start Saturday and you play two games.  Those games are for seeding the bracket on Sunday.  If you went 0-2 or 1-1 on Saturday, to make the Championship game on Sunday, you could play 5 games on Sunday.   By 8:00 or 9:00PM on Sunday when the Championship game starts, neither team has any pitching and every kids looks completely tired and not interested in playing another baseball game.  The parents feel the same.   If you win, you get this 4 foot $18 dollar trophy. 

The Big Ten Tournament started on Tuesday and ended on Sunday late afternoon.  Purdue had to play 4 games in 4 days and Michigan had to play 3 games in 3 days.  Is that the level of effort we want to see in a championship game?  Two teams completely gassed?  Hat tip to Purdue who found something late in the season and played like the pre-season #1 in Chicago.  They beat Michigan soundly on Sunday.   

Michigan on the other had played about as worse as they could during their long weekend in Chicago.  They sneak by Ohio State, beat Wisconsin on a last second jumper by Yax (after giving up a 13 point lead), and looked like zombie basketball against Purdue.  Their focus and mind set this past weekend was not winning the Big Ten Tournament. 

My thoughts:

• Yax looked like he was still at the hotel for the first 1 1/2 games 

• I'm not sure Rez made the trip from A2, never seen him play so bad defensively against Wisconsin and Purdue. 

• Michigan is lost offensively without Cadeau and Yax on the floor. 

• Memo to Gayle, no more 3 point shots or layups.  Only those mid range pop shots close to the hoop. 

• Way to many stupid turnovers, protect the ball.

• Michigan's advantage is down low, why does Michigan settle for the 3 ball so often. 

• I was told there would be no math, but I'm pretty sure 3 is more then 2.  Michigan collapsing on the driving Wisconsin point guards, just so they can hit an unconscious shooter (who is wide open) has to be the worst defense set possible. 

Michigan is the #1 seed in Buffalo and Dusty and staff have their work cut out for them to get this team rested and refocused for a tournament run.