Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak. Show's at 7:30, doors at 6:30, VICTORS books for sale and signing after the show. HOT TAKES segment during the show if enough MGoBlog fans are there. Tickets.

Things Discussed:

• Basketball big picture: they're a good team, though they've been more of a 10-seed than a 4-seed since January because they hit their ceiling.
• Strategy has stagnated but tactics are good, wins close games.
• Take Michigan in the 1st round vs a 12 or 13 because they won't have someone who can stop Vlad.
• Tre Donaldson needs to play better—ball is getting stuck in Wolf's hands, also Tre's defense has fallen off.
• Cason? Very high upside: defensive athleticism, #1 on the team at getting himself to the rack, shooting is just bad luck—big difference between his shots that circle the rim and Gayle's shots that barely touch it. But he's not going to be ready this year.
• During break: Craig uses the F-word. Is something wrong with Tre Holloman? Seth: If that guy played for us we'd love him.
• MSU floor-kissing: mostly nothing. Seth believes the rule should be whoever wins gets the midcourt/midfield logo. That game was over.
• Women's basketball: Michigan's playing five guards, the game has gotten much better, incredible what KBA did after her roster was gutted by the portal. They can stick with anyone in the country.
• Hockey: Need help. No bid stealers. Comfortable that one of the many Big Ten and Hockey East at-large teams will win their tournaments, need Arizona State to go out, need Quinnipiac to go out early enough not to pass Michigan or win their bid.
• Naurato: This won't be a problem again. What does he mean? Maybe he's going to raid Canada.

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.

• Opener
• Puck Mismanagement
• So Many Goals for Everyone
• That OT Call

• What Even Happened?
• Did You Expect That?
• Old Friends and Around the League
• Is There A Chance? Pairwise and Predictions

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Sports" -- Beach Bunny
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1. Sklars performing at Mark Ridley's in Royal Oak this Thursday at 7:30PM (doors open at 6:30) tickets: Supersklars.com
2. We will be there having drinks with copies of VICTORS to sign after the show.
3. If you can't make a weeknight they're performing 2 shows on Friday and Saturday night.

1 hour and 10 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, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this.

Starts at 1:00

We still have to do a podcast. Dave went to go enjoy the weather instead. This game was over in the first half. 3/24 on threes is not good! Last year's team would've given up at halftime, this team at least fought back a little. What has this team improved upon since their trip to California? Michigan doesn't have a guard that can generate offense. We thought a lot of these transfers would've turned a corner by now. This team still exceeded expectations for the season, the way they got there was just not how we expected. There's the potential for Michigan to not win another game this season.

Starts at 21:11

This game was similar to the Michigan State game in that Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin were the only ones scoring. Maryland got to play a Maryland game and Michigan didn't have a plan.

Starts at 32:11

Just some lukewarm takes this week. Go see the Sklars in Ann Arbor this Thursday-Saturday! Hockey is now just 42% to make the tournament after getting swept by Penn State. Root for Western Michigan, Denver, and Quinnipiac. Friday's game was pretty fun at least! Despite giving up bad goals. It didn't feel like a super talented roster. Imagine if Michigan got goalie Trey Augustine instead of Michigan State. Goal-tending was unclear going into the season and seems like it will continue to be unclear.

Starts at 57:47

Spring practice starts soon! Is Bryce Underwood already the guy? Running backs have a top two, it's a battle for #3. Will the offensive line look similar to last year? There are some lower level transfers coming in but offensive linemen can flourish in the right system. Please hype up a wide receiver. Hopefully the two transfer defensive tackles come through. They'll be fine but it's still a huge downgrade. Cornerback will be an interesting position, we want to hear that Jyaire Hill is rounding the corner. How is Rod Moore's health? Who's the punter??

MUSIC:

• "Lie In The Gutter"—Peel Dream Magazine
• "Dollar Store"—Ben Kellar ft. Waxahatchee
• "Mr. Chill"—Friendship
• “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed:

• They say I look like Mick Foley? I don't see it.
• Maryland: Vlad has to make >50% from two or you can't lose the shot disparity by ten, but you can't have both. Lots of mental lapses: Vlad on defensive boards, Wolf has 4 turnovers on 5 possessions, then Tre does something similar.
• Teams do things well. Illinois put on a clinic of what they do: spread it out, shoot a lot, and rebound bricks vs your guards. Maryland put on a clinic of what they do: Queen and Reece block a lot of shots and they get you switched onto matchups to dominate you in the paint, with their guards hitting threes off the dribble at critical times.
• What does Michigan do? We had Area 50-1 but when teams adjusted to that we didn't have the next thing. It could be Wolf shooting pullup twos, it could be something else, but Michigan hasn't adjusted to the adjustment to them. Maybe they can't? Maybe they haven't had time because they've played every 3 days since January.
• Sometimes you just aren't good at the thing you have to do to punish the adjustment. Maryland kept Michigan in the game by taking a lot of midrange shots. Vlad isn't a hedge and recover defensive threat. You're limited by your team.
• Can Donaldson be a true PG? His turnovers are kind of lazy perimeter passes; he's got more than he's given. Can be the guy who hits the big shots; Ja'Kobi Gillespie did that to Michigan when they were coming back.
• Can they play a 3-man game in the middle? Think that was the plan if they had Walters.
• Craig: Go look at the workout tape for Tevis Metcalf, the younger brother. He says it's jaw-dropping.
• Is Wolf a 1st round pick? Probably, because he's got a weird skill. Question isn't whether he'll be a better player if he returns; it's whether he'll be a better NBA prospect, and he's probably not.

1 Hour and 20 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.

• Opener
• Nothing Happens
• Alternating Goals
• Finally, a 3x3 loss

• Dominating Hockey
• Five Minute Review
• Old Friends and Around the League
• Ice Lions Again!

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Plant the Flag" -- Abronia
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

Things Discussed:

• MBB's shooting woes: they're at 27% going back to the last Rutgers game, Roddy Gayle is 1/24 in the Big Ten.
• It's a cascade: missed threes are creating runouts and Michigan has a massive difference between their transition defense (324th in the country) and their half-court defense (18th).
• Sam: Roddy's making them in practice.
• Tre Donaldson was their guy to get "bad buckets" but we think that opponents are taking even those away by packing the paint.
• Seth: Rutgers is a get-right opportunity because they'll need to help down low and that should create looks.
• RU preview: Dylan Harper is back, needs to be doubled. Their centers are two freshmen and a JuCo who was ruled out for the season at one point.
• Michigan's defense in the half-court has been really good, but MSU was getting a ton of offensive rebounds. Craig thinks that was mostly Vlad, and that there was an improvement against Nebraska. Also issues with the guards not boxing out MSU athletes. Will be critical against Rutgers.
• Dusty May retained: IU people are like "he didn't do a good job negotiating." Brian: I wouldn't be surprised if May's the Michigan basketball coach ten years from now. He turned down Louisville too; Michigan is his vibe.
• Sam: Where's Dusty in the conference now?
• Seth: the money isn't the matter. What's interesting is they mentioned NIL and program support, and then we heard from TMI's interview with Warde Manuel that 25% of the House settlement's $20.5 M is going to men's and women's basketball (don't worry; football can make money in other ways). That's a lot for a school like Michigan. It tells you what Dusty's priority was: he wants quality of life, and a commitment to being a basketball school.
• Is Michigan tired? Craig says kids don't get tired. Seth says
• Officiating talk part 1: Paul Szelc is the only ref to ever T up both John Beilein and Dusty May. What was the technical for? Sam heard it's for waving him off, but Szelc was 65 feet away on the other end of the court and Dusty was making the sign for a goaltend (he was correct). Incredible that this happens when Izzo is hurling abuse at them all game. Seth: Paul Szelc has conclusively demonstrated he's not going to give Michigan a fair shake, and should not be assigned Michigan games anymore, end of story.
• Officiating talk part 2: The awful replay rule got more awful because they can't call an obvious foul they missed that caused the ball to go out of bounds, so now their only option on review is to make the call worse. How is this not fixed when everyone has hated this rule since 2018. At the very least give the officials an option to wave off the review because they missed a call. It's absurd that we spend this much dead time to make the game worse.
• Baseball: lost some close ones, by 2 runs to potential #1 Arkansas and their 14-to-1 walk ratio at TCU was "suspicious" to Craig.
• Hockey: 11th in the Pairwise, so close to the Bubble. They're 70% to make the Tourney, finish regular season at #10 Ohio State and should get a home series vs PSU if they get points off OSU this weekend. Future: next year unknown because they're being quiet and might make a big splash from the CHL. The big class arrives in 2026-27.

1 Hour and 41 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.

• Opener
• Old Friends and the League
• Last Look at Ohio State

• NHL Regulars
• Fringe NHLers
• Minor Leaguers

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Memories" -- Thutmose
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme