2 hours 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 we recorded this. 1. Basketball After TCU Starts at 1:00 Gee golly willickers that was a lot of turnovers. Michigan’s team of point guards has none, unless you want to call Danny Wolf the point. Weird game where they turned the ball over 16 times, most of those steals, and still led at the half because when they do get a shot it’s always at the rim or an open look from three. How to get Goldin involved? He’s not really into the game, not just on his teammates not seeing him, but it’s that as well. Walters is the most efficient offensive player in CBB but he’s playing the same position as Wolf. Trying to figure out how the lineup shakes out because we’re not going to have an eleven-man rotation all year. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Big Ten Basketball Preview: The Bottom Nine to Kenpom Starts at 29:14 Washington: Great Osobor was a great portal pickup but they can’t keep C Franck Kepnang healthy. Rice transfer Mekhi Mason and NoDak transfer Tyree Ihenacho are uptransfers who had high usage at the 3 and 2, Butler transfer DJ Davis doesn’t really do to for us either. Injuries already. Predicted finish: 18th. USC: They got Terrance Williams and they’re all Terrance Williamses: 6’7” guys who can shoot save for “PG” Desmond Claude. Already injured. Projected finish: 16th. Minnesota: Speaking of injuries already; Year 4 for Johnson is another Year Zero after the guy they spent on in the portal got hurt. Seth likes (and pronounces) Lu’Cye Patterson at PG, and we all respect Dawson Garcia, but with their only other returner being carried off the court it could be rough. Predicted finish: 17th. Nebrasketball: Welcome to The Great Mid: Every basketball team from here on save Purdue is ranked closely together. Close loss to St Mary’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Injury to stretch 5 Rienk Mast really hurts them. We like Brice Williams and Juwan Gary, think Rollie Worster from Utah is a decent PG, but lost too much to make the tournament. Predicted finish: 15th. Rutgers: This is where I’m mad about the Kenpom format. Two top-5 freshmen join a very good backcourt of Williams and Derkack, but the loss of their center looms large. Problem is spacing. Predicted finish: 5th. Northwestern: Respectable loss at Dayton (71-66) and nonrespectable OT win vs #324 Eastern Illinois. No more Boo, and you can’t make Ty Berry into that guy. Matthew Nicholson is a truck driver, Brooks Barnhizer has a bad stache, Nick Martinelli will have to drive the team. True freshman PG? Ew. Predicted finish: 12th. Iowa: Payton Sandfort is going to have to shoot, and shoot he shall. Josh Dix is going to have to take on a lot more usage unless Brock Harding can learn to score. Will be bad on defense but mid their way to wins with Owen Freeman the latest yucky C. Predicted finish: 13th. Michigan State: What are they doing in this section? It’s a very Izzo team, with no idea what they’re doing at C because nobody gets developed, and nobody making threes. But they do have athletes and Izzo will make them play defense. Frankie Fidler from Neb-Omaha was the top transfer in the conference, Jaden Akins and Jeremy Fears have talent. They’ll be…MSU. Predicted finish: 5th, deservedly 8th. Maryland: I don’t know any of these guys –Brian. Julian Reese at center you know. They’re heavily reliant on a #12 overall Derik Queen, a one-and-done at the wing, but that’s working so far, got a 4-point loss to Marquette out of him. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Selton Miguel are a decent backcourt. Very mid. Predicted finish: 11th. 3. Big Ten Basketball Preview: The Top Nine to Kenpom Starts at 1:01:27 Penn State Way high at #34 due to a win over (very bad, no PG) Virginia Tech. Ace Baldwin is the latest PG who carries them, though there’s some upside in Tennessee transfer Freddie Dilione. Predicted finish: 14th. Oregon is also rated too highly. Altman gets the kinds of guys who get rated for NBA purposes but makes decent teams out of them. C Nate Bittle and SF TJ Bamba are good enough to carry them, got an efficient PF from Stanford and upgraded PG Jackson Shelstad to a sophomore, so they’re mid. Predicted finish: 10th. Indiana got some decent portal pickups but let’s say it again: no shooting! We like former 5-star Stanford ...
