MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

69 minutes. Nice. [Patrick Barron] BASKETBALL That could have gone worse. The strange split in Derrick Walton's jumping. MAAR/Dawkins flashes, realistic expectations, why rejecting moral victories is for the men in the arena and we can go ahead and accept them. HOCKEY FIIIIIIREWAGON. Hobey talk, Pairwise talk. Ace expounds at length. Ladies, please don't drive off the road. Can we please decide on how to pronounce JT Compher's last name? RECRUITIN' We welcome in Steve Lorenz of Wolverine 247. Steve is very good at talking about recruiting and horrible at marketing himself. Commits! And guys we think are going to commit in the near future! MUSIC "Across 110th Street" "Here Comes The Sun," M. Ward "Future Husbands Past Lives," White Sea THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

75 minutes I just won 800 games and it's grimace time [Bill Rapai] ASSISTANTS Slightly outdated so we don't know about JayHar and Zordich, but still meaty nonetheless. BONUS: I start on a rant about how Happy Gilmore sucks and destroy Ace's childhood. RECRUITIN' Just hours and hours of Happy Gilmore trashing interspersed with the occasional look at 247 in case anyone with a ridiculous name has listed Michigan recently. BASKETBALL, HOCKEY Taped before last night's game so not as funereal as required. Also: hockey. MUSIC "Across 110th Street" "I Think We're Going To Be Friends," The White Stripes "Shotgun Wedding," Jason Isbell THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

Bit of a format change for us in this dead period. THE WATER POLO EMIRATES CUP Shockingly won by Al Jazira over the heavily favored Al Nasr. What does this mean for the future of UAE water polo? Can former Partizan goaltender Nikola Radojicic forge the national team into a regional power? DHONI QUITS TEST CRICKET India's captain retires, citing strain. A tribute to a true legend of the game, a guy who played it the right way. Can Virat Kohli hope to replace Dhoni? We doubt it. Kohli's a bit of a wobble. Can't even keep his crumpets straight. SIX NATIONS RUGBY A MESMERIZER Ireland victorious as they come a clatter against the All Blacks. O'Neill tossed a real poofer in the final, wingeing the Scots a-dango. How will the Hottentots respond? Will the escape pod to Alpha Ceti be complete in time for the Eight Provinces Preliminaries? Will the Raja of Tambucktoo execute his back twelve for their diverse and sundry chest hair violations? Rug-a-roo and me too! MUSIC "Across 110th Street" "Float On," Modest Mouse National anthem of UAE "Test Cricket Theme" THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

1 hour 10 minutes having a séance with his ribs [Eric Upchurch] FOOTBALL Do not step to Rod Gilmore. Rod Gilmore's wikipedia page will own you. Offensive competence, defensive problems, and exit Bo Pelini. BASKETBALL Doyle vs Donnal; Chatman's progress. Spike is very sneaky. Schedule complainin' morphs into general complaining: having home games for basketball and hockey on the day of the OSU game is a lolwut experience. TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC More Pelini, Wisconsin vs OSU, Riley O'Toole ambling through the Northwestern defense repelling people with the rank odor of alcohol. MUSIC "Across 110th Street" "Tuff Ghost," The Unicorns "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," Buddy Holly THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

1 hour 15 minutes BATS [Eric Upchurch] FOOTBALL The usual pratfall. BASKETBALL Big three, yes please. Spike taking a leap forward. Need more production at the 4 and 5. TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC This diverges into a discussion about the ticket bubble and Big Ten expansion and how it feels like the breaking point has finally been reached. The appearance of bush league. The Bits Of Broken Chair trophy is amazing. MUSIC "Across 110th Street" "What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted?," Jimmy Ruffin "When Disaster Strikes," Busta Ryhmes THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

@Lunch__TREY good enough?? pic.twitter.com/L7LFw2ZKfk — Jordan Morgan (@JustJMo) March 23, 2014 TEXAS/WOFFORD Discussion about whether cakewalk is appropriate. Cakewalk eventually approved. Jordan Morgan had a man's game. Texas rebounded everything else. Stauskas giggles. Michigan and making you zone because you're out of ideas. TOURNEY BUSINESS We cannot believe we didn't pick Dayton to do things given that we laughed at the idea of OSU as tourney sleeper and openly plead for Syracuse to be bracketed with Michigan. Otherwise, kind of on point: UConn, Baylor, and Tennessee outperform seeds and Wichita State is victimized by the loaded half of their bracket. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "It Could Be Sweet," Portishead (I see what I did there) "Surf Wax USA," Weezer The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

Sorry we slipped a day. Technical issues. About 40 minutes. LET'S DO THIS Reiterating the fact that Michigan's draw is just fine, thank you, with a very manageable path to the Sweet 16, where things get hard, probably, but Duke isn't hugely better than the other threes and it's not like the Elite Eight matchup in any other region was looking like it was going to be BYU. Talking Wofford, Texas, Arizona State, and Duke. Then we get into the Tournament Of The Massively Overhyped Four Seeds along the way to talking about the rest of the Big Ten's draw and how they might do. CHALK CHALK CHALK In a more national segment Ace and I throw our hands up at the idea of picking huge-massive upsets since the committee threw most of the dangerous-seeming teams in 8/9 games and gave the twos seemingly easy paths to the Sweet 16. North Carolina, UConn, and Iowa State are generally offered up as horses we back (YES ALL OF THOSE ARE IN THE SAME SUB REGIONAL AHHH). Ace suggests Ohio State as a possible sleeper, drawing this response: "whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah." MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "The Final Countdown," Europe The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

[Bryan Fuller] WON THE CONFERENCE/INDIANA Incorrect assertions that Michigan won the conference by two games since this was taped before the MSU and Wisconsin results were in. Increase marveling 50%. Standard charge bitchin' session. GRIII: on tear? Can we say that? Stauskas defeats point guard gambit. John Friggin' Beilein. Defense… uh. Could be problematic. TOURNEY LOOKAHEAD We are in favor of winning the tourney. Assertions about tiredness are just urban legend. Teams we'd like to see Michigan drawn against (Syracuse, VCU, Cincinnati) and teams we wouldn't (Kentucky, Duke, Arizona). Looking at the conference. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Lake Michigan," Rogue Wave "Adrenaline Nightshift," Japandroids The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

  Take a bow, JMo. [Bryan Fuller] MICHIGAN STATE I repeat "PLAYIN' A  LOT OF WEIRD GUYS" about 60 times in a three minute span. Stauskas goes off, LeVert goes off, no respect for Jordan Morgan. Foot blisters. FOOTBALL NEWS Man, I don't feel good about this. Moving around all the assistants, trying Jake Ryan at MLB… smacks of desperation. Which I guess, yeah, they might want to be desperate now but these moves do not inspire confidence. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "People Got A Lot Of Nerve," Neko Case The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

Drake Harris and Chase Winovich BASKETBALL RECENCY All the three pointers. Hands up! Bad luck. Bad defense. What to do with Stauskas? Hey, they're still pretty good. Curling digression. Proposal for winter decathlon. Which would be awesome. Downhill, slalom, 500m speed skating, cross-country, etc. RECRUITING BUSINESS We run down all 16 recruits, hype up the wide receivers, express disappointment that the class did not reach at least 18 guys. What was with Montae Nicholson? Redshirt complainin'. Always redshirt complainin'. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Nautical Disaster," The Tragically Hip The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

MICHIGAN STATE Hooray threes, hooray Stauskas. GRIII rather absent. LOTS OF REF BITCHING. Lots of yummy Izzo tears of unfathomable sadness. Lots of open threes. Clutch execution down the stretch. IOWA Michigan played their game. Hooray Stauskas. Hooray Spike. Anger. The tiny West Virginian implanted in John Beilein's brain. Seriously. TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC We were in a weird studio that was not the other studio so it sounded a little odd. Northwestern is fascinating! Seriously. The league's down relative to last year. The Bryce-Jordan Center is so, so depressing. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Why Would You Not Want To Go There?," Hoots And Hellmouth "Time Bomb," The Dismemberment Plan The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

OFFENSE Everything goes down. That's just how Wisconsin plays. I contradict myself on the dry spell near the end because we recorded this before I managed to rewatch it for the column today. Cackling about Bo Ryan. DEFENSE Jordan Morgan sends it back. Hard hedging returns; a good performance against Wisconsin but how applicable is that to teams that don't provide matchups that are quite as friendly? TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC There is no bubble. The ineffable lightness of Fran McCaffery. Tom Crean as "Clappy," per internet. The statistically bizarre Northwestern Wildcats. Zak Irvin discussed. Dan Dakich's Overused Michigan Story Cram Period. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "The Mariner's Revenge Song," The Decemberists "You And All Of Us," Hoots And Hellmouth The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

Approximately 45 minutes. WELCOME OBI WAN NUSSOBI Here is your droid, now save us man. Nussmeier: a surprisingly shotgun guy who put it on his quarterback last year when he had to and he gets credit for that because he's a QB dude. Not much of a fullback guy. Might have been scapegoated a bit because that one redzone drive that one time ended in a missed field goal. BASKETBALL Nik Stauskas as the new and improved Darius Morris. Glenn Robinson III going from little dog to medium dog. Walton emerging. No one playing any defense. The Iowa 2011 of pick and roll D. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Detroit or Buffalo," Amanda Shires. (Evidently a cover of a 1972 song by Barbara Keith.) The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

Upchurch Sorry this is late; there was a ton to talk about and this checks in at almost 1:40. OFFENSE Where did that come from? How can this team be the other team? Points for that throwback screen. Devin Gardner, man. Jeremy Gallon, wizard. DEFENSE Pounded. Personnel issues. A discussion of whether Mattison is underperforming against the spread in which I think both Ace and myself disagree with ourselves. MISCELLANEOUS Big ass fight, decisions, and a section from 57 to 1:03 in which we (read: I) discuss meta blog stuff that I am irritated by. You will note that the tone of voice is more exasperation than "meltdown." Norfleet is fun. TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC The Big Ten game of the week: the Iron Bowl. Fire Bo Pelini and Tim Beckman (and hire Pat Narduzzi please). Talking about OSU versus Auburn: do you take the team that hasn't really beaten anyone worth beating or the one that had to pull multiple games out of its butt and left one in there? This is why the BCS is stupid. MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Raised By Wolves," Voxtrot "She Was A Hotel Detective," They Might Be Giants. (This is not a good song, but it is funny to envision a giant John Flansburgh interrupting weddings, funerals, football games, and county fairs by singing this at incredible volume.) "Maladjusted," Morrissey (Oblig.) "I'm Going To Town," Robert Earl Keen The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?

THE DAILY QUITS! NEWS AT 11 CHIRPILY POSITIVE BASKETBALL SECTION This was before the UNC-Charlotte game, and therefore it is dated. Ace makes a really good point about how a lesser burden on Walton on offense makes his job in the 1-3-1—running the baseline—more feasible than it was with Burke, who had to hoard his energy. We do not talk about how both of those freshmen losing guys on switches is going to catch up with them soon, possibly as soon as 7:30 PM. /shakes fist at schedule OFFENSE Funchess implodes. Bad numbers. Bad everything. Feelings are bad. DEFENSE The usual script: good good good and then Henri The Otter Of Ennui at the end. Frank Clark had a game. Starting linebackers start for a reason. TALKING BIG TEN WITH JAMIEMAC Jamie puts an extra significant digit on all his stats. Discussion of getting on team X's level. Wherefore do we go now? MUSIC "Across 110th Street." "Scythian Empires," Andrew Bird "San Quentin," Johnny Cash "Another Day Full Of Dread," Bonnie Prince Billy "Dead Flowers," Townes Van Zandt covering the Rolling Stones The usual links: Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link Direct download link What's with the theme music?