Penn State and Rutgers have the same problem just on opposite sides. What is Penn State when they stop making an absurd amount of threes, and what is Rutgers when their opponents stop missing an absurd amount of threes?
I could hardly believe my ears when Dylan picked Northwestern ahead of Michigan. I’m sure we’re all aware of the issues the team faces, but do you really see Northwestern finishing the season ahead of Michigan? I guess the premise of the segment was how are they playing “now” in some snapshot, ephemeral sense, so I kind of get it, but it just struck me as a bit harsh lol.
Will 2 close losses, though not probable given the evidence, improve our morale at all? I keep trying to find reasons to think this is a fluke, because I feel like these open shots will go in at the expected clip…but the sample size just keeps on growing. ugh.
The idea that a Northwestern team that starts Chase Audige, Boo Buie, Ty Berry, Tydus Verhoeven and Robbie Beran that is coached by Chris Collins is better at basketball at any point in time than a Michigan team with Hunter Dickinson and Jett Howard on it is such an indictment on this team and this staff right now
There’s an obvious path to Michigan being a better team in 1-2-3-4 months but they have to figure out how to actually play together to make that work. Right now, I’d imagine most computer rankings have NW ahead of Michigan.
Winning on Tuesday night would go a long way toward righting the ship.
I know you weren’t advocating it necessarily, but since you did bring it up on the pod, what does starting Baker look like? Is it for JL, and Kobe slides to the 1?
That’s sort of the whole problem. You don’t really want to take one of the two facilitators off the floor and TWill is limited as a rebounder but he’s a lot better than Baker.
The two guards + Jett & Baker is really the look that intrigues me but trying to get Baker/Jett on the floor together while you know how bad the defense has been is … a tricky call.
That’s fair. I wondered if that path to playing better would factor in, but since you were strictly doing a how are they right now snapshot, that would not come into play. Rough reality to face at this point in the season I suppose. 
The two guards + Jett & Baker is really the look that intrigues me but trying to get Baker/Jett on the floor together while you know how bad the defense has been is … a tricky call.
Agreed, this is a double-edged sword. If Jett and Baker can knock down open looks, the defense can hopefully tread water enough to build up a lead, and it could really open up things inside for Hunter. The downside here is obvious, though. Maybe against good teams you need to take some chances like this and see what happens, at least until our guards (hopefully) figure some things out.
I guess you could try it against a team that starts just a shooter at the 4 - I haven’t re-watched to see whether Baker consistently boxes out, but I assume he’s familiar with the concept…
What will we do when we run into a team with a big 4 who crashes the offensive glass? I struggle to even imagine one of our wings holding his own on the glass. Tschetter is kinda shaped like a rebounder, but his next college rebound will be his first…
Yeah, this is the concern against a team like Virginia that has a strong offensive rebounder at the four. The problem is that TWill has not been great on the glass either.
I just want more shooting on the floor. You’re choosing between two career 31% shooters from three or a career 20% shooter from three to replace with Baker. Should cycle through them equally but could change the lineup as matchups determine what’s best personnel-wise.
More shooting, fine, that makes sense but the reality is that the other players at the 1-2-4 all do the other parts of their position better than Baker.
So there’s a pretty big trade off. You need Kobe’s ball handling and playmaking, you need a point guard, you need someone to have a reasonable chance of grabbing rebounds, etc.
For sure, I’m just not sure becoming worse at rebounding at the 4 than an average rebounder or becoming worse at playmaking at the 2 than an average playmaker is even close to as dire as the shooting needs everywhere right now.
Gotta start somewhere with how bad they are overall right now and any concept of “more Baker” would seem to be willing to buy into his strengths mattering more than his weaknesses. Baker’s shooting is one of the only 100% known positive commodities on the whole roster right now. That’s a good place to start.
I think you start with “get Baker on the floor with Dickinson for more of his minutes” than “more Baker”.
It feels like there’s a better chance Kobe makes some shots or TWill gets hot in a given game than Baker becomes a decent rebounder or can make plays with the ball.
For all the worry about how Kobe is shooting it, he’s been a pretty integral part of how Michigan runs its offense. If you were going to move Jett into that role in some sort of play Baker more minutes push, then he’s going to have to shoulder a much larger part of how the offense actually runs. Not sure he’s ready for that yet.
Pitt making me nervous about that power ranking pick 
Yeah came here to say Dylan gave Chris Collins a bit too much credit it appears🤣
I like the shots start falling when they start digging in on the other end. You have to be a real Stauskas to win on one end of the court only. There’s no Stauskas here.