WTKA Roundtable 1/16/2025: Lest We Forget 13-10

MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed:

• Hoops: We are still fascinated by Mick Cronin, even as he turns a top-25 road win into just another bottom-of-the-B1G team.
• Wolf back next year? Musselman clearly trying to talk NBA into existence, but NBA is listening.
• Big Ten MBB looks like a Michigan-Michigan State race with Purdue and Illinois on the 2nd tier, though Illinois can beat anybody—they're weird because they rely on the three.
• Brian: MSU is a better shooting team than they look: Akins is at least, and they hit free throws. Craig: MSU is really good, unbeatable when Izzo can browbeat the refs into letting them be handsy. Counter: they don't take many threes, with three primary players on the court non-shooters: using Jaxon Kohler as a shooter, using Jeremy Fears as a shooter, Xavier Booker as a shooter. Booker is a frustrating guy, more evidence that Izzo doesn't develop guys.
• It's also weird that Frankie Fidler hasn't been that good, and Calipari turned Johnnell Davis into a bench player. Shoutout to Dusty May, and what he's done with Nimari Burnett. Seth: he's not the 5-star Texas Tech thought they were getting; he's the guy Alabama thought they were getting. It's about anticipation; the game is coming to him so slowly. Brian: He's Bobby Hull!
• We eat crow for saying the two big lineup won't work—in our defense…
  https://twitter.com/EvanMiya/status/1879650374128447983
• During break: Effort to bring Brandon Graham to Michigan; now he's going to keep playing. The guys do math.
• Speaking of Eat Crow: Wink Martindale NFL interest? Sam says they'll have to pay him; Seth says someone will because he's too good of an idea for an NFL team: NYG are 28th in DVOA and blitzy/1-high again with out him, meanwhile he's beating OSU with QQH. He's the guy who invented the most popular defense in the league, regardless if people want to claim Mac and Minter's defenses are "Fangio-style." But they're going to have to commit to him: he's not taking a pay cut. Michigan would have to put an extension in front of him as well.