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.

MUSIC

• NHL on ESPN Theme
• "Mykonos" -- Fleet Foxes
• Ice Hockey (NES) theme

1 hour and 35 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, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers.

Starts at 0:51

Hail to the Big Ten champions... before March! Dusty in year two has won at Mackey, Breslin, and whatever Illinois' arena is nicknamed. This was supposed to be a scary game and it wasn't even close, the players loved the energy. The major bummer is that LJ Cason is out for the year with an ACL injury. Can Yaxel check a top five draft point guard? Yes. No turnovers for Cadeau! But he probably has to go from 26 minutes per game to 35 and needs to be much more careful about foul trouble now. It just felt like Illinois had to work so hard to get anything in the second half and they weren't used to that. Illinois played their much better defender for only 10 minutes. Shot volume was similar for both teams but Michigan was able to win from 2-point shots.

Starts at 25:20

Minnesota comes in with basically no basketball team, they're down on their luck. But they played zone better than a lot of teams on Michigan's schedule. In the first half Michigan had trouble getting to the rim so they kicked it out for open threes. Parts of it felt bad. This game felt like playing Maryland the week before Ohio State. Niko Medved did a great job with what he had, Brian is still high on him. Early in the season Iowa seemed like it would be a really tough game, now Iowa is tailspinning a little bit. Iowa's defense is improved from Fran but not in a way that will stop Michigan. Michigan is still probably a #1 seed if they lose out. They should raise the banner in Michigan State's face at pre-game.

Starts at 43:34

Takes hotter than Morez Johnson sitting in front of that crowd and being like "I don't care, I'm gonna be the Kenpom MVP in a 20 point win spiritually because I'm Morez Johnson and nothing phases me at all!" Michigan splits against Minnesota, which almost didn't matter until Michigan State only got two points against Ohio State. This team is a little too Jekyll & Hyde. Starting the Thursday game 1-9 in shots isn't great. Powerplays used to be more whizz-bang and they've been lacking lately. Michigan's defense is like Nebraska running the triple option - they always need to have a 5'2" puck wizard defenseman. MSU's coach tried to chase down an official on the ice which is a silly thing to attempt. Michigan is up two points in the standings but Michigan State has two more games. Time for another year of complaining about the NCAA hockey tournament format.

Starts at 1:15:10 Baseball - good Softball - not good Gimmicky Top Five Things You'd Change in the Winter Olympics. Normal guy Olympics. Mountaineering should include getting a kid into ski gear. We don't talk about ski injuries. Winter beach volleyball?

MUSIC:

• "Don't Fight It"—Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry
• "Better Way"—Motenko
• "Take My Heart"—The Teskey Brothers
• “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra

Things Discussed:

• Minnesota game: Just shooting over zone. Credit to Medved.
• Duke: Shouldn't give Szelc an opportunity to give Mara phantom fouls.
• Want to see us using our size better. Duke was suped up UCLA. Dusty will figure it out.
• Illinois: Huge, best offense in the history of Kenpom. Don't have a defensive center. Ivisics are stretch bigs.
• UCLA beat Illinois: When you play the three game you add randomness.
• Minnesota: Their fans should be happy about Nedved. Ran a zone well, slowed the game down, never got a 2nd shot. Good strategy.
• In break: Talking great families/USA Hockey.
• Hockey: Split with Wisconsin means they can't win the B10 regular season crown. Lack that one elite talent. Will be shipped out East because all four 1-seeds are Western teams. Congrats ND for two key Michigan injuries and stealing some points to create this result.
• WBB crazy game. Shout out to Macy Brown for sticking around to be there in OT. Locked in a 2-seed.