Blue By Ninety - WOMEN'S HOCKEY, MICHIGAN BASKETBALL, TAILGATING IS BACK?

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

Umich Women's Hockey Coach, Jenna Trubiano, joins the pod. Jack, Justin and Tanner then talk hoops after Michigan's first quad 1 win of the season.

This is the University of Michigan. Touchdown, Michigan! The beat of Michigan football! And they've caught extra pass. And it goes to the win! The three-pointer by Jordan Poole! Down the sideline! Peebles-Jones!

Touchdown, Wolverines! Alright, welcome back to Blue by 90. My name is Justin. I'm joined by Jack and Kaylin as always. And we have a very special guest today. We've got the Michigan women's hockey head coach with us, Jenna Tribiano. Jenna, how are you doing? I'm doing all right. How are you? Doing well, doing well. Yeah, you guys, I mean, you're making a splash.

I feel like on social media, I love it. You're making waves, which is fun. I think a lot of people are excited about you guys, you know, being on campus, being out and about, obviously playing some games. You've got some good turnout at Yost as well. So, yeah, how's the season going? Pretty well. Aside from some injuries we sustained in Arizona, the eighth ranking just came out. We dropped one spot to seven after our 1-0 loss to Adrian.

But they're definitely a beatable team. And something I've learned about the team and the group that we have this year is that we're super resilient. You know, we're going to battle until the last second of the game. Unfortunately, we weren't able to, you know, pop one in in the last couple seconds of the game but this group is special um and it's it's super exciting to be a part of it is adrian like the top ranked team in your guys league so they're ranked nationally number two okay um like within

the acha national rankings and we're now number seven um but within the ccwha which is the league that we compete in they would be like the highest ranked opponent that's in our league okay so what's the difference between like the ach and the ccwha oh we're gonna get into this um so the ach ach So the ACHA, ACHA stands for American Collegiate Hockey Association. And it's branded as an NCAA alternative for institutions to host intercollegiate hockey programs. And the CCWHA is the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association. It's the oldest women's hockey league. And it was like, I think from the nineties. So like Michigan State's in the league.

We're in the league, Adrian, Indiana Tech, Michigan Dearborn, Concordia Ann Arbor, Penn State. So most of those teams are in our East pod and there's now a West pod too, because it's just grown so much. So we've got 12 teams in our league, but within the ACHA, I think there's four or five different leagues. How's Concordia do? How do the Dirty Birds do in that league? They've gotten a lot better, and they're super strong now um one of the players that i used to play against now coaches their program maria barlow she's a goaltender and she's done a phenomenal job just

trying to grow their program um so it's super exciting to just see how strong all the acga programs are getting awesome all right i want to back it up a little bit and hear about you and like just the whole journey to get to this point where you're at, where I feel like, you know, you're probably like, all right, we got here. You know, President Santa Ono is like, you know, supporting you and helping out. And there's you've gotten a lot of support and it feels like, all right, we've made it. But it's also just the beginning at the same time. But I want to hear like, I mean, I can only imagine how hard that you have worked and a lot of other people have worked to get to this point. So I want to hear about that. Yeah. It's super exciting. I'm not exactly sure where to start, I guess.

I guess my goal when I came to Michigan was to just try to make a difference, like even as a student, like just creating like the Instagram page, like pushing the Twitter or Facebook page, which has, it's in Facebook jail again. They don't think we're legitimate, but we are. So like when I was a freshman, I was like, this is a huge opportunity. Obviously Michigan doesn't have a division one NCAA women's program, but our team is the only women's hockey team on campus. So we have a huge opportunity to build something essentially from nothing. So I guess all of this really started back in, I think it was March of last year. I had tweeted something out and like, I had never really used Twitter. But I saw a post

about the $41 million scoreboard. And I just basically tweeted out like, oh, like, well, this is what the women's hockey team gets. And it just kind of blew up, which was great just in terms of visibility for our program and the other club teams that are on campus. And then from there, it's just been like kind of just chipping away at trying to contact people, doing a lot of podcasts, like a lot of meetings. But social media has been probably the biggest driver of things evolving. And I think that President Ono, because he is so active on social media, I think that, you know, he's seeing things, other people are probably sending him things um so it's it's a huge advantage for us to have a great social media presence no i mean it's it is cool to see that and i mean obviously we all love uh president ono like he's come onto the spot

i don't know if there's been like a better like first month on the job than what he's done in terms of pr and being loved by everybody so it's been pretty awesome but yeah i mean the support of you guys has been cool it's it's been cool to watch you guys um you know on the come up here and now you know playing well too like that's that's the thing too is not only do you you know get support and all that stuff but you're killing it too um so how do you like i mean how do you recruit how do you you know when you as you're building a program from scratch right like how do you even like pit like give us your pitch all right we're recruits we're we're out there you gotta pitch us to to try and come play for you at Michigan so it's a little complex um I will say that because we don't have any poll in the admissions office so the first question I would probably ask is tell me about your grades oh I'm out All right. Probably. So because I am, you know, working full time in addition to all these other things, I do get a lot of inquiries.

But because we don't have coal in the admissions process, if someone doesn't have close to a 4.0 or over a 4.0, I try to respond to them. But they're kind of off my radar at that point. So that would be kind of the first step in the recruiting process. So fortunately, we do get a lot of interest of those student athletes that want high academics at Michigan. They want the Big 10 experience and they want to play women's ice hockey in college. So I'm fortunate for that. But I will say like this past early application round, the students found out last Friday. And from what I'm hearing, it was like a record number of applicants. So it's getting more and more competitive to get in every single year. And there are students that I thought were going to get in or had a really

great chance that, you know, aren't going to be considered even for the regular decision process. So I really have to target those students that want high academics. They have really good grades. You know, they're top of their class, but they're also phenomenal athletes as well in the sport of women's ice hockey, which is niche as it is so it's it's quite complex um like it's like the 0.01 percent like legitimately you have to be the smartest person in your class you have to be super athletic but also play this very niche sport that not a lot of of women play exactly you're fine you're going out to find a uniform essentially every time you try to recruit yes um fortunately on the other hand um we do get a lot of transfers like i think probably more than some other programs and

it's not that i'm communicating with them while there are other programs. They essentially just email me and say like, Hey, like I'm coming to Michigan or I got in, like, tell me more about your program. So we're very fortunate in that aspect. And we probably average one, maybe two per year. So I'm hoping that happens. How many girls do you have on the roster? So right now we've got 30 that are rostered and eligible to play.

And we've got two like practice only players that have joined our program for second semester. That'll be they're committed and they're going to play for next season. But one came from a division one program franklin pierce university and then the other one had played division three at salve regina then she was at michigan state now she's at michigan so i skate like once a year how do you think we would do on the ice um against your team uh like i said i think we've got a really great team this year um you can just say that they kick our ass you can say that that's i'm really good at going in a straight line keep me on the

boards and i can stay up as long as i don't need to turn or yeah go right to the net i don't think i could do anything i feel like i'd get checked into the boards and it would be over from, from there. Cause I don't, I mean, I'm like too old at this point to love like physical contact. It's like, I, I like, you know,

wake up with aches and pains just from wit, just from sleeping, you know, I'm just tailgating just, Oh, a long day of tailgating. I mean, yeah,

that's yeah. It's tough. No, I mean, I think we should get Jack here in some goalie gear and just have every one of your girls fire shots at him. Just rip pucks at him? Yes.

Come down. Get me geared up. As long as I don't feel it, I'd be okay with that. No, the point is that you're going to feel it. I'll figure something out. Lots of pads. Get some Tempur-Pedic pads or something. That's great.

What about you when you were in your playing days? Were you a star? I would describe myself as a power forward. I was never like the most skilled or the most talented person. The enforcer. Yeah. I like to go to like the dirty areas of the ice, like the corners, the front of the net.

I really love Thomas Holmstrom and how he played. He just made a name for himself in front of the net. You know, kind of getting the goalie skin a little bit. I guess to backtrack a little bit, I played for Little Caesars growing up, and many of my teammates went to go play Division I or Division III. And I had some offers, but nothing fit academically. So coming to Michigan was a bit of an adjustment because at the time we had a pretty wide range of skill on the team. But, you know, now we're at the point where we've got a really large pool of talented players

and a lot of women that want to play hockey so we're trying to find you know that balance of keeping everyone involved if that makes sense yeah no that's that's cool it's um i don't know hockey like from that well to be honest but i it's a sport that well, to be honest, but it's a sport that everyone loves to watch, I think, even if you don't know the ins and outs because it's so fast-paced. Also, just being in Yost for a hockey game is awesome. It's an incredible barn. Also, I love using the lingo of barn.

You just said dirty spots on the ice. Like yeah, the dirty ice. Love it. That is incredible. What's like, we need some more, we need some like lingo and some chirps or something like that. I guess now that I'm a coach, I kind of have to be careful. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. I'm trying to say. Civ. That's always a hockey. Civ is a good one. Like Bender. I don't know if you've heard that one.

Duster. Duster, yeah. Those are like classics, I feel like. Are there some new ones that have come up in recent years? If there are, I probably wouldn't know them. Actually, this is a good question, and you might have to be political about it, but politically correct about it.

Are you pro-chirping? Are you pro-your team getting into it a little bit to talk a little bit? I guess I wouldn't know if they're doing it when they're on the ice.

Good answer. if it's subtle so like i obviously can't control all of that but something that i do not tolerate is like retaliation um which i feel like especially when emotions are high you gotta be mentally tougher than that right like you yeah you can't just you know they're trying to get in your head you can't retaliate right correct and sometimes you know some hockey players may retaliate with words and that's unacceptable but you know there is a line between what's acceptable and what's not you know so i guess that's how i would put it okay great answer ro tried to set you up and you just i have to be careful i told you we were gonna grill you I told you um the uh you want to know some of my favorite videos out there are NHL refs like going

back and forth because there is not any sport ever in the world where like refs actually chirp with the players and you because like as a ref you can't just sit there and take it in hockey because guys will just guys and girls will just like they'll run you over you know they'll take over so that's one of my favorite things about hockey is like it is like things it's just a different environment where things are okay or like acceptable and more than like in basketball like nowadays in college basketball you get teed up like for looking at a guy wrong you know where hockey i i love that they still like you still can can have a little bit of there's definitely a little bit of flexibility

um but yeah it's it's fun i was gonna say you guys have uh a nice stretch of games coming up right i think i saw somebody post something today might have been you um you guys have a nice stretch of games coming up, right? I think I saw somebody post something today. It might have been you. You guys have Senior Day on Sunday, right? We do. So we've got practice tonight, practice tomorrow. We've got Friday off. Saturday we're going out to the west side of the state to play Grand Valley for home and home.

So then they're coming to us on Sunday, which will be like our senior night. So we're going to celebrate our eight seniors, which is pretty exciting. So if we wanted to go to the game, do we have to buy tickets somewhere? Like, do you buy tickets or is it free admission? What's the deal? They, I believe what we're doing now,

like if you have an M card, it's free admission. Otherwise it's just $5 at the door. So senior day is a big one then you got concordia at yo row we'll have to head to that one maybe you know straddle the line root for both teams yeah and then real big game against msu are you guys planning any sort of tailgate that weekend or should we i think going? What's the plan with that? I don't know if I can plan anything. I'm focusing on the game and the outcome of the game

and our game plan and our strategy, but if you all plan something yourselves, I support that. I support that. I love a nice hockey tailgate. We can work with the Maze Rage and the Children of Yost, I think, and we can get something rolling.

That'd be fun. I mean, the Children of Yost are one of the greatest student sections ever in the country. I'm in full support of them. I'm sure they're in full support of you too. I, you know, they have people that have come out. Like, I haven't met anybody. But, again, like, I'm on the coaching side of things and just trying to,

like, ensure the game day operations go as they should. But I would love to see the Children of Yost come out, especially for a game against Michigan State. Hockey's hockey. I think sometimes, or in the past, past some people have we've been kind of covered up by the word club which i actually i can't stand the word club because there's really nothing club about our program besides the fact that we're not within athletics yeah um but yeah i would love you know if that's something you can help coordinate, I would absolutely love that.

We actually have a student, one of our seniors, she was actually in the Michigan marching band. So I think she's trying to get some of the, like the athletic band members to come out as well. Love it. All right. We'll get something. Perfect.

Thank you. Appreciate that. I do have to ask you, what's the game day fit like for you as a coach? A lot of baseball, you know, those guys are in uniforms. You got the old guys in the uniforms. Basketball, sometimes they got the full suits. Hockey, most

of the time they're tuned up. What's your game day fit like? Yeah, we dress up. It's part of the protocol for the ACHA. But just in general, I think if you're coaching a collegiate level team, you should look like a coach. But I wear Blundstone boots because it's obviously freezing in most rinks.

And also, if I have to walk across the ice, I don't want to wear like heels or something and like slip and fall so i'm also i'm practical about it um but yeah we we usually dress up and we dress nice um and it's nice to see when you know the other teams are doing that as well so what would like how much money would it take for you to just wear a blue by 90 shirt during a game good question uh i don't know i mean hey money talks at some point you know for all of us right so i'm just saying yeah maybe we can work something out like it's underneath the the line any any number any number just has to be below 50 right yeah i can do that for all right all right deal i do want to get a michigan women's

hockey uh shirt up in the in the shop we need to do something or like that wait what do you you call it the um on twitter it's the woe-ho something, right? Yeah, the woe-hos, yeah. We should just do the woe-hos, I think. We should do a shirt that says the woe-hos. Figure something out. I liked what somebody made a sweet graphic for you guys on Twitter. Yes.

Yeah, I found that account. They got to throw that on a shirt somewhere. If they'll give a price to that graphic, we'll do it. It's so cool. Yeah, very cool. So do you guys do a lot of travel or is it pretty regional or how does that part work? So a little bit of both. So within our league, the CCWHA, we're required to play each team in our pod twice. So that's like Adrian, Michigan-Dearborn, Concordia, Michigan State, Penn State.

So Penn State's like, they came to us this year, so we'll travel to them next year. And then we cross over into the West pod for two games, depending on the year. So this year it was, well, Grand Valley and then Indiana Tech. But we try to do home and homes when we can, so then we don't have to pay for a hotel. Because obviously that adds up. And then this season, we went out to Utah, to Salt Lake City to play a three game series. We played Montana State, University of Utah, and we played UMass Amherst who had also flown out there and then earlier this year in January we went out to Arizona and we played Grand Canyon University and ASU twice but in terms of scheduling it's me communicating with other coaches about like who

wants to play when they have availability um so like some teams like some varsity programs that we pay they might have written contracts like but for us it's it's so hard for us to get ice time anytime before like july or august until the big 10 schedule comes out for the men so like i can't commit to anything usually um so yeah i say we do a good job at trying to keep our travel moderate but when we do travel you know it's it's somewhere fun it's somewhere exciting for the players that maybe they've never been before but should we talk about the ice time thing we I'm going to start picketing outside Yost to get you guys better ice time. I think that there is definitely room for a conversation,

and I'm hopeful that the conversation will happen soon about it. But, yeah, I think there are ways in addition to ice time too to just improve the team and the player, like the experience for the players, because that's, you know, what it's all about. So another very good politically correct. This is fantastic. Yeah. You're just putting on a clinic for the PR right now.

That's great because I definitely have a PR manager, which does not exist. So that's amazing um that's amazing so I do you do like I mean we gotta you gotta I think we should just give you we should do a like pre-game interview and a post-game interview as well maybe some intermission stuff too. Can we come do that at a game? Yeah, we can we can come up with some ideas like in terms of the accessibility at Yost. So we're, we actually rent like when we can the men's like South visitors locker room. So like we're on like the opposite end of the building

gotcha um because we we pay to rent it because otherwise we're like on top of the other team and there's just like not enough space yeah so i think it's like a hundred dollars per game we like pay to like rent that space so that it feels more like our locker room, our space. You know, we're not running into other players, other coaches. So otherwise you guys are sharing a locker room with the other team. Essentially, yeah. I don't know if you've been to Yost, but like the community public locker rooms are like very small and like close together.

So just to like try to like distance ourselves a little bit we book that room when we can okay let's talk support then because it sounds like you you need some extra cash to get all this stuff done correct so i'm on your website right now and it looks like you can support right on there right yeah there should be a link on there um we also have giving blue day coming up on i think march 15th which is like the university y giving day of giving i guess like there's challenges um so we're working on some strategy for that at the current moment and that'll probably be like our next like big push um because in terms of fundraising like you know the restaurant fundraisers are great but in terms of like our budget like it doesn't it doesn't necessarily help us like it might cover like you know half a practice but we have so many practices that it's

it's so nominal it's like it's just is it worth just, is it worth the time? Is it worth the effort? So I think of those as more like community outreach events, if that makes sense. But yeah, we're obviously like a self-funded program. Any financial support, you know, is appreciated. It's used to better the program for the student athletes. And just like in terms like if you know people aren't able to support financially just like coming to games promoting you know our content on social media like interacting with it all that is so valuable for us because you know maybe somebody sees something they've never seen before like you know your network sees, oh, Michigan has a hockey team, a women's hockey team. That's cool.

Then they know someone that knows someone that knows someone. That's how social media works. Even just interacting with our socials is really important for us and gathering support, whether that's financial or or not do you guys have a tiktok we do i don't have a tiktok account um no one's a big tiktok guy big tiktoker yeah i think i don't have one i'm lying i think it's doing pretty well um i don't have one i just like i'll hear like players like oh something something tiktok and then you, like I'll tape it into like my URL, but then like after I watched it, it wants me to download the app.

And I'm like, I'm not downloading the app for this. Yeah. It's in our link tree. I think. We got to get you in on the trends. Yeah. If the players are like coach, do a tick tock. Like what are you doing? So I think somebody tried to take one of me when we were in arizona and it was like just like it's like i don't even know what i was doing but i i agreed to it and that's like the first time um oh as soon as you let that go from here now it's open i don't think they ever posted it though i. I don't think it's on there.

But yeah, they're fun. It's a great group. Maybe if we beat Michigan State on February 19th, I'll pop in a TikTok. When you beat Michigan State, we've got to manifest this. Yeah, when we beat them. But yeah, they have a lot of fun with the social media stuff so it's exciting i'm like i'm excited to start coming to these games i was a big like hockey fan back when the wings were good and i was growing up but like ever since then i've kind of been out of it they're a lot better now though they're good they're way better now. Yeah. All right. Well, hey, this has been awesome to have you.

Appreciate you coming on here. We're full supporters of Michigan women's hockey now. So not now. We have been, but even more so. I think we'll get a tailgate going. We'll get t-shirts going. We'll get Jack in goalie gear just getting rolled by bucks all day. I'll wear that like old-fashioned Jason mask.

Jason. Perfect. That'll be good. For sure. I think like here's the fundraiser. Here's the fundraiser right here is like how much money can we raise if we get to like a like i don't know five thousand dollars or something like that jack will go out like in a speedo and just wear wear pucks on the chest i don't want to see that man i don't know if the team can like officially support that but

yeah let's go that route i don't think anybody can there are ways to get creative so but i i think we can get me in goalie gear and people can just take rips at me if they want i'll do it for money i'll do it for to raise some money for sure we'll count the bruises at the end and that's how yeah yeah there you go oh god all right that's great mentally preparing myself what time is the game this Sunday so puck drop will be around

3.30pm and I think it's on that graphic whoever's doing your graphics is killing it good graphics she's a student she's on the. She's a student. That's awesome.

She's on the team. I don't know what we're going to do without her. Seriously, we need to hire her. If you want her contact info, I can ask her. Maybe we'll see if she wants to design the women's hockey

shirt or fundraiser shirt we can get going. Maybe we'll see if she wants to design the women's hockey shirt. Yeah. Or fundraiser shirt we can get going. There we go. Yeah, I can definitely put you all in contact. That'd be sweet. Perfect. Yeah. The graphic, were you talking about the retro graphic, Jack,

that was on there? The one that Jenna retweeted, yeah. Yeah. That's sweet. I don't know who did that. I do not know who that account is but they have a lot of great stuff on there like they've done stuff for like michigan men's hockey they do like retro nhl stuff it's so cool it's awesome love it love it all right well hey on the uh michigan women's hockey is on the up and up

i i mean to the moon to the moon i can't wait we won't sleep until uh until you're a varsity sport that's for sure um but i feel like it's coming soon so all right we're our plan is to be out at a game here soon um especially for for sure, Michigan State, February 19th. This Sunday is Grand Valley, right? Yep. All right. And so, yeah, it'll be super exciting to watch you guys. Good luck in the end of the season here.

You know, we need you guys to come out on top, all right? Thank you. Yeah, I'll do my best. All right. Thanks so much for coming on with us. Really appreciate you. Yeah, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Thank you to Jenna Trubiano for coming on with us. Shout-out to the Wohos. Shout-out to the Michigan Wohos. Women's hockey, go support them. Now we've got me, Jack, and Tanner Wooten on, talking a little hoops after the Michigan basketball game. I'm here just in my Hugh Hefner robe, I'll be honest.

This is like blue by 90 after dark. I literally was just sitting there watching the basketball game in my robe on my couch, and I was like, you know what? I'm not even going to throw anything else on. I i like the vibe right now did you pop a bottle of champagne too after that win cigar bottle champagne this is what we do for quad one wins we get one quad one win on the road and i'm like ready to party when's the last time we had a quad one win i think last year last year this is the first one well it's weird because they sometimes become one and then they you know they aren't one anymore like i think at one point pitt might have been a quad one win and it's not anymore so it's like gotta get it where you can

we beat northwestern already right yeah but it's so it's a different criteria on the road versus at home it's like you only on the road it has to be like the top 75 or something. At home, it's like the top 30, and then neutral court, it's the top 50. I only know this because I literally looked it up today because everyone's talking about it, obviously, and I'm like, I'm going to check out. Because before, honestly, I just assumed it was beating the top quad of teams in the country. Right.

That makes sense to me. I don't know ball. I admittedly don't know ball, and I'm going to say some shit tonight that is going to prove or maybe not prove that I know or don't know. Now, you're a ball knower. You know ball. I don't know, man.

I was watching the game tonight, and I was pretty frustrated. Even though we won, I was pretty frustrated with some stuff. Negative vibes? Dude, negative vibes. Dude, you can't feel negative vibes about the basket like that those vibes should have left your body the moment that they lost to probably iowa i think was when i was like nah i'm good well i just i did i did stop caring for a while and then i watched the game tonight and i was just like i'm just gonna start off hot i think what i when i was watching the game tonight, and I was just like, I'm just going to start off hot. I think when I was watching the game tonight, I was like, did anybody else notice that it seemed like Hunter was just getting pushed around? Like he's just getting out-rebounded by everybody, and he can just not –

he never is like in the right position. I mean, what, he had maybe three rebounds, and he was getting pushed around all fucking night. I'm just – all right, I'm just all right I'm gonna stop you I will refuse to talk negatively the like one time we have a chance to talk positively about Michigan literally this is like the only time we haven't had a pot in a moment though so like we we all the negative thoughts have been seeping through and the only place we can get them out on is the group chat. I don't think we can say – What it also could be to –

I mean, he did only have three rebounds. I'll give you that. But, I mean, and it's not even that. Like, I'm not – It's just – He's just, like – He looks like he has no power down there, no presence. Like, he just stands tall.

He needs to get his ass into somebody and – He is tall. Gain some ground. I do. I think it's difficult to be 7'2 and only have three rebounds in an entire game. That's what I'm saying. I think that's kind of a microcosm for his career the last two seasons. Obviously, as a freshman, he was –

I mean, look, he puts up numbers. He puts up points. He's probably Michigan's best player. Like, I get it. He had a quiet, like, 18 tonight, right? Right. And it's almost like we're grading him on, like, a bell curve because we know how good he can be.

Yeah. And it's not just – so I want to say this. When I watch Michigan basketball, it's not just Hunter Dickinson, but there are a lot of times where there's a good stretch of the game where I just am wondering where is the effort, where is the hustle, where is the pride, where is the want to from this team and and obviously they won tonight but you know we haven't talked about it in what a couple weeks I mean there are times where I'm watching and I just I don't it's just not getting on the floor for loose balls and like this is your season every

game is your season now like you you basically have to win out or win the Big Ten championship tournament. Right? There's no way. They probably have to win the Big Ten tournament to get in. Yeah, they'd have to win out because there's no quality wins left. Well, no, that's not true. There's no ranked wins. I mean, like you said, there's some quad one wins.

I don't know what the Big Ten tournament. I mean, either way, they've got to get hot. They've got to stay hot. I mean, because they said, I mean, they – There's some quad one wins. I don't know what that tournament – I mean, either way, they got to get hot. Or they got to stay hot. Yeah, I mean, because they're 12-10. Like, they're one or two games away from 500, right? So it's like – Yeah, but we're – I mean, we're on a one-game win streak.

I didn't mean to start off on negative vibes. No, but no, it's fair because we haven't had a podcast – or I haven't been on a podcast in a minute, and there are a lot of thoughts that I have about the basketball program at the moment that are not the nicest things that I have to say. But it's great to get a win on the road, a quad one win. We haven't seen them do that at all this year until tonight. So good win, but there's just unfortunately five to six to seven games

that they get out from from under them that maybe in you know those games go a different way we're talking about this team in a way different light and it's just been the same story all season unfortunately i will agree with that a thousand percent like if that iowa game goes differently if a couple different games uh like obviously you can't lose the central michigan at home. Like that's a tough one. Best game of the month. I will say too, like the, you know, it was tough watching that game at Penn State

where it felt like nobody cared, right? So that's where I will say, like, I did think, to be honest, Northwestern played very bad, to be honest be honest which helped us but i i enjoyed seeing them like care you know i i did enjoy kobe buffkin had almost a triple level yeah kobe and doug man those are i love those guys the backcourt's been fun he will do all right too t will have a nice game joy baker joy baker nice threes i i was very happy with with cheddar is cheddar sick i think he's gotta have something going on i don't know i i don't understand why yo-yo got yo-yo got his yo-yo he was chucking him up get that confidence i don't recall that uh but i've

been multitasking so that's on me but i'm i'm cautiously so i have a lot of concerns about this season and some of the stuff last season but i do think there's an opportunity to turn around with the young talent that they have the potential to transfer portal the recruiting class is not big so i don't know who's all staying who's all going but i do think there's an opportunity to be a lot better next year and it's not like that's much of an improvement, but I'm not completely out on anything with this program at the moment.

I just think there's a lot of young talent that I am excited about. I'm excited about Kobe Buffkin as a junior. I'm excited about Doug McDaniel as a sophomore. Yeah, Terrence Reed's going to be a monster. I thought he changed his whole free throw routine, and he was just going to go for bang shots, but I think he just missed that poorly.

He just needs to do the Rick Barry, man. Granny style. Do the granny style, man. Why not? I mean, he will need to do that. Otherwise, they'll just hack him. That works. Yeah, a thousand percent.

But he is so large. He might be only shooting one free throw because he'll get an and one on literally everything because he's that strong. So I think, Jack, you were talking about Hunter getting pushed around, and I agree. I think Hunter's big. I don't think Hunter's necessarily super strong. Terrence Reed is strong he's a man and he's like 18 yeah like even like we've seen what happened with ed we saw what you see what happens with a lot of these guys when they develop

throughout college i mean this guy's still super young yeah this time next year i mean he could be pushing people around like crazy when he knows what he's what to do with his body and to get with chance cam sanderson oh he probably hasn't had with his body. And to get with Cam Sanderson. He hasn't had a full year with Sanderson yet. Sanderson's got to be licking his chops getting that kid in for the summer. I mean, some of the transformations he's done with some of the guards, some of the backcourt, you know, and now to have somebody that you can mold and really have be just a monster,

like I bet he's just salivating. I'm pretty sad that I don't believe that we'll have jet Howard next year because I think, I mean, I highly first rounder. He's got a lot of, they have them going like top six. Yeah.

I wouldn't. Yeah. I mean, you, you watch him and I said this during the Purdue Fort Wayne game. I mean, the, the kids just got NBA game.

He's got the step back. He's got the hezy. Like, he gets to the mid-range and gets a pull-up. He can get to the rim. Like, he has exactly what they're looking for. Yeah, that's exactly what they're looking for. He plays defense like I play defense. I'll be honest with that.

Good thing the NBA is a shootout nowadays, right? Yeah, right. Well, and honestly, though, too though too like you know defense i think takes a lot of time to learn and i mean obviously his situation is a lot different from a lot of kids who come in i mean his dad played in the nba for 20 years he played at img like you know i'm sure he's been around some of the best coaches in the world but like i think that's something that will probably get better in the NBA. For as little defense as it seems like they play, I think that he will – I think he'll be good. I've been an NBA hater for a while because of that

because I'm like, oh, they don't play defense. But then I talk to a lot of guys that are actually in basketball and they're like – the reason that it looks like we don't play defense is because guys are that good on offense. Like it's literally impossible to guard them, which I understand that. You guys ever been to an NBA game? Like – I went – and this was before they were the Warriors,

but I went to a Golden State Warriors-Indiana Pacers game and I was watching the warm-ups. And obviously was so it wasn't steph it wasn't clay it was andre iguodala who's probably like a career 36 three-point shooter yeah 50 in a row i was just i was amazed i was like there's no like you mean to tell me this is iguodala like max calvin iguodala so like here's the story so a few years back the pistons actually came in practice at chrysler for like a practice so they're in the the player development center practicing i was fortunate enough to go watch them and behind like the scenes there they literally like it's this is not an exaggeration it's like back and forth back and forth and nobody misses nobody misses and this is in like real game time and then if you like

if they just you know go to their separate hoops and do like shooting around the arc and stuff like when i say it's like 30 for 35 shots at each spot, it's legitimately 30 for 30. It's something that's like, it's pretty incredible. So I'll give them that. But, you know, I think Jet probably needs a little bit of growing up still to be like, I don't think he's like, I don't know that he's going to be like a rookie of the year next year or anything.

He might even spend some time in the G league, but well, but yeah, yeah. When, when we do the pistons, hopefully, but I think that I do think that like,

if you can shoot like he can, then you they'll find a spot for you. They found a spot for Duncan Robinson because of that. And, and jet has a smoother shot than duncan robinson and can shoot he can get his own shot better like duncan was just a pull-up specialist or a spot of specialists i think i think jet has like a quicker release and like can shoot off the dribble oh well his step back move is, is, is fantastic. When he,

when he puts the ball on the deck and then he steps back and gets his shot and creates just a bit of separation. I mean, he's it's money. We were, you know, me, Jack and Caitlin were at the bar watching the Michigan, Michigan state game. And like, every time he did that, I was like, it was going in. He was the only guy getting, you know, really anything going that game. It felt like, so he's just, he's, he's a bucket man. He really is. Yeah, absolutely. So one other guy, Jack, I think you, you mentioned him. go in that game it felt like so he's just he's he's a bucket man he really is yeah absolutely so one other guy uh jack i think you you mentioned him t will this game seven points 10 rebounds

and zero turnovers zero turnovers and one foul beautiful that's a great great game that's all you need to do that every game we would be a completely different team in my opinion yeah if he could rebound great if that's your role and you can rebound whatever that's great you're not turning the ball over hit a shot every now and again five to seven points that's all we need play some good defense don't foul and don't turn the ball over like that's the difference and all of a sudden we're you know we're a really good team in my opinion also doug mcdaniel who had uh only two points on the game right that's it but he had i think a nine or ten assists nine assists four rebounds one turnover late in the game i think no

zero turnovers it's really here so i don't know if they missed it, but, like, I mean, that is really good point guard play. And especially when we're scoring, when other guys are scoring, like I know he shot pretty poorly, one for seven from the field. But, like, you know, if he can create stuff, which I think he was doing, then you don't need to score. Right? So he also, he shoots the three ball. You know, if he can create stuff, which I think he was doing, then you don't need to score, right? So he also – he shoots the three ball like I do as well where I just don't jump.

He just like – he doesn't jump at all. I'm like, dude, you're 5'8". You got to jump. He needs that AI jumper where he's just fucking skied up there before he lets go of it. Exactly. Exactly. Also confirmed Will Cheddar did have the flu.

That's why he wasn't on the bench in the second half. Could have been a flu game. So, what I said earlier sounds dumb now, but he still should play more than he has in past games where he did not have the flu. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, look, I think that he should get more minutes than Jace, in my opinion.

Oh, 100%. Yeah. I like Jace as an energy guy to get in there and play D, but Cheddar can contribute a little bit more than Jace can. I think so. He's bigger, too. And he's bigger. He's bigger.

He can guard a legitimate four, where I think Jace struggles a little bit. Also, Jace sometimes needs to just pass the rock, I'll be honest. Hey, when he got fouled on that three, I was like, okay, get to the foul line. And then he went up to three, and then I was like, okay, maybe let's not shoot the ball. I did it. I got Ant's ants and just put, put a tweet out.

Ohio state moves to 11, 11 with this loss, losing eight of the last nine games. That's great for us. When do we have Ohio state coming up? We've got to be next week or so. Right. Isn't it at Chrysler too?

That's what I thought. I think it's there. I want to say it's Sunday. I believe it's Sunday night. Have you guys... This is completely shifting gears. Have you guys talked about the hockey game

in Cleveland against Ohio State? No, we haven't at all. Last 18th. That's Winnipeg's weekend, isn't it? Is that an opportunity to do a little tailgating? I haven't bought a ticket or anything for that it sounds like a lot of i mean maybe i don't know it seems like

a lot of work to go to cleveland maybe we just like do a tailgate somewhere in ann arbor and then just like watch the game either way i need to tell you i think that would be fun i think that'd be a great time i agree yeah i agree it's not cleveland's only what three hours two hours yeah plus i told claudia before the season when they announced that, she's like, would you want to go to that? And I was like, if Michigan meets Ohio State in football, yeah, I do. That would be a lot of fun to just walk in. That's a really good point.

Just, you know, what's up? What's going on? Big nut? What are you doing over here? You know, just a little trash talk. So that would be fun. I would love to meet some Ohio State fans in a football stadium here in the very new future.

That would also be back-to-back hockey tailgates for us. That's true. Because we've got Michigan-Michigan State for the women's side Sunday. That's true. Football hockey weekend. I'm all for it. I'm down for that. I'm down.

All right. Well, there might be a road trip in the near future. I like that. We've got to buy. The body is gone, so I don't have anything to do. You need a babysitter, so that's what we're here for. Yeah, I need you to come over and babysit me with beers, please.

We might need to buy that short bus, Jack. $800, dude. $800 for what? It's the marketplace. Somebody sell the short bus for 800 bucks. Oh, that's what I was going to say, bro. Like an engine would go for a few grand.

Okay. I mean, let's be honest. Like if we made it there, then that's all we really need. You know, like. Yeah, we can hitchhike back, you know. I've never seen a movie where like that ever goes wrong. No. It'll be all right.

That's fine. It's Cleveland. It's okay. Yeah. Should's fine. It's Cleveland. It's okay. Yeah. Should be good. I mean, what's the worst that can happen if we're broken down and we're with a bunch of near Ohio State people? What's the worst that can happen?

Yeah. That's a good question. They would probably just brag about their recruiting rankings, even though it's propped up by a bunch of top 50 wide receivers and everywhere else sucks. But we've got recruiting to talk about if that's you know and that's well hold on i want to let's talk about that in a second and then but i want to like go through our schedule for the rest of the year for hopes because okay ohio state will not be a quad one game um that's okay is home against against Indiana on the 11th, possibly?

What are they ranked? I don't know. I just think that they're – They've been okay. I just think Trace Jackson Davis is good, so I assume that they're pretty good. No, he's legit, but they've lost some very winnable games. At Wisconsin, probably a quad one game.

No? Yeah. Home against MSU, believe would be yeah um Rutgers I think I heard that on the broadcast Rutgers we'd be at Rutgers okay so I believe that would be home versus Wisconsin at Illinois at Indiana. I think there's opportunities. Listen, I'm not saying – like, I don't want to be the guy that's like, oh, we won one game against Northwestern and all of a sudden we're making the tournament. But I think there's a chance to turn it around still. We're hot.

We're on a winning streak. What have you done for me lately? Also, I want to say this too. Outside of Purdue, like, the Big Ten tournament will be very winnable. It's wide open. Because, I don't know. I mean, obviously Purdue will be the team to beat, but I think that we can still get really good seeding

in the Big Ten tournament. We can be like the three seed. The Big Ten is wildly bad this year. Yeah. It's kind of unbelievable. Do you remember a year that the Big Ten was this bad top to bottom? I guess number two to bottom, you take Purdue out? Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, Purdue is really good, but, you know, if you just take – yeah, two through 14 is absurdly bad. Produced really good, but if you just take 2-14 is absurdly bad. It's kind of mind-boggling to me how I don't remember a time at least since Michigan's been good to where I always watch Michigan basketball, right?

Back in the day. Pre-2007. We can say that. I'm kidding. We can say that. I'm kidding. Certain fans say that about football, so we could probably do it with basketball. I don't remember the Big Ten then. I was also 10 years old.

I don't know. It's one of the worst that I can remember. That's what I'll say. Who's the best conference in basketball right now? SEC? Big 12? It's got to be Big 12, right? Got to be the Big 12. They have a ton of ranked teams.

The ACC stinks. This is going to be Duke, North Carolina on Saturday at night, I believe. And neither of them are ranked for the first time in, like, ever. So, the ACC. The ACC teams that are good. Clemson any good? Clemson's good this year. Clemson any good? Clemson's good this year. Clemson's good.

Yeah, I think they're ranked. Yeah, they're like honestly leading the ACC. Okay. Yeah, because Virginia Tech was ranked highly to start the season. I don't think they've been great either. Is Virginia good this year? Remember they were ranked three when Michigan played them, but now I think they're like maybe like top 20.

I mean, I think they're still good. No, they're six. Virginia's six. Oh, wow. Well, then I'm tripping. Okay. I mean, Tennessee's very good. It's really static.

I mean, the Big 12 is still up there. Kansas State, Kansas, Texas, Baylor. They're all in the top 15. Iowa State. Iowa State, TCU. Yeah, definitely it's the Big 12. It's no doubt the Big 12. Clemson, though. 18-5. Basketball school?

Basketball school. Ever since Jacqueline went down there and started doing it. That's true. Got to give a shout out to my woman. You send her a picture of you wearing that robe tonight? Well, I can't do that. She wouldn't be able to handle it.

I think she's wearing it. Coming back. I think they have a game right now, actually. Oh, man. All right, recruiting. I want to point this out before anything. Ohio State only got one five-star in this cycle. And it sounds crazy because I'm not going to talk too much crap

because Michigan had zero. I understand that. But legitimately, this is like the fewest – they haven't had less than like three or four or five stars in any cycle in a long time. It's been a minute. They had seven in 2021. How's that class doing so far in their career, 2021?

They're 0-2. Oh, 0-2. Okay. That's really all you need to know. That class, like if you look at that class, because far in their career? 2021. They're 0-2. Oh, 0-2. Okay. Hell yeah. That's really all you need to know. Dude, that class, like, if you look at that class, because Quinn Ewer's gone, Jack Sawyer's been a bust. Like, they had a ton of, like, elite guys.

And I was kind of like, in 2020, I was like, well, it's been fun, guys. You know, it's over. It's over forever. And they haven't done anything. Like, Denzel Burke was part of that class. I don't think he was as highly rated as some of those guys I mentioned. He had kind of a big fall off last year too. So it's like, what?

I mean, look at the receivers. Like it was Marvin Harrison Jr., Japson Smith and Jigba, Julian Fleming. I mean, I think they had the top three receivers in the class. And they were all five stars. I don't understand. I want to know what that pitch is. I'll be honest. I want to know, like, what do you – how do you tell all three guys

that are top of the class, like, hey, you're going to be our number one guy? You know, like, what do you say to them? I don't know. You say, here's your money. I think they just show highlights and stats. I mean, yeah, there's plenty of, like, times where you see all these highlights of cj stroud or justin fields just throwing deep balls to wide open receivers so show them yeah so the one thing that i find very interesting with their 2023 recruiting class is three of the top four players in that class are wide receivers and it's

only a 20 man class so like i don't know i i i look at it so you know 20-man class. So, like, I don't know. I look at it. So, you know, 20% of a 20-man class is receivers. Like, I just – I don't know how sustainable this is going to be for them. Maybe they're taking a look at what Michigan did with Mike Samuels still. Maybe they're thinking they can get some DBs to cover some Michigan receivers there. I mean – Here's what somebody said this, actually. Somebody said, like, they are –

Ohio State is now built to put up 70 points on Indiana but not beat anybody like Michigan. Yeah. I mean, you have to – like, you look at those Urban Meyer teams that – like, the 14, 15 teams that were really good. Go look at all those guys on the offensive and defensive line and where they're at.

Like, you had so many guys that are in the NFL now in the trenches. And people forget, too. Everyone's, like, talking about, like, oh, they throw the ball. It's the modern era. No, Zeke Elliott, they ran the ball like crazy. Like, you couldn't get a short yardage stop on them. Every time it was fourth and two, and it was at the 40-yard line, you're like, fuck, they're going to go for it,

and JT Barrett's going to go get it, and then offensive line's going to go get it. They don't have that ability anymore. They are what they are. They're a seven-on-seven team. They recruit seven-on-seven five-star wide receivers and a great quarterback, and that's awesome. You put up 40 touchdowns, 000 yards every season but when it when push comes to shove and

you got to go get three yards on third and three and you're throwing the ball i mean that's just who they are now like and i i just i'm hoping michigan can keep up in in kind of the arms race within recruiting because you know obviously this class there's a lot of good pieces to it, and I love all the guys they're bringing in. But, you know, you've got to have those higher-end pieces as well to kind of complement all those guys. But I think there's an opportunity for Michigan to continue doing what they did the last two years just because of how Ohio State constructs their team.

So I obviously don't follow recruiting very much. So what's Michigan got got right now we just got yeah they were 18th in like the final rankings i believe okay can we can we talk about how msu talked msu fans talked so much shit about this recruiting class and talk was coming and this you know they're giving michigan a bunch of shit and then they ended up being lower ranked than us yeah oh really hilarious they're 23rd i believe have you guys seen this on twitter i don't know i keep seeing michigan state fans like posting keon coleman like oh photos against michigan and i'm like guys they're gonna fucking just like run the big pen and all this no but like

no but like they're put that, I've seen that too. But they're also like posting pictures of Keon Coleman getting a catch against like Jermon Green and like bragging about it and I'm just like, hey, like did you watch the game? It was never close. Keon Coleman is a fucking dog though.

He is like, he's nasty. He's good, but that's like little brother energy. Dude, he's like, after that game he, yeah, that's like little brother energy. Well, and he goes – like, dude, he's like – after that game, he went on Instagram, posted a fucking PowerPoint presentation of like 27 pictures from like three catches. It's like, dude, you lost like 22, man. Like, you had a great game, but come on.

He was like the only bright spot, but it was like – I mean, that was – they did nothing. They did nothing. And they bracketed him after that, like that one touchdown drive, and he did nothing until the second half when it was over. He had that one, like, 50-yard catch in the second half. Yeah. He's a really good ball player.

Like, I'm not going to be wrong. He'll be a good NFL player. But I just – sorry, man. You shouldn't be able to go on and, like, post your pictures after you've lost by three scores. That's just – I mean, I don't know. If I was his teammate, I'd be like, come on like come on man yeah it would kind of take me on um i mean we definitely can be excited about this 2024 class though already right like yeah they're they're cooking with some grease and i mean right now we don't have a quarterback yet but if you if you land jayden davis here like Wow. I hope we get him.

Well, I mean, Jacob Oden is a national recruit, right? Kid out of Michigan. Dad played at – I don't know if he played at Michigan. I know he went to Michigan. He's a legacy. His dad might have played football at Michigan. I could be wrong. But, I mean, he's like a borderline top 150 kid.

In-state guy. I mean, and it seemed like this is one where, you know, it wasn't really trending towards Michigan. It was trending towards Michigan State at one point, I think. But Michigan, you know, turned up the heat, was like, hey, we want you part of the class. And it seemed like a pretty easy decision from there. Everything that I had read or heard was that he was going to be committing

to Michigan, and obviously he did. So that's a really nice piece. Like they've got some really solid foundational pieces on the offensive and defensive line, so it's nice to have a guy who's probably going to play in the secondary in the fold. Nice. And then they also got the Cameron Brant kid. Justin, if you want to kind of touch on him too.

Yeah, no, you go for it. 2023? Sorry, I follow recruiting. He was trying to – I know. You 2023? Sorry, I follow recruiting. He was trying to hit. I know. You don't fucking know anything about recruiting. So I follow recruiting very closely. I'll be honest.

I used to follow recruiting a little bit, but I'll be honest. I have been turned off by recruiting in the last couple years because of NIL. And I'm an NIL guy, right? Literally. You're like, literally. Bathing in money and just wearing robes everywhere well i it's more so it's more so that i'm gonna disregard that comment it's more so like i don't with the flips and with all these things like i i struggle to follow it because i think what what a class looks like and this is I don't with the flips and with all these things, like I,

I struggle to follow it because I think what, what a class looks like. And this is like going against what we want to talk about. Cause I know Michigan's in good shape for 2024, but I just think like when you're in early, when you're in a class early right now, it's tough to know what that class is going to end up with because we know like every single one of these kids is still getting calls from Miami and all

these other places like, all right, we'll up your offer. We'll up your offer, blah, blah, blah. Like all this stuff, like that's, that happens every day. And it's, so that's turned me off a little bit, but anyways, go on with Cameron Brandt. Yeah. I mean, a former Stanford commit. Once David Shaw stepped down, he kind of opened his recruitment up,

visited Michigan. And, you know, I think he's a kid who – I don't know if it's necessarily the same play style as Chris Jenkins, but I think maybe like a similar profile as far as recruiting ranking goes. He's borderline three-star, four-star. He can play outside, inside. Like, I really like that pickup a lot, especially after they lost the commitment of Collins Achienpong,

who committed to Miami, if you guys remember him decommitting in December. It's a solid class. It's a really solid class. They miss out on Nick Harbour, who goes to South Carolina in one of the weirdest recruitments maybe I've ever kind of followed. By the way, that was to the night before Oregon, no doubt. Yeah. I know that from incredibly good sources that he was like, yup, I'm going to Oregon. And then I don't know what happened

or what the offer was from South Carolina on that next day, but it had to have been massive. I think his girlfriend goes there. I could be wrong. But I'll tell you what it was like. I, I was told by people that talked to him specifically the night before. And it was like,

yeah, I'm going to go to work. I mean, yeah, especially as a football and track guy, like that's like a, yeah. Right.

And it's been, he he so like he's said himself in public and in private too like he almost wants to be an olympic track star more than a football player yeah i think that's pretty well known and that's what's gonna potentially hinder his football career if he goes that path because if if you look at him, perfect edge rusher. I mean, like David Ajabo on steroids type B. Bill, I don't even know what to compare him to. So the problem is I don't think there's ever been an Olympic sprinter his size. Because he's like 6'5", 230.

So he's going to have to pick one or the other. The Olympic stuff, he would be one of the heavier guys to ever qualify. No, I know. I know. He's a freak athlete, but I don't think if he's going to play receiver or tight end,

he's just not a natural pass catcher. I would also struggle, brother. I would also... That's a struggle, brother. I do think that he... If I was him, shit, I'd choose just

running rather than beat over the head for the next 15 years. Which is why I should have went to Oregon. It doesn't make sense. You go to South Carolina, they're under armor. Even in the track world, that's not... You went to Oregon, right? It doesn't make sense. You go to South Carolina, they're Under Armour. Even in just the track world, that's not – You go to Oregon.

They stink at it. Yeah, they're like dead last in the SEC. Yeah, I don't get it. I mean, well, I do get it because the – I think the NIL offer got too big to ignore, and it's like, oh. Like, even if this doesn't work out, you can go here for three years and make ridiculous money and then chase whatever dream you want to after that, I think is,

is the case. Did you hear any news on like the NIL stuff that he's getting that you can talk about? No, I mean, not really, to be honest, but I don't know what the offer is but i know that

both i do know that both oregon and south carolina was in seven figures so god damn this it's just crazy what it's all turned into um but yeah i don't know what happened on that last day i'll tell you that right now so but either way like way, like, I think after, all right, we put the 2023 class aside for Michigan. And also you think about the transfers that came in, which helped that class tremendously, like helped fill holes. We're, I mean, let's think about this. If we can get a 2024 class off of back-to-back Big Ten titles

and get a Jaden Davis to lead that class the same way that J.J. McCarthy did, then all of a sudden, like, you see this Michigan program taking off. And, you know, you go out and do what you are supposed to do this next year again, which, again, it is not easy. to do it twice in a row is insane. To do it three times in a row is going to be even more insane, but you got a really good opportunity to go win another big 10 championship. And then it's all of a sudden like, all right, Jim's back. You know, I hoped God he's done flirting with the NFL and Holy smokes. we could be like, we're really the program in the North. I mean, we could be the next dynasty in college football.

If they win a third, a back-to-back-to-back Big Ten title, make another college football playoff appearance, hopefully get to the natty this time. I mean, keep building momentum. And if Harbaugh's sticking around, like you said, it's just everything will fall in place, especially if Jaden Davis can pick up a commitment to Michigan. I mean, that's just balls rolling, man.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I think it's a really fun time to be a Michigan fan right now. But I'm excited, man, for tailgates, for, you know, just the game day experience. It's been so cold, man. It's been really such a bummer. I'm pumped for these baseball softball tailgates. Oh, absolutely, dude.

I talked to Coach Smith on the phone today. Did you? Had a good combo with him, yeah. You guys talking about Clayton? Yeah, just talking. He's like, hey, when are we having Clayton up? We should try to get Clayton up. We should get him on and ask if he'll play higher by Creed again.

Oh, man. I am pumped for them. I talked to Overtop on the phone today, too. He's recovering well. He said he's swinging lefty right now. Whoa, whoa, what happened? You didn't know that? He had to get Tommy John.

Oh, no shit. Yeah. Damn. Had to get Tommy John. Oh, no shit. Yeah. Damn. Had to get Tommy John. So he's actually going to like, he's going to try and DH here in the next, like come like April, I think. Okay. Oh shit.

But yeah, baseball, softball kicking off, men's, women's lacrosse kicking off. I had to do a little presentation at the, near the lacrosse building the other day it was wind chills of six degrees and the lacrosse team is just out there practicing because they play outdoors it's like what is going on that's wild when's field hockey season is that a spring sport false that's a fail that's a false sport i think yeah yep during the fall yep um yeah i mean they're hopefully coming back last year they you know fell short lost in the first round when they were natty like favorites yeah which sucked but yeah they'll be good but um yeah man, no, there's a lot going on.

I'm excited. It's so crazy that, like, all these spring sports are, like, right around the corner, and it's like it couldn't be colder outside. Dude, I was looking. It was because it was finally, like, it's been sunny, like, the last few days. Yeah. But, of course, like, I fucking work 10 to 6, so every time it's sunny, I'm just inside looking at the fucking sun.

I just want to be outside in the warmth, feel the sun on my skin, and just feel the happiness radiate from my body. So I looked up when spring forward is, March 12th. We've got 38 days until spring forward. So we get an extra fucking hour of sunlight. That's doable. That's doable. So there's a countdown. We're under 50 days. I'm, you know, something to look forward to.

I like that. I will say the sun, like, the sun cures the seasonal depression, like, really quickly. Yes, really needed that. When you do get to finally see it, it's like, oh, my God, what is this thing? Yeah, I think warm weather does too. I got to go to Newport Beach, California last week, and my buddy that I work with, I was with him, and he's from Buffalo. He's like, I don't have seasonal depression anymore.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's 70 degrees, sunny every single day. We're literally three minutes from the ocean. Like, yeah, of course you're chilling. I mean, we joke about that, but it couldn't be more real no it's fucking real dude yeah it's real i don't think people that don't live here or midwestish whatever that people don't understand it yeah no when it's just gray skies at all times like was i think grand rapids like set a record it was like over a month uh where they didn't see the sun yeah well some news report

where it was like the last 30 days it was like 0.01 percent of the time there was that's like there's no way i'm good man yeah all right we're we're the countdown is on though the countdown is on countdown's on yeah we've got tailg on. The countdown is on. Yeah. We've got tailgates coming up. We've got spring sports coming up. Spring football is coming up. Spring football is coming up.

Football, yeah. I mean, we're, what, two months away from spring game? Yeah. It's coming up here. We're starting to do some planning. So it's like there's some things on the horizon here, which means that I think that like spring practice starts probably a couple weeks a couple weeks yeah well yeah probably it'll be in march i think it'll be like early march mid-march something like that

yeah i see the fellows are getting after it though in the conditioning right now so that's good yeah yeah man they're they're they're hungry they are super hungry um and some of these some of these new guys are awesome too so it's i think i said this before like it's really incredible how we just keep getting good people in that building i don't understand it i mean culture builds culture. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. All right. Sounds good. Well, hey, Michigan Hoops, don't let us get hot, baby.

Don't let us get hot. Don't let me get bought back in, man. That's the real thing. It's like they're reeling me back in, and I just know what that means. Know what that means. But Ohio State at home on Sunday, hey, we're bluing it out. Blew out the Buckeyes. Shout out Linfield, you know, leading that maze rage. So it better be a good environment on Sunday.

Killing it. Go get your – bars are open at 11, right, on Sunday, 11 a.m., noon, something. You can go – Got to be. At least brunch. Yeah, there's brunch spots and stuff go get some early on go get go get some bottomless mimosas head to chrysler and let's beat beat the

shit out of ohio it's the first weekend after dry january so people are going to be letting after it i know dude i haven't i haven't drank since january 2nd i was about to say should we just do a tailgate for the ohio state basketball game Michigan-Ohio State basketball game? I'm absolutely down. Yeah, I won't be back from shredding the slopes. Skiing every weekend, dude. Yeah, I mean, I shred the night. I'm all about the pow. Do you hear a hurt when you snowboard?

Or is it just like snow pants and then you just have to hide? I usually am robed and I just go. That's why I asked. I was like, I assume that's what you have. You're going to have to blur that out. NSFW tag on this. I know. I wish you had more chest hair.

I don't have any chest hair. You're smooth like a baby. Yeah. This seems like I'm revealing too much. That's okay. This is going off the rails. We are, right? If this is going off the rails, This seems like I'm revealing too much. Some might say not. This is going off the rails. We are, right?

Oh, if this is going off the rails, then I don't know what to call some of our other podcasts. Yeah, we've had some rough ones. I was thinking about that today. I was just like, man, we've come a long way. We've really toned. Tanner, like, wait, we should actually do, like, a listen to some of our first podcasts.

That would be fun. Those COVID ones, man. I mean, I'm not kidding you. I would finish the six-pack of beer in 40 minutes. And there was nothing to do. It was like March of 2020, and everything in the world was shut down. And we're like, let's talk Michigan football. And all right, let's do it and we wasted it it was like noon on a tuesday oh yeah i gotta go on a run later bro like low-key terrible times but also like kind of fun

you know kind of being stuck like doesn't shit to have shit to do. Drink. Watch movies. I don't know. I've said it before, but I won't say it again. But, yes, I agree. I agree with you. I agree. You know, I was like, the only thing I was worried about was

trying to figure out how I get unemployment at that point. Dude, yeah, that was a mess for a while. Yeah. Shit was crashing. I didn't know. I say that as a guy who didn't have any like stress about job so like my bad to anybody who did but like i i don't i mean did not mean to be insensitive but just like the you know just kind of like a snow day vibe all the fucking time it's white guys hard dude it's okay dude stop i'm trying to buy a house bro i can't even look at ann arbor they like the realtors are like It's white guys hard, dude. It's okay. Dude, stop, dude. Stop.

I'm trying to buy a house, bro. I can't even look at Ann Arbor. The realtors are like, no. Yeah, dude. It's too much. They're like, Ann Arbor's tough. You inquire and they're like, dude, come on. Like, you really?

Well, then I see like property taxes in Washington. I'm just like, God damn, bro. Yeah, dude. It's the stuff that sneaks up on you. Yeah, we're going to live. I don't know. We're going to find somewhere. You want to know what, like, and then they said that there was record applications at Michigan for this round.

Sure, that won't have any results on housing. Yeah. All right. I love it that Michigan's on the up and up, but as somebody who lives in the area, it's not easy. Us counties, man. We can't keep up.

I know. Alright, well, we'll check back in with you guys next week. You can follow us at Blue by 90 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blue by 90 Podcast on YouTube and blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue.

I almost fell. You just rolled that shit off. That was fucking incredible. Let's go.