MICHIGAN MEN'S BASKETBALL- '23 -'24 Season.

[THE_WIZARD_]

There are two takes: the M homer take and everyone else.

[froot loops]

Chuck Daly never hit anyone, he had loads of composure. Getting mad because someone called a timeout when you are pressing their scrubs is not composure, it's stupid. Again, he shouldn't be fired but his actions were stupid as shit. All of a sudden you are rationalizationing it.

[lineygoblue]

There are two takes: the M homer take and everyone else.

There are two types of men. Those who sire male children, and those who don't.

so shaddup already

[THE_WIZARD_]

There are two types of men. Those who sire male children, and those who don't.

so shaddup already

Touche'

Now STFU before I roundhouse you liney.

Liney:

hello

Liney:

Don't hate me because I make you laugh. Do what most people do...hate me in general.

Liney:

"...we may never pass this way again..."

[lineygoblue]

Okay. You got a deal. I'll hate you in general, from now on.

.. and really? Seals and Crofts?

... well, at least its not Leo Sayer.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...you are my Summer Breeze...and my Diamond Girl...cuz you sure do shine...

now STFU

[lineygoblue]

You really know how to shut down a conversation ... no comments since yesterday evening?

ye gads ...

[hack]

So...

1. I support the university throwing the book at Juwan. Add to the length of the suspension the conference announces. Mandate anger management courses, or whatever. Maybe not necessarily for Terrence Williams, who took a sucker punch from a Wisconsin player and physical aggression from two Wisconsin assistant, but something like that could be applied to Juwan and to Diabate. I don't know that you can fire Juwan without triggering a massive uproar, but that's in point #4.

2. The most direct comparison to Woody Hayes is what two Wisconsin assistants did to two Michigan players, Williams and Faulds. Now, with the benefit of a fully Zaprudered video, it looks pretty damn bad for Wisconsin too. Does Juwan deserve the worst of it? He'd just watched a Wisconsin assistant push two of his players, and hard enough to move them back half a foot or so? The situation was calming down when that happened. Wisconsin coaches triggered this episode not once, but twice. None of that makes what Juwan did OK or suggests any less of a punishment, but certainly Wisconsin's statement yesterday appears to suggest that they think it's OK for their coaches to get physically aggressive with opposing players. Bottom line for me is that a University of Michigan I can be proud of treats Juwan like he does, in fact, deserve the worst punishment, even if that's not the case. Maybe Wisconsin is OK with that they did; that is Wisconsin's problem. But Michigan's problem is that this simply can't happen again. There needs to be deterrence, and some sort of contrition. Eli Brooks deserves better in his final year, but so does every player who controlled themselves in the thick of it.

3. Warde just isn't cut out for this job. Judging from the response today compared to, say, last year's Covid shutdown, it looks to me that either the athletic department does not have a proper communications-crisis plan or doesn't know how to follow it. That plan should address in advance whether to put the guy in front of a mike ten minutes after something like that, or pay the fine and keep him out of that press conference. The SID or whomever travels with the team in that role needed to know to consult the crisis plan or get on the phone to Warde immediately and get guidance. Any properly paid comms/PR professional could have anticipated something like this -- Juwan got in an altercation with Turg last year and gave a bogus excuse, and Juwan is not smooth in front of media. If the AD doesn't have such a comms/PR professional in house, they should have a PR firm on retainer. Just one more piece of evidence that it's not a properly-run AD. It is way beyond time to put some systems in place here.

4. Lastly, as for firing Juwan, there are some precedents available to us that show what a can of worms that might be. Mark Few got 3 games for a DUI. Izzo interfered in a criminal investigation. I really hope we can get through this without race being an issue. It's 2022 in America so that's probably too much to ask, and maybe there are indeed racial undertones here, but unless we know more, injecting race seems to be a choice and not a necessity.

[Mike]

I'm sure the university will do their worst. How fitting that Mary Sue is back in charge.

[hack]

Broken institutions.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I think they should let Coach Turgeon of Maryland administer the penalty for HOWARD!!!!!

[Mike]

You mean "former coach of Maryland". He was fired 3 games into the season.

[hack]

I think they should ponder what it means to have acted so incredibly stupid that even The Wizard has sensible things to say. You have to try HARD to be that stupid. Can't be an accident.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I love you man.

[hack]

I love other people. And some things. Also, there are some places, concepts and ideas that I love. You're not near the top of the list.


Mostly though, I'm just regretting last year. That loss to UCLA felt like house money at the time, but chrissakes what a lost opportunity in retrospect, because I doubt he's here for a very long time. My bet is that the real outcome here is that Juwan's time in college just ends up being shorter than it otherwise might have been. He may just be not a good fit in college. He remains one of the most beloved and respected figures around the NBA, so why deal with Greg Gard trolling you? Stan Van Gundy is being pretty blunt about that kind of stuff on twitter right now.

One thing clear about Juwan is that he's an excellent Xs/Os guy, and probably a very good coach in other areas too, as we're learning more about him. Not the perfect coach, and legit roster construction issues this year that may be long-term issues or just growing pains, but he's got Xs/Os chops that any NBA team wants. And it's a world in which he's just going to be more comfortable, and respected. He will have a shot at a head coach job in the NBA if he wants it. And maybe we'll learn that he's better off as an assistant due to his temperment. But his dream was to be an NBA head coach and he will have that shot.