Zach Massat

Wow I am an idiot

Whenever you have the opportunity to take a timeout to halt your own 16-2 run and sub in daniss Jenkins for your sharpshooter, you just gotta do it. Thanks JB!

@KuKhahil We will see 8 minutes on the dot because Duren needs his allotted 16 minutes per half

I don’t know how much more Isaiah Stewart we’re gonna see in the 2nd half.

@WorldWideWob @JonesOnTheNBA @jjmaples55 Imagine a Thompson twin in Denver. IMO the rockets/pistons' respective rosters are causing most of the discussion, not the Thompson twins themselves

@JonesOnTheNBA @jjmaples55 The Thompson kids are a great case study because they’re both on teams with extremely limited outside shooting. If you put one of them on Boston, I’d love to see how the dynamic changes for them but also how their mere presence affects the catch & shoot guys’ quality of looks.

If the Thompson twins had no basketball feel they'd be out the league. They can't shoot, their basketball feel is what's keeping them on the floor right now

@DavidKopin50979 @KuKhahil He's 22 dude, the level he showed us this season is so far ahead of schedule for a center. I hope we don't max him too but if the other option is let him walk I prefer we don't do that. One playoff series shouldn't cause you to kick a player to the curb

@Zmassat @KuKhahil No. No. No. You cannot pay that stiff 50 million. Absolutely not. He can't even score on his own and is getting flexed by players making 20 mil.

I know it’s a frustrating and disappointed community, trust me I’m a big part of it. I’m already seeing stupid shit said about the future of Detroit by those outside. Removing the frustration from this series, what’s very likely to happen this summer is Trajan Langdon will aggressively rebuild a team around Cade/AT/Duren that fills the needs/weaknesses that they need filled that were shown in this series. That’s what he has said the plan is for a year+ now. And honestly, anyone that is suggesting that, while a disappointing one, a 60 win team that was led by a 24/23/22 year olds in their first real season being this good should move on from any of them after their first ever playoff series is incredibly short sighted and has lost the plot. And really just downright dumb.

@KuKhahil The ONLY thing I disagree with here is that duren signs for cheap. He's 22 and played at an all NBA level this year - I fear that if we don't offer him a max somebody else will. We should resign him anyways

Depending on how game 5 or if they pull of a miracle (very much doubt), I think it’s likely what actually happens is Duren ends up signing for much less than what was reported. AT will be the harder one to negotiate with because outside of game 4, he’s been great and could have another good game in game 5. If he plays well game 5, I doubt you get a scam contract. But, if he has a tough one, you might get him on a scam contract, too. And then you head into next season with another year of development for AT/Duren, but after also aggressively filling in the gaps they need around them. Seems like the very obvious, clear route they’ll take.

@PatrickBattle18 Sabonis? Be fr

JD sell-high for a huge haul is the pipe dream. More realistically, move Tobias/Ron/1sts to get a true #2. Sabonis/Lauri/Kawhi/Book would all be good options if the price & ability is right.

@peterrhague Blue/red aside this is just bad analysis of the groups voting on this poll lol. It takes 0 effort to click a button to vote, and (imo) the instinctual answer is obviously blue

It’s also worth noting that red voters have a stronger personal need to be vindicated in this scenario (look at the replies…) and so are probably more motivated to vote in this poll.

Amazing how lots of self appointed game theory experts confidently asserting that blue is the stupid choice. But every time this poll is run blue wins. Not only is the “game theory” answer predicting the wrong outcome, its explanatory power is based on it being able to predict the right answer. So it’s doubly wrong.

@PatrickBattle18 It's amazing how everything is his fault. Not even being sarcastic

This man is a narcoterrorist

@itsAntWright I think that Florida thinks that Aberdeen is going to get that 5th year

Haugh is back… 3rd or 4th player I’ve seen who could’ve gone 1st round, colleges are beating out post lottery rookie salaries Is Alex Lloyd the answer to partner with Boogie Fland? Need another guard but still preseason #1 after being a 1 seed who returns four best players

@Breaking57 Holy shit dude is this your first offseason? Dudes just won us a national championship and are making the most important decision of their lives, they can take whatever time they'd like. P.S. Mara isn't coming back and you're delusional to think so

Mara and Johnson you're hurting the program now please make a decision. sorry but someone got to call them out on this

@SectionVR @WolverineCorner @sbell021 Exactly. I paid to watch basketball games. It cost $75 to get into the national championship game lol, the price point pretty insane to watch some dudes yuck it up and raise a banner in the rafters

@Zmassat @WolverineCorner @sbell021 You just got to watch the most basketball games we could possibly play 😭

The discourse about today’s Crisler attendance is dumb. It was a ticketed event designed to raise NIL $$$. Given the price point, I’m certain it was a fundraising success. The parade presented a great chance for all to celebrate for free. I’m cool w/ multiple celebration tiers.

@bodhiwannabe @sbell021 If I'm paying to see a basketball game that's entirely different

@Zmassat @sbell021 You would have to because normally they do it at a game the next season

@WolverineCorner @sbell021 At least I get to see a basketball game too!

@Zmassat @sbell021 If they would have waited to raise the banner for an elite beginning of the year game next season like they usually do, you woulda had to pay more!

@DavisMoseley Those who thought Morez was coming back were always delusional

in full transparency - kind of telling

@jjsob35 @DavisMoseley Yes

@DavisMoseley Curious, is it a given Mara goes pro?

IF you are able to hold onto Morez Johnson G - Elliot Cadeau G - Trey McKenney W - F - Morez Johnson C - Guys like Brandon McCoy, Quinn Costello coming in. Oscar Goodman could move into the rotation. Rumors of Blackwell, Byrd, Sherrell, etc what’s the lineup projection?

@BuriedTreys It seems like nothing matters. Go blue

@Zmassat Kind of what I was alluding to when discussing Tennessee's closeout ability. They're a dangerous unit to play against when you've been over expectation from 3, because they're always one of the best in the country in defending the 3P line better than expectation

Tennessee / Michigan (Chicago) Tennessee did have a pretty favorable draw on the way to this E8 game, but to their credit, have strung together really solid b2b offensive outings against two stout defenses in Iowa St & Virginia. The Vols entered the tournament 3-8 S/U vs T25 competition prior to those two wins. They currently sit at 301st in Paper Tiger Factor & 247thAway From Home. Michigan’s scare against Alabama was nearly identical to Zona’s last night. Hot-shooting 3P team takes lead into the half but wilts down the stretch under the physicality and pacing. Michigan outscored Bama 43-28 in the 2H to pull out the cover. Remember when Michigan was absolutely steamrolling early in non-con play? From the start of the season through Christmas, Wolverines shot 38.9% from 3 as they compiled one of the gaudiest analytical rankings through two months of the season that I can remember in a long time. Those were the days when Michigan beat Auburn by 30, San Diego St by 40, and then the Gonzaga dismembering in the finals of Player’s Era. Have you seen Michigan’s 3P shooting the last 3 games? 11-24, 11-23, 13-27. That is 35-74 (47%). Let me explain something very clearly: if this Michigan team is going to shoot anywhere even NEAR 40% from 3, much less 47%, they are going to woodshed damn near anybody that gets put in front of them. Just no way around that when you are the best 2-way rim unit in the country Their 3P shooting gets more interesting when you factor the difference between Tennessee closing out on your perimeter shooters compared to Howard, SLU, and Bama. Love me some SLU, love me some Bama…ain’t nobody confusing them with the Vols defensively. Tennessee is annually one of these teams who run seemingly ‘hot’ in 3PD%, but like Houston, I tend to buy the closeout length & aggressiveness playing over expectation when you show up on that list every year. There are a couple aspects of the Vols’ scheme that can cause Michigan problems. Michigan is probably the best transition attack in the country, but Tennessee drags games into the mud and is typically an elite transition denial defense, even though they are technically 67th percentile in FB pts per 100 which is leaker than past years. They play really compact schematically on the defensive end, and they typically tend to force teams to hit perimeter shots over their length + frenetic closeouts. You let Michigan run and/or get to the rim, and you’re DOA, so Vols do matchup decently there We also know about Tennessee’s best source of offense, the offensive glass. They just grabbed over 50% of their misses against an ISU team who I noted in a previous write-up having defensive rebounding issues, especially against better competition. Of all the ‘jumbo’ sized teams, Michigan is actually the most gettable on the defensive glass (compared to UF/Zona) because they are so hell-bent on pushing the ball up the floor that sometimes they can be a little bit vulnerable on the defensive glass. When you get to the other side of the ball, it starts to look a tad bit different in terms of how Tennessee’s offense can hold up against the length of Michigan’s defense. Tennessee is 11th in Haslam Near Proximity Frequency while being 329th in 3PRate. They’re actually a pretty poor math ball team when you don’t take many 3’s but also surrender a lot. Nearly everything is created through Gillespie and Ament, they have the army of bigs grabbing misses, and a couple off-ball guards to provide SOME spacing. Being rim-reliant against Michigan is about as bad a recipe as it gets, especially when you also don’t utilize the 3P line offensively. Both these teams have kicked it around plenty this year as they ranked 14th and 15th in the SEC in TO% during conference play. We thought Michigan would be a better turnover defense, but their numbers against B10 opponents were night and day compared to the noncon stuff. Tennessee also won't force the issue on that front, which has been one way that inferior teams have run Michigan down to the wire Think I would prefer a Vols tt under compared to a full game under just with the way Michigan is shooting and the volume of perimeter shots the Vols allow. The other side of that coin is that if Michigan reverts back to being a more mediocre 3P shooting team, that game total could cruise A bet on Tennessee would be a bet on Michigan's 3P shooting regressing to the mean (or ideally worse), and that they have success on the offensive glass with probably a massive game from one of their 2 dudes. I think the Vols frontcourt has a chance to play through the chest of Mara, and you probably need to get one of those bigs in foul trouble A bet on Michigan has plenty of ways to get there. If they just limit Tennessee's 2nd chance opportunities, the Vols may not be able to keep up in the scoring column. Continue the hot 3P shooting? Then tt or spread alts probably have some viability Tend to think this is a better assist spot than scoring spot for Gillespie with the way Michigan will show size on ball screens, but he could also get up a fair number of 3's in this spot. Michigan 3P props might be some of the better spots in this matchup given the absolute war it will be underneath with these two frontcourts and the high Defensive 3PRates that these teams surrender Estrella rebounds was a super trendy play in the ISU game, but he lost minutes even without fouling. Also tough to gauge which of the Tennessee bigs will avoid foul trouble long enough to reach their rebounding props, but their path in this game goes right through the offensive glass, so if you're bullish on the Vols, that's one place to look

@benjamin_chern @goldenpants013 @Sports__Proj Seconding this one

@goldenpants013 @Sports__Proj Would you say that trying to be a professional sportsbettor/PM trader is +EV lifetime in comparison to focusing on traditional career paths? Feels like gambling has low career longevity + it would be hard to pivot to working corporate after losing edge

Looking for some questions for tomorrows podcast. Will be me and @Sports__Proj riding solo. Got a good main topic and some juicy news, we just need some spicy questions to top it off

@MercerHoops @T3Bracketology Kalshi odds pre tournament for any 14/15/16 to win were around 55% NO. Sometimes that will happen! Sometimes it won't. It certainly didn't help that 3-4 elite mid majors were bounced in their conference tournaments this year as well

@Zmassat @T3Bracketology I understand it 🤔 But just to be sure everybody else understands YOU should EXPLAIN

High Point University that had never won a tournament game beat a Wisconsin team with multiple Top 10 road wins and took an Arkansas team with multiple NBA players to the brink… And you think these mid majors will never have a shot at a run again? Give me a break