Michigan beat Ohio State and Wisconsin in Chicago but fell short against Purdue. Dylan and Eric discuss the Big Ten Tournament performance, what went wrong against the Boilermakers and life without LJ Cason, then they dive into Michigan’s NCAA Tournament draw (45:20) with an early look at the opening round and what could lie ahead against Georgia or Saint Louis.
The UM Hoops Podcast · Episode 242 · 1:07:40

Show notes
Michigan beat Ohio State and Wisconsin in Chicago before losing the title game to Purdue. Dylan Burkhardt and Eric Shapiro argue the Purdue loss came from lost one-on-one post battles, not a lasting defensive flaw, and point to transition and offensive rebounding as the real concerns since L.J. Cason's injury.
They then turn to the bracket. Michigan awaits the Howard-UMBC winner, with Georgia or Saint Louis likely next, and the hosts discuss the coaching ties between the staffs, the other teams in the region, and what to watch from Michigan this weekend in Buffalo.
- big ten tournament
- purdue
- l.j. cason
- transition
- ncaa tournament draw
- post defense
- saint louis
- georgia
Worth hearing
35:44 · Post-ups, tempo and the fix
“And if you get from 6 transition points a game to 15, 18, 20, the offense is suddenly going to look a lot better.”
Dylan Burkhardt
22:52 · Life without L.J. Cason
“I think I would look to the lack of transition and the lack of offensive rebounding as the actual areas where this team hasn’t been at its best.”
Dylan Burkhardt
8:15 · How worried to be after Chicago
“I think you have to unwind all of that, understand that they basically played 5 games since winning the Big Ten title outright. It’s not really like a do or die situation, and I think that’ll reset over time.”
Dylan Burkhardt
43:56 · Guard minutes and the Purdue two-man game
“Purdue kind of like dominated them both physically but also like schematically, I thought, where Yax would start every possession on Braden Smith and Michigan switching 1 through 4.”
Eric Shapiro
39:36 · Guard minutes and the Purdue two-man game
“I think Trey McKenney is clearly the best offensive player of the 3 of those. So playing him more minutes seems like a simple thing.”
Eric Shapiro
Prediction46:28 · Howard or UMBC in the first round
“I think they would much rather play UMBC. I think they play more straight up and in a traditional type of way that makes it for like a potentially easier prep.”
Eric Shapiro
1:04:23 · Bracket outlook and Alabama
“Alabama to me is scary. I don’t care if you like— They can beat anyone if they play well, and I know they can lose to anyone and they don’t play defense.”
Dylan Burkhardt
4:24 · How worried to be after Chicago
“I think the Ohio State game was 4 points at half and then the other 2 were tied at halftime.”
Eric Shapiro
Chapters
- Opening and Big Ten Tournament overview
- How worried to be after Chicago
- What went wrong against Purdue
- Life without L.J. Cason
- Post-ups, tempo and the fix
- Guard minutes and the Purdue two-man game
- Howard or UMBC in the first round
- Georgia and Saint Louis, the 8-9 game
- Dusty May's tone and what to watch
- Bracket outlook and Alabama
Games discussed
- Michigan vs. Howard W 101-80
- Michigan vs. Ohio State W 71-67
- Michigan vs. Wisconsin W 68-65
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Join the conversation · 25 replies on the forum
The conversation
25 repliesJoin the discussionDavis104
I’m going to listen to this podcast as many times as Purdue set a Moving Screen ™ and it went uncalled
steve
You’ll finish right around the time that Michigan’s first round game tips off.
bobohle
They just have to play on both ends with intensity. They have to know they will get the opponent’s best shot keep the foot on the pedal. You know you are the hunted please play like it.
bmcarteruiuc
I was reading through this and found some of this pretty interesting:
While there were undoubtedly quite a few moving screens from Purdue – hip checks, chicken wings, leaning, etc. – I also found 35.6 interesting. That ended up being the way Yax and some others tried to fight through those screens, and none of that was called, either.
Also, today I learned you can’t set two side-by-side screens parallel with a boundary line unless you’re more than 6 feet away.
DMB43
@umhoops Purdue takes