The Wolverine

March 2019

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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On the continued emergence of junior center Jon Teske … • I'm seeing a lot of ridiculous com- plaining about Jon Teske. Teske is a GREAT center. He is elite defensively and the people who don't recognize that aren't watching everything. On top of Teske's elite defense, take a look at his conference numbers going into the Feb. 16 against Maryland: 29.5 minutes per game 10.7 points per game 7.1 rebounds per game 2.1 blocks per game 54.8 field-goal percentage 38.7 three-point percentage He is one of the best centers in the conference. Anybody upset about him being our center is way off the mark. hailtoyourvictor • Teske is our MVP. If Michigan wins the conference he should be consid- ered for Player of the Year. johnmo • He has turned into quite a good college center and is even better in the Michigan system. And he has another full year at UM to continue to get bet- ter — maybe he will get a shot at the NBA with more development. I'm excited to see him continue to get better as well. Everyone loves Jon; he's a great team player, simple as that. It would be nice if there was a solid option behind him that could give big Jon another five minutes of bench/rest time per game, but there just isn't that at the moment … which makes him even more valuable to this team. Elway4u2nv • He and junior point guard Zavier Simpson are the centerpieces of one of the best defenses in college basket- ball. He's really our only inside pres- ence (Charles Matthews' contribution is more in his perimeter work against top opponent personnel). He also runs damn fine pick-and-roll, and his pick-and-pop is a minimum B/ B+. The only player you could argue is more valuable is Simpson. His glass fin- ish is superb, if he could add a few low most moves, he'd be a bona fide NBA center. He still has a season left. After the growth we've seen from just last season to this one, who is ruling out anything? I was terrified of life after Moe Wag- ner. Teske's awesome. ishen • I personally think he's what makes this team go. When he's in foul trouble or having an off night, we struggle big time. mdgoblue On the early signing period and it basically replacing the traditional National Signing Day af ter two cycles … • I hate the long time period until the February signing day. Made it harder to hold onto athletes, so I like the early signing period in December for that reason. But it definitely takes away from the fun that took place in February. ARS1xteen • I'm a big fan of it. I love having NSD in December to break up the dead zone between the conference championship games and the real bowl games. LanceGoBlue13 • It's better for the coaches who want to secure their class. And it's better for 95 percent of the kids who have al- ready made their decisions. Just not as exciting for followers of this industry. VictorVal • The recruiting hoopla has moved to December. The transfer portal has re- placed February for excitement. Febru- ary is now almost irrelevant and is just another day to fill the recruiting class. vtwinryder • We locked down some kids that might have flipped had we not signed them in December. Especially with all the assis- tant coaching changes. See Chris Hinton and his reaction of [former defensive line coach] Greg Mattison leaving. umswag22 • I think we might see the pendulum swing back to February fairly quickly. Yes, the early signing period has some appeal, and there will be guys in every class who will want to sign in Decem- ber. But I think there will be a backlash as well, as coaches come and go. Play- ers will not want to feel like they don't have the same options. onlyawolverine • I like having it wrapped up early. I think there are a lot of benefits. One, if a position coach leaves the player is already signed. Two, if a player chooses not to sign in December the coaches might have a better idea if they need to look around. Lastly, it gives you the last couple months to focus on a few select recruits or to start into the next class. armichigan • I prefer the old way … one signing day and in February. National Signing Day was the ONLY thing in February we had to look forward and they stole it from us! To have it only a week before Christ- mas is a travesty! It almost gets lost in the Holiday shuffle. RHT47 On the women's basketball team after a 70-56 win at Illinois Feb. 17 … • The women's basketball team just picked up their sixth straight win. Il- linois hung around for a while, but ultimately once Michigan decided that they were just going to relentlessly attack the basket and use their size, Illinois had no chance. If the season ended today, Michigan would have a very high probability of be- ing in the NCAA Tournament. If they beat Rutgers Feb. 21, they're probably just one win away from being definitely in. Several Michigan players appear to be peaking at the right time. Up until three games ago, sophomore forward Hallie Brown was under 30 percent on the year from three, but in the last three games she is, I believe, 11 of 15 from down- town. Junior guard Akienreh Johnson, junior forward Kayla Robbins and soph- omore guard Deja Church have all been much more effective lately too (Robbins had one of her best games in a Michigan uniform against Illinois). ImissMichigan   FROM OUR READERS From Our Website MARCH 2019 THE WOLVERINE 5 tainty that I see in the coming weeks is that the remainder of the season will not be easy. So one hopes that the team does not look ahead. Fulfill the cliché that says "play one game at a time" until the last tick of the clock. I would welcome the opportunity to avoid the doldrums right up to and including April 8, 2019. How- ever, know that Michigan fans every- where support your effort, whatever the ultimate outcome. Go Blue! J. Richard Jaconette, M.D. Battle Creek, Mich.

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