This Week’s Obsession: Alpaca Teams Outta Nowhere

I admit I didn’t imagine flautists in late March either. [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

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The Question:

Most surprising team to make a championship run, or most surprising player to be really good.

Brian: Cato June.

Ace: Stevie Brown.

Brian: Brown was pretty good as a senior as a proto-viper.

Seth: Ryan Mundy if we're going there.

Ace: All the safeties! Anyway, this basketball team is rather surprising, too.

Brian: I swear to god I will turn this post around and go home right now.

Seth: Brandent Englemon! Charles Drake! Jon Shaw! Willis Barring...I'm sorry what were we talking about?

Brian: I hate us.

Ace: SO, ZAVIER SIMPSON.

Seth: He could play safety.

BiSB: Has a certain Ray Vinopal quality to him.

Seth: They really did ask Don Brown this week if he'd take Z on defense and for a second his eyes lit up like "nickel..?"

Brian: Yeah, I don't think this team is as out there as some other contenders.

Ace: They’re pretty out there! This is a Beilein team that can’t really shoot that well.

The Mathlete: We literally wondered if they were a tournament caliber team during a potential championship season.

Ace: Midway through!

Brian: I mean, it's a weird configuration for a good team but I think that after the UCLA and Texas games the worst we thought was "second round exit," which... uh...

Ace: I’m on the optimistic side of Beilein hoops always and I was so damn worried about RPI.

Brian:

[After THE JUMP: Other things that went very differently than you thought this basketball season would go after Maui.]

--------------------------------------

Ace: The outlook after Maui was kinda bleak. Even just from a scheduling standpoint, and the team didn’t look so hot then.

Brian: Football is different because you don't really get mulligans. Maui in football means you don't get to play for a title.

Season saved. [MG]

Seth: Unless it’s Ohio State losing to Virginia Tech.

Ace: What’s the win streak up to now? I don’t think it’s just that this team got to the Final Four, it’s how they got there.

Seth: Back to Maui, they lost to LSU and we were all talking about finding wins that'll let them play in the tournament. We didn't say they had to sweep UCLA/Texas but we said if they didn't they'd have to do something crazy like beat MSU at Breslin or go on a deep run in the BTT, and given Purdue and MSU this year that's not gonna happen.

Ace: Yeah, we were NOT looking forward to MSU. That said, once the defense really kicked in around then, the thought of a very deep run did creep into the back of my mind. And work its way rather quickly towards the front.

BiSB: When an overtime home win over a not-quite-top-50 UCLA team “saves your season,” your version of “saved” does not include a Final Four.

Seth: Then there was the end of the Purdue game. We've lost the track of this question but I'm still trying to think back to when it flipped from "damn we needed to get that feather" to imagining how we match up with Villanova.

Brian: Second MSU win.

Ace: I think the BTT is when it really flipped from “team that matches up well with MSU” to “team that’s flat-out better than MSU.”

Hello, mind-meld.

BiSB: In terms of teams making a realistic NCAA run, this is up there with anything. But I would argue that the 2011-2012 share of the Big Ten regular season title was more surprising.

Seth: In that Big Ten.

Ace: Thank you for bringing up another team. That one is way up there.

Seth: Michigan State and Ohio State finished #2 and #3 in Kenpom. Wisconsin and Indiana were in the top 10.

lol this happened and Michigan won. [Eric Upchurch]

Brian: Hardaway took the most threes on the team and made 28%

Ace: Draymond Green and Jared Sullinger were in the league and Michigan started Zack Novak at the four.

Plus a not-yet-fully-salty Jordan Morgan at center.

Evan Smotrycz played half the minutes.

Seth: ...at CENTER

BiSB: Michigan basically played 6 guys.

Ace: Matt Vogrich was the seventh.

He was a glorified towel-waver/bassist the next year.

Brian: Michigan beat MSU because they shot 71% from two

Ace: Izzo had Draymond and that happened.

The most game-changing defensive player of this generation.

BiSB: They played such a short rotation that they broke KenPom. See their 8th most common lineup:

Ace: J-BART TAKEOVER

Seth: You know a Sparty brought up losing to Ohio this week?

Brian: Green played as a 4 next to Nix and Payne so he was just a regular ass power forward in college.

Ace: Well yeah but that’s kinda the problem, right? Also Payne/Green should’ve been DOMINANT.

Brian: Anyway, first Big Ten title since 1986 with 6'4" power forward probably wins for all sports. This year's hockey team has a case but it also has Quinn Hughes so it can't be as surprising. Also the hockey tournament is very very random.

BiSB: Also, Hockey Plinko

yeah, that

Ace: lol, just deleted the same thing.

Brian: If they'd won the regular season title that would have been an incredible shock. Getting in the tourney and winning a couple games is not on the same level. Although I should mention that Michigan was probably one of the worst teams in the country last year except for their goaltending.

Seth: We'd better bring up 1997 then.

Ace: yes, 1997. ‘M’ stands for ‘Mediocre’

Seth: If you're a Michigan fan above a certain age you still hear "four-loss seasons" in your nightmares.

Ace: Four-loss seasons, quarterback uncertainty, unproven coach, lack of a true star running back, no top-flight wideout…

Brian: Michigan was ranked 14th in the preseason AP poll in 1997, FWIW.

Ace: They started a JuCo transfer at receiver!

Michigan!

Seth: Fred Jackson was the OC in 1996.

Ace: Finish your drinks. The quarterback’s most notable moment was bashing through the window at Skeeps?

Brian: Michigan did have Tai Streets coming off a 700-yard season as a true sophomore.

Ace: Streets was good but I’d say he’s way down on the list of #1 receivers before The Bad Times.

Seth: It's not like we believed they'd throw it to him anyway. The cool kids back before the spread were three-wide and shotgun passing fanatics.

Ace: That team did need a historically good defense. It’s not like they blew everyone out.

BiSB: #14 had to be among the lowest Michigan had been ranked in the preseason in quite some time

Brian: I don't know if that's pro-1997 in this conversation or anti-.

Ace: Pro.

BiSB: It was more unexpected than a top-15 ranking would suggest.

Seth: It wasn't really #14 if recall so much as a split between voters who always put Michigan in the Top 5 because it's Michigan, and people who were paying attention and saw a program in decline and sharing a conference with monsters.

Ace: What was the spread of the PSU game? And by then Michigan had proven to at least be quite good. I know it wasn’t M -26.

Brian: We should probably throw in the 2011 basketball team here. From 1-6 in the Big Ten and When Can We Fire This Guy to being one Darius Morris floater from OT with Duke in the second round.

BiSB: Most surprising run to respectability.

Ace: Also had the GTFOOC win over MSU.

Brian: Also the Shawn Hunwick year in hockey.

BiSB: Hunwick has to be a candidate for Individual Alpaca Of The Year.

Brian: Hunwick has the two highest season save percentages in Michigan history and had the North Dakota game. He is the all time alpaca, any sport.

That's the equivalent of Brent Hibbits turning into Moe Wagner.

Ace: I remember seeing him come in early on and seeing absolutely no way he could be good. Too small, way too far out of the net, no way this is sustainable.

Seth: Spike Albrecht's national championship game has to get mentioned for single-game alpacas. How were you feeling when they called two quick cheapos on Trey?

Ace: Not great, Bob.

Different kind of alpaca-out-of-nowhere but McGary vs. Syracuse was so, so fun for a talented player showing off a new trick.

BiSB: I know we expected things from Denard Robinson, but Early 2010 Denard Robinson was beyond anyone's wildest expectations

Ace: That UConn game was face-melting.

also watch Omameh

Brian: Yes, the introduction to Denard period was electric.

BiSB: And the Notre Dame game the next week

Ace: Talk about a running style that’s alpaca-out-of-nowhere, too.

Brian: uh

this is a bad one

but Brady Hoke's first year

BiSB: Similar Sophomore leap for Trey Burke, too

Ace: Burke showed a lot as a freshman, though. That was the more unexpected bit to me.

I’m pretending Brian’s thing didn’t happen.

Seth: I think we've burned all the roundtables from HTTV 2012 after the Hoke Poops Gold year but just in case I'll go through my storage room again.

Ace: PRETENDING IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, I SAID.

BiSB: Ace is already texting in all-caps.

Seth: Okay well one thing that happened in there: J.T. Floyd.

BiSB: The Hoke: it appears with a quickness.

Brian: Remember the point at which his first recruiting class had Damien Harris and George Campbell in it?

Ace: Why are we doing this I wrote these hello posts?

BASKETBALL

JORDAN POOLE

slackbot:

Ace: JOHN BEILEIN AND LAWNMOWERS

Brian: I'm just saying as far as Alpaca events go, Brady Hoke Outrecruits Saban is a good one. And a bad one.

Ace: PONCHOS AND WATER BOTTLES

Brian: A temporary one.

Ace:

Seth: J.T. Floyd y'all. The guy who wasn't on the screen in the All-22 on any given coverage play to "here's this list of 1,000 yard receivers he's shut down."

Brian: I still appreciate Junior Hemingway after the Sugar Bowl.

Ace: Okay, I’ll give you that.

BiSB: Late Season Jack Rudock needs a shout-out here

Ace: Yooooooooooo, yes.

Ace: Mike Hart? Can I get a Mike Hart?

Brian:

attn: Alanis
re: irony

you gotta check out Ace adopting Brady Hoke's texting approach to protest Brady Hoke

Ace: ugh

Nobody asked “who dis?” at least, so I’ve got that going for me.

Brian:<deletes half-finished sentence in huff>

BiSB: I would have preferred "can you type a little louder, I can't hear you," but "who is this" was acceptable.

Seth: The thing about Mike Hart: he was juuuuuuust below a four-star. He's between Brandon Minor and O'Maury Samuels in my all-time recruiting database, but people remember his a "3-star" because Rivals and Scout made their databases searchable.

BiSB: He also ran for a billion yards in high school. Just against crappy competition.

Ace: I mean we were excited about The Run but David Underwood was the clear starter and then this hilariously slow dude was running for a gazillion yards. I don’t think we were seriously considering “most productive back in school history.”

Seth: Underwood got hurt. And Jerome Jackson/Pierre Rembert got the next chances.

Ace: I know.

BiSB: It was certainly unexpected

Seth: Funny thing about that year is the other freshman, Max Martin, was pretty good too.

Brian: OK top five alpaca individuals for me

1. Hunwick
2. Rudock
3. Simpson
4. Early Denard
5. Hart

Ace: Replace Z with End-of-Senior-Season Derrick Walton for me.

Seth: Wilton Speight?

Ace:…nah.

Brian: ah crap yeah Walton is better. How did we not mention him already? He's #2.

Ace: A very good question. That was an unbelievable run.

BiSB: Praise be unto Maverick Morgan

Seth: Should mention last year for our team list. After that blowout loss to SMU [Edit: I got my SMU games mixed up so let’s change this to when they lost at home to Ohio State because I wrote up that gamer] I can’t say I was ready to wonder if this team was going to hang a Big Ten Tournament banner and send Wilson to the NBA. #TYMM

BiSB: Brian, please leave Simpson off of your list. And then send him the list.

Possibly expand the list to 20 or 30. Include every Michigan point guard for the last decade. And still leave him off.

Ace: You know who really came out of nowhere? Dani Wohl.

sorry sorry I’m trying to delete it

but not really, forward to Zavier, please

Brian: The others merely adopted nowhere. Dani Wohl was born in it, molded by it.

Ace:Nine years ago, guys. I know that’s shameless but it constantly blows my mind.

…

(nobody responds for like half an hour)

…

Ace: Please don’t read anything else on that site.

Seth: I want to throw out a mention for the Rich Maloney baseball teams of 2006-2008 that got me momentarily into Michigan baseball.

Ace: I did seriously look for a Carol Hutchins team to mention but none of her success is ever surprising.

Seth: I'll end with a single-game performance: Lloyd's last Citrus Bowl.

Ace: Also: Lloyd getting carried off by Marques Slocum.

Seth: The enduring vision I have from that game is a weird one: Adrian Arrington catching a ball behind his hip. We were so conditioned by that season to expect only the worst things that going offense for offense with Urban Meyer feels like an alpaca even if it was really that team finally healthy and coached enough to do what they were capable of.