For the sixth episode of the UM Hoops Podcast, we had our engineer back but unfortunately we were down a co-host. Dave Merritt couldn’t be with me but we still managed to record a great show. I was joined by current Michigan basketball captain Josh Bartelstein as well as Chris Vannini from the excellent Michigan State blog The Only Colors.

• With Josh, we addressed some of the difficulties Michigan ran into against Penn State on Wednesday. In rehashing that game, Josh talked about what Penn State did right and what Michigan didn’t do defensively. We also touch upon how important Jordan Morgan is to the team’s continued defensive improvement. Finally, Josh tells us what it’s like mimicking Michigan State on the scout team and what the Wolverines need to do to insure a different outcome than what happened earlier in the season in East Lansing
• Chris Vannini of The Only Colors joins us to talk generally about Michigan State. We tackle the MLive article in which Derrick Nix voiced his perception that Michigan State wasn’t getting the recognition it deserved, as well as some past Michigan-Michigan State match-ups (video of which The Only Colors has been posting on their site). Then, we get into Michigan State’s last two disappointing losses and what the team needs from guys like Keith Appling, Adreian Payne and Gary Harris in order to be successful. Finally, Chris leaves us with a prediction for the game on Sunday in Ann Arbor.

The Music was Madlib. In chronological order: Fancy Clown, Fallin, Killin’ It

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Former Michigan captain Zack Novak and former Michigan Daily senior sports editor, now of the USA Today, Nicole Auerbach were both in town this week, so naturally we decided we had to get them in the studio for a special edition of the UM Hoops Podcast. Dave Merritt, Nicole, Zack and I touched on pretty much every subject under the sun, so this is our longest podcast yet, and it’s largely unedited. We divided up our conversation into three parts:

• We begin by catching up with Zack, and he tells us a bit about life in Zwolle and how his season has gone so far. We then delve into the Michigan’s game against Michigan State and what it was like for Zack to sit in front of the Izzone during the beat down. We talk about what went wrong for Michigan and what the team needs to correct going forward. This video of yours truly in a dunk contest judged by Zack gets a mention.
• In the second segment, we focus a bit more on Michigan as a team. We explore the troubles Glenn Robinson III is going through, as well as the rapid ascension of Mitch McGary. Zack elaborates on just how much he believes Michigan misses the presence of Jordan Morgan down low and what it would mean to have him back at full strength. Nicole tells us about her conversation with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke about their games and development.
• In the third segment, the wheels fall off in the best of ways. We talk about storming the court, bowling, and I think my youth group even gets a brief mention. We do manage to talk briefly about the Big Ten and some teams on the national stage, however.

The music was RJD2, in order: Wylin Out, One Day, Just Think, Big Game. 

You can listen using the embedded media player below, subscribe to the RSS feed, or download the MP3. You can also subscribe via iTunes.

For this podcast we violated, pretty egregiously, John Beilein’s mantra of taking each game as it comes; Dave and I spent the entirety of our conversations with the guests on Michigan’s match-up against Indiana on Saturday. We didn’t get to Wednesday’s game against Northwestern until much later in the show.

• Alex Bozich is co-founder of Inside the Hall, the standard for college basketball blogs and a good friend of the site. Bozich joins us to preview Michigan’s game against the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on Saturday. We discuss individual match-ups, project what sort of pace the game will be played at, and debate who means more to Indiana at this point: Cody Zeller or Victor Oladipo.
• We are then joined by former Michigan basketball coach Bill Frieder. Frieder will be calling the Michigan-Indiana game for Westward One Radio and has been watching Michigan with great interest all season. Frieder talked abut his decision to announce he was leaving Michigan prior to the NCAA Tournament in 1989 a few days ago, so we focused on what he sees out of Michigan and comparing this year’s team to the 1989 National Champions. 
• Finally, Dave and I delve into Michigan’s second game against Northwestern and examine what has changed since the Wolverines played the Wildcats in their first Big Ten game of the season. We also review the Illinois game and talk about the impact of possibly losing Jordan Morgan for an extended period of time.

The music was all Eric B and Rakim, mostly just the instrumentals. We figured we throw it back to the early 90′s in honor of the last time Michigan was ranked No. 1 in the country. In sequential order: Microphone Fiend, Don’t Sweat The Technique, My Melody and Make ‘Em Clap To This.

You can listen using the embedded media player below, subscribe to the RSS feed, or download the MP3. You can also subscribe via iTunes.

It took us a while to get going after the break, but Dave Merritt and I finally got in the studio to record a new podcast. We had a good time and got to talk Michigan’s loss to Ohio State on Sunday as well as look ahead to the Wolverines’ match-up with Minnesota at The Barn. Here’s a quick rundown:

• We kick off by talking with ESPN.com national college basketball writer Myron Medcalf. Medcalf, who worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for four years prior to hooking up with ESPN in 2011, previews Michigan’s game against the Golden Gophers this Thursday.
• Next, former Michigan captain Stu Douglass joins us all the way from Pamplona, Spain. Stu gives us some insight into what he’s seen from the Wolverines so far this season, including what he likes about Nik Stauskas, a fellow lang-range sharpshooter. We also chat about Stu’s experience in Spain and what it’s like playing pro ball. Unfortunately, Stu was cut off due to international calling trickery.
• Dave and I finish things off by further discussing the Ohio State game as well as the progress of the freshmen. Dave sheds light on what he saw from Michigan’s offense against the Buckeyes and possible solutions to playing a defender as great as Aaron Craft.

The music comes from the legendary Pete Rock. In sequential order: Grown Man Sport, Life to Live and Watch Me, which is actually a 9th Wonder and Pete Rock collaboration.

You can listen using the embedded media player below, subscribe to the RSS feed, or download the MP3. You can also subscribe via iTunes.

We’ve recorded the second podcast of the season and it is a good one. We have brought former Michigan basketball captain David Merritt on as a co-host. We’re very excited to have Dave on board as he’ll be joining us in studio throughout the season. Here’s a quick rundown of this episode’s guests:

• Merritt’s former backcourt mate and Michigan’s current Administrative Specialist CJ Lee joins us to talk about the Wolverines’progress so far this season. Lee touches on the development of Nik Stauskas, the challenges that arise when coaching this level of talent and much more.
• Given that Michigan will be squaring off against Arkansas at the Crisler Center on Saturday, we bringt in Bob Holt, the longtime Arkansas beat reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Holt gives us some great insight into which Razorbacks Michigan needs to watch out for Saturday (hint: one of them is BJ Young), and he even talks briefly about the hiring of former Wisconsin football coach Bret Beilema.
• Our final guest is Josh Reed of the superb Big Ten hoops website Big Ten Geeks. Josh speaks on a myriad of topics, ranging from how his expectations of Michigan’s season have changed over its first eight games to which team has surprised him the most so far this year.

The music for this particular episode is all courtesy of the great 9th Wonder. Tracks include Murs Day from the album “Murray’s Revenge”, And This Is For from “Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition” and Make It Big off the album “The Wonder Years.”

You can listen using the embedded media player below, subscribe to the RSS feed or download the MP3 (and check us out on iTunes soon after we resolve some issues).

Today we’re introducing the inaugural UM Hoops podcast, a feature that I’ll be hosting throughout the season. Here’s a quick overview of this week’s guests.

• David Merritt joins us to talk about general impressions of the team, his expectations for the season, what he thinks the starting lineup will look like, and plenty more preseason speculation.
• Dan Hanner of RealGM.com calls in to explain why Michigan has fallen so far in his preseason rankings. He also sheds light on how his model works, generally. Really good stuff here from one of the brightest minds in basketball.
• Former Michigan Daily editor and current USA Today college basketball writer Nicole Auerbach talks about Big Ten Media Day and what she expects out of Michigan and the Big Ten this season.

This edition of the podcast features four tracks from J Dilla including Lazer Gunne Funke, The New, Lightworks and Gobstopper. We lost the connection with Nicole near the end so we had to cut her off mid-sentence, which is why it sounds a little awkward.

Listen in the embedded media player below, subscribe to the RSS feed or download the episode. (We hope have iTunes setup shortly.)