... and gives some impressions of the team. He talked about…
• A strong football-basketball combo: "It's wonderful to have the football and basketball teams both in the top 10. The alumni should be very proud of the way our coaches are running the programs and the way the players represent themselves.
"In these days of NCAA investigations and so on, it's been a long time since a Michigan high-profile athlete has gotten in trouble with the law or been involved in wrongdoing. I love the product on the field and on the court, but I also love the brand that is always so powerful."
• John Beilein's team getting out of the gate at 9-0: "What really impressed me wasn't necessarily on the court. I had a real privilege to speak to Michigan's team last month. I particularly paid close attention to the camaraderie. The guys have fun together.
"You can't just assume the chemistry is going to be good. It goes back to the way John Beilein has recruited. He has a family approach. You want people in your family that care for the brand, and the culture. They do the right things. Their academically oriented, they're strong leaders, their attention to detail [is good].
"I'm really big on a handshake. My dad taught me to do a handshake. Look in someone's eye, ask a follow-up question, things like that. When I met the players — and I've known some of them in the past — to a man, they are just very proud of their brand and their school, wearing Michigan gear and going on the court.
"That's part of it. Then in practice … it reminds me a bit of when I was in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, back in the days when coaches would really teach the fundamentals. How to come to a jump stop. How to do a pass fake. How to throw to the outside hand of the receiver. Those are the things John Beilein does on a daily basis.
"It translates into a fundamentally sound team, at both ends of the court."
• Freshman Iggy Brazdeikis: "I've been so pleasantly surprised. I'll go back to the Top-100 Camp. He was a camper two summers ago, and I got to spend time with him. I watched him play closely.
"I did not know he could defend this way. And in a camp setting, defense is probably a second priority, or third, or none at all. The fact that he accepts the challenge, he gets excited about playing against the opponent's best scorer … I also didn't know he was so quick laterally. He's so strong. He's added size since I saw him when he was in high school.
"The practice that I saw earlier this year, maybe he didn't have a great practice. He was a little bit sluggish that day. I honestly thought that [freshman forward] Brandon Johns had a chance to get some of his minutes.
"But from the first game, he's truly been a special, transformational type player. You don't see many freshmen that the upperclassmen look to follow. He might be the best freshman we've seen since the Fab Five days. He looks very comfortable at both ends of the court. There's nothing he can't do.
"He loves big shots, rebounds his position very well, passes the ball. I give him an A-plus, I give him a five star, I give him a gold star for his forehead. Whatever grade you can give him, he deserves very, very high marks."
• Michigan's continued strong defense: "I want to share someone else's thoughts, that I think knows a lot about defense. I had a conversation with [Syracuse head basketball coach] Jim Boeheim on Saturday. I broadcast their game against Cornell.
"We got talking about the landscape of college basketball, and I talked about his zone. I said, if you were strictly a man-to-man coach all these years, you probably would be regarded as one of the best ever. But people don't think zone is very good. It's not appreciated.
"The conversation went deep, and he referenced John Beilein. He said, 'You know, I've watched John Beilein throughout his career. We've competed against each other, and he's never been a defense-oriented coach. He's always focused on the offensive end.'
"But he said, 'The fact that he's identified some assistants and has empowered them to run his defense, and he's been such a great leader in allowing his people to do their job, not micro-manage it…'
"For Jim Boeheim to see that from a distance really impressed me a lot. It goes back to Billy Donlon, and that goes back to before Luke Yaklich became the defensive coordinator. Billy Donlon really started making some changes to hold people accountable on defense.
"This is the way we're going to get into a stance, these are our help principles, these are the communication factors we're going to focus on the most. Luke has continued those and taken them to a whole different level.
"It's hard to teach defense, especially to freshmen. But their terminology and principles are pretty easy to understand, and they're very consistent."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...etball-podcast-tim-mccormick-with-john-borton
• A strong football-basketball combo: "It's wonderful to have the football and basketball teams both in the top 10. The alumni should be very proud of the way our coaches are running the programs and the way the players represent themselves.
"In these days of NCAA investigations and so on, it's been a long time since a Michigan high-profile athlete has gotten in trouble with the law or been involved in wrongdoing. I love the product on the field and on the court, but I also love the brand that is always so powerful."
• John Beilein's team getting out of the gate at 9-0: "What really impressed me wasn't necessarily on the court. I had a real privilege to speak to Michigan's team last month. I particularly paid close attention to the camaraderie. The guys have fun together.
"You can't just assume the chemistry is going to be good. It goes back to the way John Beilein has recruited. He has a family approach. You want people in your family that care for the brand, and the culture. They do the right things. Their academically oriented, they're strong leaders, their attention to detail [is good].
"I'm really big on a handshake. My dad taught me to do a handshake. Look in someone's eye, ask a follow-up question, things like that. When I met the players — and I've known some of them in the past — to a man, they are just very proud of their brand and their school, wearing Michigan gear and going on the court.
"That's part of it. Then in practice … it reminds me a bit of when I was in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, back in the days when coaches would really teach the fundamentals. How to come to a jump stop. How to do a pass fake. How to throw to the outside hand of the receiver. Those are the things John Beilein does on a daily basis.
"It translates into a fundamentally sound team, at both ends of the court."
• Freshman Iggy Brazdeikis: "I've been so pleasantly surprised. I'll go back to the Top-100 Camp. He was a camper two summers ago, and I got to spend time with him. I watched him play closely.
"I did not know he could defend this way. And in a camp setting, defense is probably a second priority, or third, or none at all. The fact that he accepts the challenge, he gets excited about playing against the opponent's best scorer … I also didn't know he was so quick laterally. He's so strong. He's added size since I saw him when he was in high school.
"The practice that I saw earlier this year, maybe he didn't have a great practice. He was a little bit sluggish that day. I honestly thought that [freshman forward] Brandon Johns had a chance to get some of his minutes.
"But from the first game, he's truly been a special, transformational type player. You don't see many freshmen that the upperclassmen look to follow. He might be the best freshman we've seen since the Fab Five days. He looks very comfortable at both ends of the court. There's nothing he can't do.
"He loves big shots, rebounds his position very well, passes the ball. I give him an A-plus, I give him a five star, I give him a gold star for his forehead. Whatever grade you can give him, he deserves very, very high marks."
• Michigan's continued strong defense: "I want to share someone else's thoughts, that I think knows a lot about defense. I had a conversation with [Syracuse head basketball coach] Jim Boeheim on Saturday. I broadcast their game against Cornell.
"We got talking about the landscape of college basketball, and I talked about his zone. I said, if you were strictly a man-to-man coach all these years, you probably would be regarded as one of the best ever. But people don't think zone is very good. It's not appreciated.
"The conversation went deep, and he referenced John Beilein. He said, 'You know, I've watched John Beilein throughout his career. We've competed against each other, and he's never been a defense-oriented coach. He's always focused on the offensive end.'
"But he said, 'The fact that he's identified some assistants and has empowered them to run his defense, and he's been such a great leader in allowing his people to do their job, not micro-manage it…'
"For Jim Boeheim to see that from a distance really impressed me a lot. It goes back to Billy Donlon, and that goes back to before Luke Yaklich became the defensive coordinator. Billy Donlon really started making some changes to hold people accountable on defense.
"This is the way we're going to get into a stance, these are our help principles, these are the communication factors we're going to focus on the most. Luke has continued those and taken them to a whole different level.
"It's hard to teach defense, especially to freshmen. But their terminology and principles are pretty easy to understand, and they're very consistent."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...etball-podcast-tim-mccormick-with-john-borton
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