Earlier this week I put out a call on the internet for mailbag questions. Today I have answers: Higher 2024 (and 2024 - 2025) ceiling: UM football or UM basketball? (-zh2oson)I feel like there are two different answers here, factual ceilings in an objective sports sense and fan enjoyment factor. The matter of fact ceiling is clearly still football, because the defense ought to be one of the very best in college football. That sets the floor pretty high and if the offense can be any degree of decent to good, Michigan is a top 10 team at worst, with even higher upside possible. Projecting men's basketball to be top 10 is extremely lofty, maybe a pie-in-the-sky scenario but one you don't think is likely due to how many new pieces are coming in and the likely growing pains. In a fan sense, I do think the upcoming basketball season could be more enjoyable than football, just because there's a fairly legitimate chance this will be the worst Michigan Football season since 2
Michigan Hockey lost another impactful piece today, as defenseman Seamus Casey signed an Entry Level Contract with the New Jersey Devils: Best of luck Seamus Casey and thank you for all you've given to Michigan Hockey#GoBlue〽️ ➡️ #ProBlue pic.twitter.com/PI4qnQkc7F Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) May 6, 2024Casey was not featured in Peter's wrap-up exit piece a few weeks back, so I figured we ought to give him one here. Casey came to Michigan from the USNTDP, a native of South Florida born in Miami and raised in Fort Myers. He was drafted 46th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Devils, an intriguing mix of skill and skating ability with the drawback being his small frame and inconsistencies defensively. The scouting report that we were handed by the NHL Draft scouts that summer more or less came to fruition, as Casey was exactly that for the Wolverines. Over two seasons in the Maize & Blue, Casey was a consistently high scoring defenseman. As a freshman
Late last week I put out a post on the message board asking for questions for a mailbag, as I haven't done one since the summer and now seems like a good time to fit one in. To no one's surprise, nearly all of the questions were football related. I picked the best 14 questions and if yours wasn't chosen, better luck next time. I did my best to pick as many good ones as possible, but there is never enough space for them all. Two quick notes on question topics: 1.) there were a lot of questions that are Rose Bowl gameplan-ish and I decided I will answer them in FFFF rather than here and 2.) several Donovan Edwards questions that I chose not to answer because you can read Seth's piece from last week. Assuming Coach stays and JJ leaves, what does the offense look like next year? (-Ray) I answered a version of this question in the summer that was focused on 2024 generally but now is a good time to check back in on the picture. The question assumes JJ is leaving, s