WTKA Roundtable 1/15/2026: Bad Idea Transition Takes

Jan 15, 2026

The discussion kicks off with insights on the transfer portal, emphasizing the challenge of rebuilding the offensive line. A standout name for the upcoming season emerges: Chase Taylor. The crew dives into basketball, dissecting Michigan's loss to Wisconsin and exploring various defensive strategies. They also tackle three-point defense, noting its non-random elements and the importance of closeouts. There's critical analysis of transition plays and a debate on the aggressive physicality in both basketball and hockey, highlighting crucial officiating issues.

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ADVICE

Rely On Development, Not Portal DTs

Do expect the defensive tackle room to rely on internal development rather than portal stars; coaches hope redshirt sophomores and freshmen step up.
Monitor conditioning and snap readiness for young tackles like PalePale and Beigle before counting on them.

INSIGHT

Portal Swaps Leave Teams Essentially Unchanged

The portal often results in like-for-like swaps so teams end up roughly where they started after turnover.
Seth Fisher warned that treating players as free agents makes the sport unstable and likely needs systemic change.

INSIGHT

Five-Out Spacing Exposes Mara Dependency

Michigan struggled versus five-out spacing because Mara got pulled out of the paint and their usual post dominance disappeared.
The Wisconsin loss exposed tactical gaps beyond 'energy' that required structural defensive answers.

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Thing Discussed:

Portal: You can't make an OL in the portal—keeping Guarnera and Sprague was huge. Wide receiver room is night and day from before. They put a secondary back together. Concern over LB and don't have an impact DT.
Seth: After all that everyone is back where they were. Lucky for Michigan that everyone's a free agent but this is a terrible way to run the sport.
Why does everybody forget Chase Taylor? You're going to learn his name this year.
DT: Sam says PalePale was getting talked up during bowl prep. Put Crippen down a few times. Question is conditioning.
Hoops vs Wisconsin: What happened? They got five-outed, pulled Mara out of the paint which was a key to how they were playing two-point defense, which is mostly drop. Played a lot more hedge vs Washington.
Discussion on 3-point randomness. NBA studies prove the efficacy of closeouts. It's not totally random; what really matters is preventing open shots. No correlation between first half and back half three-point defense.
Seth: Washington can't get to the rim and Wisconsin has guys who can take advantage of that. These European shootin' bigs are going to be a problem. Michigan is like Florida last year: they're big and they play fast. Slow them down and pull them outside and win a luck game. Response is to hedge more.
Brian: We sometimes see Michigan playing live ball tactics that don't make sense against the team they're playing; the hedging was practicing for Illinois and Nebraska.
Rebounding (especially vs PSU): Needs work. Big Ten doesn't officiate shoves in the back or the Wisconsin step-under, so you have to really focus on practicing rebounding in this league to be any good at it, and it's not the focus of this team.
Hockey: Was it a cheap shot? If Notre Dame wasn't a goon squad we'd say no, but they've seen this guy run a goalie and Notre Dame is notorious for causing injuries—they knocked out M's best defender earlier in the year.
Same referee was there for McGroarty's injury, Hallum's injury, and no calls on either of those either.
Big Ten does not care about hockey, the officiating is atrocious. They don't know the game, and they're getting players hurt because of it. Can't self-regulate because there's no fighting so you need officials to do it, and they don't care.