Podcast: Reaction to watching Michigan basketball practice, team media day

On this special episode of The Wolverine Podcast, Clayton Sayfie and Anthony Broome broadcast live from Crisler Center to break down what they saw and heard watching Michigan basketball practice and interviewing players and coaches.

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Sayfie and Broome began by sharing their thoughts on the Michigan team’s chemistry, which was a big talking point when speaking with members of the program today.

“From conversations today we had on and off the record, this team is really tight. They’ve meshed together really quickly. And it’s exciting to think about the possibilities, because that’s all without even mentioning the talent,” Sayfie said.

“And the talent is immense,” Broome said. “That’s something not to be forgotten here. I think the biggest thing is that — and again, it’s an open door practice to us, everyone is on their best behavior — but I can remember a couple years ago though when Juwan Howard was here, we got to watch them stretch, and we heard stuff about busted lips and black eyes. You do sense there is a connectivity, there is a chemistry there.

“I think in this era of college sports in general, whenever you bring in a coveted piece out of the transfer portal like a Yaxel Lendeborg, the focus is on the money and what it took to land him, and the implication for a lot of people is that those guys might be a bit of a diva or inherently selfish. And Yaxel Lendeborg is out here like one of the guys, cracking jokes. He was actually a Michigan team correspondent for media day, so he’s interviewing teammates. That will definitely come out.

“Rewind to earlier this summer when we were at the U of M Club of Greater Flint’s golf outing. Yaxel Lendeborg, Nimari Burnett. It was just after Yaxel had [withdrew from the NBA Draft] and signed with Michigan, and it already felt like it was comfortable and one of the guys. You get the sense even more that he’s a connector off the court here. And, on the court, this guy is basically a point guard. It’s another point forward experiment. Just an example of the number of guys that are on this roster that they have a role, they have a plan for them and the chemistry, that was one of the first things that stuck out to me. They’re not goofing off during practice, but they’re putting in good work and having fun doing it, too.”