Vitale has M at #11
A high pre-season ranking always scares the hell out of me, but in this case it's nice to see us getting some respect from someone respectable.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/news/story?id=4361336
Wow, that would be great.
Oh lawd! That's a high expectation. Can't say I'm not thrilled to see it, but I feel like that is putting a lot of pressure on this team to succeed. I'm extremely excited for the winter though. Go Blue!
The freshman have really improved. The Californian Darius Morris is one heck of a player from all accounts and the big guys are starting to gain confidence. The weak front court of last year has been restocked with shooters and a lot of the guys have gained some muscle. One surprise is the growth of Stu Douglass. The scrawny kid is now a beefy dead-eye shooter, go figure.
I love to hear all of that, but I thought Morris was out with a serious injury that might have him miss some time this winter? Lets not count that chick before it hatches...
You may be confusing Morris and Morgan. Jordan Morgan is hurt and might redshirt, from what I hear.
Awesome Baby!!!!! With a capital A!!!
But Vitale is basically a raging, senile, lunatic version of Corso, he just hasn't had as many strokes yet.
Is Dick Vitale respectable?
Nice find though, hope the old guy is right on this one.
He may be unlistenable when he calls a game, but he knows his stuff.
I just love seeing M hoops finally getting some respect. I made it through 5 years in AA without even the slimmest hope of an NCAA tournament berth, so this is an awesome change. Beilein was a phenomenal hire...
thank goodness for the West Virginia University and Michigan Head Coach Training Institute (WVUMHCTI).
He went 78-30 at UD. In his five seasons, he built UD into a decent program. He also coached John Long, Terry Tyler, and Earl Cureton, whom no elite teams recruited, into players who earned NBA roster spots. Terry Duerod also made it from that team, but he was a fairly highly-recruited player.
He got them to the NCAA when it was only 32 teams, and really turned UD, which was much worse than they are now, into a newsworthy school with his energy and talent. Vitale might have sucked in the NBA, and you may or may not like his personality, but he still knows college basketball.
It seems legit to me. My predition for the season is 2nd in the Big Ten (god damn it sparty) and making it to the sweet 16. Manny Harris will lead the big ten in scoring and win big ten player of the year and bolt for the $.
Yes.
In theory, since we advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, we were between the #17 and #32 team at the end of last season. In reality, we were probably at the low end of that range (if we were in it at all), but with two extremely talented players coming back, I don't find Vitale's prediction to be all that farfetched. We return all of our most productive players from last season, add some talented freshmen (and a 7-foot redshirt), and our homecourt advantage should be greatly improved with over 2,000 students having bought tickets (compared to under 500 last year). It's going to be a fun season.
another guy on ESPN had us, IIRC, at the same spot with a #11 rating. I think this team is going to be solid. One of our better teams in quite some time.
Have you forgotten about the 2006 squad?? Gotta give them some love!! We were one play away (Crable's "late" hit on Smith) from having a perfect season and a berth in the National Championship Game!! That was only 3 years ago. I know this last year has made it seem like an eternity, but it wasn't that long ago we were a national powerhouse (I believe we still are, just regrouping for the lethal surge into glory!!). CAN'T WAIT FOR 9/5!! Already got the countdown!!
hey buddy were talking about Michigan basketball not michigan football
August 4th, 2009 at 11:30 AM ^
When Romoteen calls you stupid!
BOOM
ROMOTEEN'd
Way high. I'd always rather come from behind in the rankings than need to play to unrealistic expectations.
Underrated > Overrated
August 4th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^
It's been so long since anyone thought this highly of M hoops. It's nice to see, but man this happened to the football team year after year after year.... start the season ranked higher than we should (the "we're Michigan" factor), and rarely lived up to it.
I'm like you.... I much prefer they start us at like #20 or so to acknowledge last season's success, and let us work our way up.
Great!! Thanks for the post.