USA Today College Basketball Coaches Poll out; Michigan #9
October 17th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
Heh heh heh heh heh heh
October 17th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
I'd personally put Kansas higher. The bidding war has already opened for Andrew Wiggins at $180 million and the college basketball world is about to see why. Plus he's surrounded by a load of talent.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
Agree. My guess is that by the end of the year, KU is hovering around #2.
Bill Self and John Calipari have had a fun mini-rivalry the past 5-6 years.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
But you're right. Add Wiggins to the regular Kansas talent, and they're going to be ridiculously tough.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:24 PM ^
but wouldn't be surprised to see us drop off early with breaking in a new PG. Might lose a few early on before hitting our stride
October 17th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^
SOS and RPI should not be a problem assuming those teams perform as expected.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:28 PM ^
Fun to look at that top 10 list and think "we beat them, and them, and them, and them, and them and almost beat them last year." And we'll get a shot at a couple of the others in that top 10 in a couple months.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:35 PM ^
Life is seriously much better with Michigan basketball's return to prominence
October 17th, 2013 at 12:35 PM ^
Mitch McGary you hold still while I do this please.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
rated number one. So,so much talent added to the talent that's there.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
October 17th, 2013 at 12:41 PM ^
Wow that sure makes our road to the finals last march seem extremly tough.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:46 PM ^
I didn't think they would be the favorite. Also, what the hell happened to Indiana?
October 17th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
IU lost Zeller and Oladipo. Also coach Meyer wrecked their program.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
They lost the #2 and #4 picks in the NBA Draft.
Edit: And UMFan21's answer is funnier.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^
MSU seems a little high, but then again, every Izzo 4-year group has been to a Final Four, so his track record gets them this ranking.
October 17th, 2013 at 2:08 PM ^
well he's running out of time. to keep that stat up, this year's group has to make it. and after this year, they go full on rebuild mode.
October 17th, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^
Michigan State is overrated. They were overrated last year and they are again this year. They careered on us last year (all of them) and they have experience, that is why they are ranked that high. Harris is overrated. Yes, i said it. He is a really a spot shooter that struggles to find his own shot. They will also struggle to overcome to the loss of Nix inside. That is not a final four team.
October 17th, 2013 at 6:32 PM ^
How do you figure?
MSU was a great team last year, and this year they return almost all of their impact players AND they get a full year of a healthy Gary Harris with another year of experience?
MSU is, in my opinion, the clear (but not distant) preseason #1 team in the Big Ten. I think we're in the next tier with OSU. But I don't object to their #2 ranking in the slightest.
The Big Ten is a meat grinder, and MSU stacks up well.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^
This team will be great as long as McGary can come back for Zona and some of the big games.
People are worried about Burke's departure but Walton is amazing. He is more of a facilitator than a scorer, so the points are going to come from the wings and bigs. Luckily Irvin is an excellent scorer. It remains to be seen if he's as streaky as Hardaway was. If he's more consistent it could actually be an upgrade.
Even if Walton looks shaky early (which I doubt), Spike has proven to be an effective PG and can easily fill in. Other than the question marks around health issues, this team is loaded. I'm hoping for a conference title and then the chips fall where they may in the tournament.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^
It will be interesting to see how UM plays without Burke. It is amazing how guys like him make the people around him better. Sullinger was like that for OSU- I think it would be fair to say that Craft's, Smith's and Thomas' offensive games took a step back after Sullinger left. OSU was still able to make an elite 8 run and with the returning talent at UM, that should be realistic for them as well. Looks to be yet another very tough B1G season.
October 17th, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^
With the aresenal Michigan has recurited...hopefully a distributor can get it to them at their sweet spot.
October 17th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
the de facto preseason #1 from now on?
October 17th, 2013 at 12:57 PM ^
I can't believe we made the national championship game last season. Did that really happen or am I going to wake up and see that Brian Ellerbe is coaching and we're down 40 at Crisler to MSU?
October 17th, 2013 at 3:21 PM ^
This video is my favorite way to kill a half hour
October 17th, 2013 at 1:07 PM ^
With Izzo giving his..."I don't know what happen" look.
October 17th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^
It is nice to see five Big Ten schools in thr Top 25 and six in the top 30, if you expand into "others receiving votes". As a sidenote, and this is preseason stuff (so take it for what it is worth) based on historic performance, this is how Massey lines up the Big Ten to start:
Team | Rat | Pwr | Off | Def | EW | EL |
Michigan
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
20.37 | 7.63 |
Ohio St
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
24.32 | 6.67 |
Indiana
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
8
|
22.64 | 7.36 |
Michigan St
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
2
|
22.14 | 7.86 |
Wisconsin
|
5
|
5
|
9
|
1
|
20.38 | 9.62 |
Iowa
|
6
|
6
|
4
|
9
|
18.51 | 10.49 |
Minnesota
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
4
|
18.93 | 10.07 |
Illinois
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
6
|
18 | 13 |
Purdue
|
9
|
9
|
7
|
11
|
15.81 | 13.19 |
Northwestern
|
10
|
10
|
11
|
10
|
13.42 | 17.58 |
Nebraska
|
11
|
11
|
12
|
7
|
11.58 | 16.42 |
Penn St
|
12
|
12
|
10
|
12
|
11.74 | 18.26 |
October 17th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
Sounds about right. So much of this season hinges on McGary's health as well as how the PG situation gets settled. If both turn out well, we're right up there for Big Ten title contention. If not, its MSU's to lose.