Michigan WBB up to #4 in AP Poll today - Posbang? POSBANG!
After beating (then) #5 Indiana, and #21 Iowa, Michigan Women's BBall moved up to #4 in the latest AP poll (trailing South Carolina, Stanford, and Louisville). They're still #5 in the Coach's poll which should update tomorrow. KBA just keeps them moving on up!!!
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/associated-press
February 7th, 2022 at 1:27 PM ^
Yes. But did you see Braylon's tweet?!?!
February 7th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
No, why did he tweet? Did he drop another TD pass in the Rose Bowl?
February 7th, 2022 at 2:01 PM ^
I always thought that Rose Bowl could have turned out differently, or at least been more competitive if he catches that ball.
February 7th, 2022 at 2:03 PM ^
No clue. I stay off the twitters. But everyone's talking about it below, so it must be important.
February 7th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
holey freaking moley.
i'm afraid to research how to purchase tickets to crisler's first-ever ncaa tournament games.
February 7th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
Wonderful!
I posted on the earlier WBB post that the B1G Network last night ran a profile of Naz Hillmon—her dedication to her teammates, her family, her determination—but only caught the end of it.
I couldn’t find a rebroadcast on the schedule. Does anyone know how to retrieve the whole half hour?
February 7th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
i saw it on the first showing and i've been trying to find a streaming (i.e. sharing) option since it was first released but have completely whiffed.
it's great, by the way - highly recommended.
February 7th, 2022 at 7:37 PM ^
I`ve seen an upcoming episode on my TV`s guide for a "The B1G Story" show, with a "Naz Hillmon" episode. It sounds like what you`re talking about. It`s 30 min., 1st aired jan. 4th. Guide says B1G network is airing it Fri. Feb. 11th at 1:30pm (their main network).
February 7th, 2022 at 7:43 PM ^
If you have Xfinity, go to On Demand, sports, scroll down to browse by Network, view all, BTN, The Big Story and select Naz Hillmon. Play Free For Me. Good luck.
February 7th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
Wow. Thought #5 would be the ceiling this week. But, well-deserved, ladies!!!
February 7th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
For those in the know, are the top programs unkillable beasts like UConn and TN of old or does UM stand a reasonable chance at a natty?
February 7th, 2022 at 2:06 PM ^
I'm not an expert by any stretch, but ESPN has us #3 in their power rankings. When I do a quick check of the teams above us, they all have at least 1 loss (South Carolina lost to unranked Mizzu in OT)....to me, that means they can be beat, and to quote a very wise slogan...Why Not Us?
February 7th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
TN's last National Championship* was in 2008, four years prior to Pat Summitt leaving. Yes, they still do well in the tournament, as does UConn. Their last championship was in 2016, the last year of Breanna Stewart. Wonder if an old Geno still hits the recruiting trail.
My gut tells me that the really good high school players prefer to play rather than sit on the bench for a TN or UConn team, which lead to the rise of Baylor, South Carolina, and others. Hope others players will follow Naz and become Wolverines.
(*it's not hard to type the whole thing out!)
February 7th, 2022 at 2:48 PM ^
Thanks. My question wasn't about TN and UConn specifically as I know they're not the beasts they once were. My question was about the sport over all. Women's BB (I know I can type it all out) has a tradition of being top-heavy in the extreme. Meaning even the top-5 had a significant wall between 1 or 1 & 2 and the rest. I wondered if that was the case this year. I'm gathering it isn't.
February 7th, 2022 at 2:56 PM ^
My understanding is that South Carolina is the team to beat this year, but (a) obviously Missouri found a way, and (b) they aren’t at that Candace Parker TN or Breanna Stewart UConn level you’re thinking of. Obviously Aliyah Boston is no joke, but we have Naz Hillmon.
February 7th, 2022 at 3:00 PM ^
Much appreciated.
February 7th, 2022 at 2:30 PM ^
There is sort of a new guard in women’s bball over the past five years or so. UConn, Tennessee (more so), and even (borderline) Notre Dame have taken a small-medium step back. Tennessee and Notre Dame are dealing with replacing legendary coaches, and I really don’t know what is going on at UConn. My guess is much more competition across the country than they had during their insane run or maybe being relegated to the American Conference for that period of time was less appealing for recruits?
The dominant programs at the moment are (loosely) South Carolina, Stanford, NC State, and Baylor. You could also make an argument for Maryland to be in this group, and with Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa surging, the Terps will likely not hang a banner this year in a sport they have dominated since they joined the big ten.
February 7th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
UConn is super beat up is my understanding. Bueckers hasn't played in like two months, for example.
February 7th, 2022 at 3:59 PM ^
uconn has not taken a single step back. they've had a crazy number of injuries this year, including NPOY candidate paige buecker for the season in game 6. #1 recruit azzi fudd just came back from injury yesterday, and they drilled tennessee.
they haven't missed the final four since 2007 (!) - if they're healthy (bueckers excepted, obvs) you might as well write them in again this year.
maryland is an interesting case - they're always incredibly talented, and have dominated the B1G, but they've "only" (yes, i know) been in the final four twice since 2006 and got absolutely housed both times (notre dame in 2014, uconn in 2015). they had a historically great offense last season but lost to an ordinary texas with one great player in the sweet sixteen. texas would go on to lose to south carolina by 28. i'm taking maryland out of Death Star territory until they make another deep run.
February 7th, 2022 at 4:15 PM ^
Bueckers might be back at some point. My feeling is we absolutely do not want South Carolina as our #1, Louisville would be very bad, Stanford not great. We also don't want UConn as our #3 in case they get healthy.
(Assuming we're a 2, maybe we play ourselves to the 1 line and we just have to worry about the Huskies)
February 7th, 2022 at 5:54 PM ^
+1 … you could compare Maryland to Michigan softball, sadly. Feasting on what has been a weak conference, and competing very well nationally, but needing a real break through here and there to make a real impact for a national title run.
February 7th, 2022 at 7:58 PM ^
The beast, as you call it, is South Carolina. Stanford is very good also. I’ve watched Tennessee and we can beat them but it would be a toss up. I haven’t seen UConn but they are not as tough as years past according to what I’m reading. Michigan has great depth especially along the front court. We are a very big team and bigger than most. If we are hitting 3 pointers from Nolan and Danielle Rauch we are difficult to beat. This team also plays great defense. Even though Clark (Iowa) hit for 46 last night we shut the rest of the team down. If you watched the OSU and Indiana games you saw better defense. If we lack anything it’s speed at the guard. Phelia had a breakout game against Iowa and gets to the hole at will. She’s only a Freshman and will be very important as they go down the stretch. Brown is out for awhile with an ankle sprain. It’s only a three week thing and she should be ready for the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. This team is very good.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
My biggest worry is shooting and turnovers. Michigan has done a much better job of shooting but they're prone to cough up the ball. Plus they got ran out of the court by Lousiville. I think they're firmly in a very good tier but not at an elite level of South Carolina, Louisville and Stanford (Maybe you can throw in UConn if Paige Bueckers is back for the NCAA tourney run).
February 7th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
Never in a million years would I'd think that our women's team would be ranked above UConn's.
Amazing run, ladies.
February 7th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Way to go, Ladies!!
February 7th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Ladies of the Maize n Blue..... kickin' ass.....
February 7th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Called in to work today and I'm not even sick! Bang me! And Go Blue! It was a fun game to watch.6
February 7th, 2022 at 2:38 PM ^
That girl from Iowa just had the best game you will ever see anyone play and we beat them. Just amazing stuff from the ladies. Shame on me for not watching yesterday when my mom told me it was must watch tv. Mom knows best everyone!
February 7th, 2022 at 3:29 PM ^
Watching Clark taking (and often raining) those absurd 3's last night, I just had one thought rattling my pretty empty head: What one player has changed his/her sport more than Steph? Mike Vick comes to mind, but he was only the first of what was to be a deluge (as Bobby Bowden said at the time). Michael (and Jalen!) changed the fashion of the game, for sure. But where kids saw a player and changed the skills they developed? That's Steph.
February 7th, 2022 at 4:08 PM ^
Babe Ruth. In 1920 he hit more HRs than every other team other than Philadelphia. Taking out his HRs, by 1930 there were 2600% more HRs hit in all of baseball.
February 7th, 2022 at 5:02 PM ^
Vladislav Tretiak (butterfly goaltending) would be the other one I think of immediately.
EDIT: Friend I asked this of brings up Dick Fosbury (of the Fosbury flop).
February 7th, 2022 at 4:49 PM ^
Magic Johnson when he was at Michigan State was amazing.
February 7th, 2022 at 9:33 PM ^
Thing is it's normal for Clark to have a green light to shoot it from everywhere. Her scoring output this season has been absurd. She was the #2 overall recruit behind Bueckers so she's legit and has taken her game into the next level. Thank goodness that she didn't get hot until the 4th quarter as crazy as it sounds.
February 7th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
As much as I can complain about the B1G Network, I have really expanded the scope of my Michigan viewership because of it.
Truthfully, I can watch just about any UofM mens/womens sport at this point. It used to be just men’s football/basketball. Now, women basketball, softball, field hockey, gymnastics, and volleyball are regulars when available. I’ve been watching mens hockey and baseball as close as possible the last few years. You watch all of these sports, and then you see something special happening sometime (like the baseball run to the CWS). This women’s basketball team is something to not take for granted. Truly remarkable ride so far. Congrats on the ranking ladies! Go Blue!
February 7th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Can KBA give Juwan some pointers on how to defend?
February 7th, 2022 at 3:41 PM ^
After Kim Barnes-Arico had her best season ever at Michigan last year, all three of her assistant coaches left the program for new opportunities. It was a price of success. Now, she is having an even better year!
I know it’s far from a perfect analogy, but I thought I would point that out to those who are freaking out about coaching turnover in the football program.
February 7th, 2022 at 4:43 PM ^
Fantastic season with a great compliment of inside/outside players. However, the range of Iowa's Clark was off the chart!
February 7th, 2022 at 5:52 PM ^
CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KBA, KEEP THIS PROGRAM GROWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 7th, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
At my first WBB game last night.
GO BLUE!!!
February 7th, 2022 at 6:23 PM ^
Love this team! They have 5 more games in the regular season:
MSU x2
Northwestern
Maryland (#15)
Iowa (now #25)
The only team I am worried about is Iowa. We were lucky that Caitlin Clark didn't heat up until Q4. She *only* had 21 points on the first 3 quarters before going off for 25 in Q4
February 7th, 2022 at 6:54 PM ^
The ladies play a hard-nosed brand of basketball. They are talented! I know South Carolina, Louisville, and Stanford all have fine teams, but I wouldn't put it past our talented ladies to take it all. They have a lot of moxie!
Go Blue!
February 7th, 2022 at 9:14 PM ^
#4 and trending ⬆️ POSBANG!!
February 7th, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
Pretty amazing! Only two losses and one of them was to number three Louisville. They should probably be ranked higher.