MBB: Michigan #16 in way-too early top 25
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/4/6/8356739/2015-2016-c…
Other B1G teams..
#5 Maryland
#9 Indiana
#11 Michigan State
#20 Wisconsin
#21 Purdue
They have everyone back and a solid big man.
A slew of injuries never gave Michigan a chance this season, but the Wolverines never got down, and wound up pulling off a handful of memorable upsets down the stretch. Unless Caris LeVert makes the surprising decision to go pro, John Beilein figures to have things rolling again in Ann Arbor next winter.
I won't take any rankings right now too seriously - obviously, no data - but preliminarily I would think that if LeVert returns, the doors are open for a nice little run. The depth - which had to play full-time due to injuries - now has a lot of experience and in a variety of situations, so all other things being equal we have that nice problem of having guys who could start (and have started, of course) sitting there, ready to be in the rotation.
That's ugly. And not even close to how it really should be. No way is North Carolina a #1 team even after the dust settles. My guess is either Duke or Kentucky will be atp that list. Loaded classes (again) coming in. And Kentucky has loads of talent that will most likely return as well.
It's nice to see the respect our coaching staff is getting from sources outside Ann Arbor. Michigan easily had the worst season out of any team on that list but media outlets have now learned to give Beilein and Co the benefit of the doubt when we at least have a starting lineup of scholarship players....
Where's OSU? Are they going to take that big of a drop off?
for the draft and OSU looks so lost without him on court.
I'm no expert here, but Thad Matta really doesn't seem like that good of a coach. He consistently brings in these great classes and I think "gosh, OSU is going to be really good" and lately they're never more than decent. It's been a number of years since I really felt like OSU was a title contender even though their roster is stacked with highly rated guys
I think he's a pretty good coach when it comes to defense but I'm not sold on his abilities to coach the offense. Almost every year, OSU seems to struggle on the offensive end.
rated players, but he doesn't seem to be that good at putting a team together.
Worst case, Caris jumps to the NBA and we don't get Jalen Brown- I think that would put us out of the top 25, but I'd still be confident Belein will have this team in the tournament. Best Case, Caris stays, we do some OSU-type scholarship juggling and we get Jalen Brown too, and I think having a starting 5 of Walton-Levert-Irvin-Brown-Doyle is a very dangerous group, with Dawkins, Spike, Robinson and MAAR as solid contributors off the bench. If the latter happens, watch out. This team will be very deep and dangerous. Even with only one of Levert/Brown I think this team is definitely worthy of its #16 ranking, with the potential for another patented young Belein squad to grow throughout the year and make some noise in next year's NCAA tournament.
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Hmm, no OSU? They always seem to be a top 25 team. If their star freshman comes back aren't they a top 25 team?
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with that assessment. Thanks for the insight.
He's projected to be a top 5 pick. He's not coming back.
MSU is way to high. People seem to believe that Sparty actually was a top 4 or even top 10 team. They simply were not and they are losing their to best players.
Trice and Dawson were important, but I don't know if I'd put Valentine behind both of them, as much as I hate to admit. 11 might be a tad high, but they'll certainly be formidable.
valentine a much better creator than other two, solid recruiting class with one MDAA and Eron Harris will be solid. I expect them to be preseason favorites in the big ten
exactly what I said when Appling and Payne left last year and they went to the FF this year. I have learned my lesson.
They might not have been a great team but a lot of people were figuring they were going to take a step back in 2014/15. Instead, they finish 3rd in the regular season of the Big Ten, make it to the conference championship game in the Big Ten tourney and make it to the FF.
They might not have been great but that's pretty solid.
a Final Four is a Final Four, period. You can say they were not a "great" team and that they drew good matchups but they are hanging a banner next year.
year was awesome(the Sauce Castillo year), but no, it was not better than reaching the NCAA championship game and nearly winning. However, that is not all that relevant to the Michigan State discussion because they did neither of these things. If your question is, would I have rather had our 2013-14 or State's 2014-2015, I would take our year all day long but that is a different question.
But there will be a natural tendency for us to minimize what State did this year, and an equally strong sentiment that they really going to suck now that Trice and Dawson are going. I am just saying neither is accurate. They went on an impressive run and will return a really competitive team.
the four participants had something like 19 loses between them and MSU had 12 of them. They were clearly not in the same class as the other 3. But, as has been pointed out, a good tournament run is ofter match-ups, getting hot at the right time and a little bit of luck.
On a related not, I wonder if Duke had to face Kentucky in the semis and Wisconsin got MSU, if the final would have gone differently.
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A lot of pessimism around here. If Levert comes back we're the Big 10 favorite. That is pretty clear. If he doesn't were a fringe Top 25 team
If he comes back. Favorite might be a stretch, especially with what Maryland is bring in (and bringing back).
clickbait is baiting people into clicking something misrepresentative or manipulative, not something people read
Lets not get carried away here. I think we will finish top 15, but there is no way in hell a team that missed the NIT will be in the pre-season top 25.
Yeah I am sure they won't take into account the additions of some pretty key guys named Levert and Walton.