Bracketology: Michigan a 3 seed

Submitted by DISCUSS Man on

Jerry Palm of CBS has Michigan as a 3 seed in his really early bracketology.

Michigan is in the East Regional, playing first round and second rounds in Des Moines against 14 seed Hofstra and 6 NC State or 11 Valpo.

that's the highest anyone has been on us in preseason.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology

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KareemAbduljaCobb

November 13th, 2015 at 12:38 PM ^

Yeah we may be NIT bound this year.  The team should be pretty fun to watch though, extremely young.  They have the talent though to possibly sneak into the tourney but time will tell.  May be a long year... at least it can't be as bad as watching that Senior class from last year.  Thank god I'll never have to see Amir Williams play again.

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Jack Hammer

November 12th, 2015 at 7:19 PM ^

Seems highly feasible given a healthy, deep team that improves all season.  Des Moines is disappointing location.  But a Sweet 16 match up against Sparty sounds delicious.

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michiganman001

November 12th, 2015 at 8:07 PM ^

Conference teams aren't supposed to be able to play each other until the Elite 8. Now that we have 14,15 team conferences, I am sure that is gonna change, but even if the B1G 10 gets 9 or more teams in the tourney, I doubt the committee puts us and MSU in the same half of the same region.

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Wolverine Devotee

November 12th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

They can get in now that they found a conference (Atlantic Sun).

If they're a 16 seed, they could become the first 16 to beat a 1. That 1 will be Duke because it's gonna be an even-numbered year so that means Duke loses in the first round to a mid-major.

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alum96

November 12th, 2015 at 7:24 PM ^

Based on everything we've seen so far in the regular season, this seems sound...

Also, are the Dec 16/Jan 17 bowl projections out yet for football?

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smwilliams

November 12th, 2015 at 9:47 PM ^

I am Hofstra alum. They've had decent teams before. In fact, we stormed the court after beating then #25 George Mason at home in 2006. We also beat them in the Semifinals of the CAA Tournament when one of their players punched our best player in the nuts and got suspended.

We all got together and watched the Selection Show because there was a chance they'd get the at-large bid.

They didn't. George Mason did. And then went to the Final Four.

So it's not like they haven't had good teams in the past and most projections I've seen have them winning the CAA. Obviously, mid-major tournaments are a crap shoot so who knows.

 

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recklessaBrandon

November 12th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^

If the three seed is because of some crazy B1G situation where Michigan is a co-champion or sole champion and everyone has a ton of losses than yes. If not, then no. Beilein has won 2 B1G championships in the past 5 (or 6?) years and he was a rimroll away from a 3rd. I wouldn't concede one with all of the depth on the team this year (even though the B1G looks to be quite good overall). 

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Mr. Yost

November 12th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^

IMO, this team is much more likely to be one of those #7-10 range teams and then start upsetting everyone in the tournament. In fact, I think that's exactly what happens.

We're a #7 - #10 and then we get in, get hot, and we're the team NO one wants to play. We lost to EMU and NJIT last year WITH a healthy Walton and LeVert...I think we're obviously better, but to go from missing the NIT to a 3-seed with players you already had, that's a reach, IMO. 

I also think we're going to rack up the non-conference wins and give our fanbase a bunch of false hope. So I'm predicting this now, because if we undefeated in the non-conference and finish 4th in conference, I'll be saying I told you so. Our non conference schedule blows minus 1 maybe 2 games in the Bahamas. If we have more than 2 losses going into the B1G schedule, it's not a good sign.

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Mr. Yost

November 12th, 2015 at 10:08 PM ^

The 4 and 5 seed have routinely had 7, 8, 9 losses if you look back over the past 5 years.

In fact MICHIGAN was one of those teams with 9 conference losses and a 4th seed.

If you go undefeated and struggle that much in conference play you're not going to sniff a 4-line. They take recent games into account and how you're playing going into the tournament.

That said, you're probably a 5. And if you lose 8-9 conference games, you're probably not good enough to be undefeated in the non-conference so those type teams end up in the 7 range.

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robbyt003

November 13th, 2015 at 7:56 AM ^

Last years bracket.. LINK

Last years big ten standings. LINK

(All Hypothetical) Say if we take 4th, which probably means 6 or 7 losses, in one of the toughest conferences in the country.  Plus add the fact that we went undefeated in non conference play.  There is no way in hell you put that team at a 7-10 seed.  They would be a 3, 4, or 5.

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Stringer Bell

November 12th, 2015 at 9:30 PM ^

I agree with this.  I still can't get over how poorly we played last year even before Walton and Levert went down.  Losses to NJIT and EMU, getting run off the court by Arizona, losing at home to SMU, getting dominated by a mediocre OSU team.  I guess I'm not as bullish on this team as most M fans are.

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Richard75

November 13th, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

Agreed. There's a misconception that this was a good team undone by injury. It was a team that might have been good, but (to use one example) Derrick Walton wasn't necessarily going to take a huge leap forward just because a couple of PGs before him did. Walton is more passive than they were, an issue you can still see now.

The positive from last season is that the young guys got experience, but I don't think you can take much more out of it. In terms of figuring out how/if all the pieces fit together, this team is right back where it was a year ago.



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uncle leo

November 13th, 2015 at 9:46 AM ^

Michigan is very deep and has some darn good players, but I continue to worry about this team with rebounding. Donnal can't bang down low, so all Michigan has is Doyle who can clean up. Wilson, Wagner, they are unproven rebounders. It's all about hustle and good positioning, so hopefully they can make some strides as the season marches on.

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BigBlue02

November 13th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^

Just because Walton played on those two games doesn't mean he was healthy. And if all the players on last year's team were juniors, then picking them to be way better with the same roster would be silly. Considering we played an unhealthy amount of true freshmen last year, it isn't unreasonable to say we will be much, much improved this year with the same roster and a couple additional pieces

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