CBS - Re-seeding the tourney

Submitted by snarling wolverine on

We . . . moved down a seed?

They have us as the 9th-best team, which would make us the top #3 seed.  Tennessee is ranked one spot above us.

The writeup:

9. Michigan: Things opened up a bit for the Wolverines in the bottom half of the Midwest Region with Duke losing, but Tennessee could pose an issue. They cruised past Wofford and Texas, but will they be able to handle the Vols' bigs?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24…

gwkrlghl

March 24th, 2014 at 6:21 PM ^

We were the popular pick to lose or be upset in every game last tournament but maybe Florida and then we finally gained respect against Louisville. People picked us to lose to SDSU, to be wrecked by HAVOC(TM), to lose to Kansas, and to be completely unable to score on the UNBEATABLE TWO THREE ZONE.

We seem to play well as the 'underdog'

aplatypus

March 24th, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^

had Michigan as 8 overall. I guess winning your 2 games against the best competition available easily doesn't account for much. 

And it's doubtful beating Tennessee would be impressive to either group as well. Oh well.

turd ferguson

March 24th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^

They aren't saying that this is how the teams should be re-seeded.  They're just ranking them based on how good they think the teams are right now.  From the original article:

"This is not a ranking based on resumes -- that stuff is irrelevant now. It is simply a ranking of all 68 teams in the field, based on eye test, efficiency metrics, and how teams perform on the court. Essentially, if each team played the other 67 teams once, this is how I think the standings might turn out."

 

gwkrlghl

March 24th, 2014 at 6:24 PM ^

and it's not going to stop till they lose now. If Michigan had beaten MSU in the BTT final, MSU would be a popular upset pick. Amazing how short term everyone's memory is. This is the team that lost to Illinois at home like 2 weeks ago

mGrowOld

March 24th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^

Clearly we suck.  Don't trust your lying eyes boys - we were lucky to beat Wofford and even luckier to sneak past fearsome Texas.  I just hope....No I just PRAY that Coach Beilein can somehow coax five players to take the floor against mighty, mighty Tennessee knowing the complete and total ass-kicking that awaits us.

#9thseedmyass

Snow Sucks

March 24th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^

According to Sparty fans, we "barely" got by Wofford, "should have been dominated" by Texas, and Tennessee "is the better team and will give scUM fits." It's amazing how much they try to rationalize why Michigan will lose its next game. They have been doing it all year and time after time, Michigan has proved them wrong.

Hilarious.

creelymonk10

March 24th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^

They're just taking pre-tournament bias and using it to re-rate the teams how they want. If this was actual reseeding, there's no way MSU jumps to #4 overall by beating a #13 seed and struggling with a #12 seed, (by the way with 25 turnovers in those 2 games.)

BlueKoj

March 24th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^

Same thing from regional B1G observers up until the final week of the season. Then they finally gave UM their due...for a week...five days, really.

Wolvie3758

March 24th, 2014 at 4:16 PM ^

for a team that won the nations toughest conference by 3 games, beat 3 top 5 teams in ONE week (two on the road) Michigan is getting very little respect this year..From the time the brackets were announced MANY talking heads predicted M getting bounced...Many picked Texas to upset Michigan and if they made it to the sweet 16 SURELY Duke would beat them....NOW everyones on the Tennessee Bandwagon and are what seems to be the FAVORITE in this game....GOOD!!!!! Lets hope this make us mad and determined!

707oxford

March 24th, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^

Both Kenpom and Silver have us in the #8 slot of the teams remaining.  They disagree, however, on which team is more likely to win our next game: Kenpom says UT is more likely, Silver says M is more likely.

StephenRKass

March 24th, 2014 at 4:33 PM ^

I completely agree with MGrowOld, and would go further. If BA uses this to fire up the team, awesome. More than that, several on the team (Morgan, Robinson, Stauskas) are already irritated. Witness how Morgan felt about endless questions about how he would defend Texas. Beilein would never show it, but he also is irked. This is a huge motivational tool that HELPS Michigan.

So often, coaches on both the Pro and College level look hard for ways to manufacture being "disrespected" or "overlooked" or "unappreciated," etc., etc., etc. CBS has handed great bulletin board material to Michigan on a silver platter. Michigan has thrived on being an underdog, and this only helps.

Three years ago, people ranked Tennessee highly against Michigan. The Vols didn't know what hit them. Deja vu . . . I could easily see it happening again.

Actually, I'm delighted at how the brackets are lining up. I would love to play and beat the following:

  • Tennessee
  • Kentucky
  • Virginia
  • Michigan State (or Arizona)

I really want to see Michigan beat all these teams, but especially Kentucky and Michigan State, head to head. There are only two things I think that can cripple Michigan:

  1. Morford (especially Morgan) get called for a ton of blocking fouls.
  2. Two thirds of our sharpshooters (Stauskas, Walton, LeVert, Robinson, Spike, and Irvin) go very cold from beyond the three point line.

If Morgan continues to play strong and within himself, and we continue to hit 40% from three point range, we should win the whole thing.

JHendo

March 24th, 2014 at 4:33 PM ^

Ah yes, one of the few higher seed teams that had no trouble whatsoever in the 2 games so far this tourney deserves to be demoted because they're going up against an overlooked team that made it to the sweet 16 against grossly overrated/overseeded competition and will rightfully put up an admirable fight....

 

NOLA Wolverine

March 24th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^

I'm not in the boat that thinks this is the same Michigan State team from February, but this is ridiculous. Over the course of two games Michigan State has not shown anything to warrant flying past Michigan, and Michigan cruised through two games (yes, actually cruised. It's amazing contrasting the Detroit media's comments against USA Today's on how that Wofford game went. 17 points). And my goodness, Tennessee managed to beat Iowa in overtime. Can I jump on that bandwagon twice?

Finally, Louisville blows. Russ Smith can waste all the time he wants trying to jump the inbounds pass against us, we're blowing them out of the water regardless if they even manage to get past Kentucky. 

EDIT: Apparently the SEC is now the crowning jewel of college basketball. Even more of a kneejerk reaction than MSU becoming the consensus favorite.