ESPN has Michigan in the PERFECT Bracket
I know there will be a lot of moving around and ESPN is not always 100% right but right now Joe Lunardi has Michigan as a #2 seed with Gonzaga as the #1 and New Mexico as the #3
I would LOVE to be in this scenario and I believe Michigan would make a deep run with a bracket like this...slow day wondered what the Board thought about this?
Man, I think you guys are really underestimating how Gonzaga matches up with us. Did you see the trouble we had with Nix and Payne this year? Because Olynyk and Harris are better, probably the best big-man duo in the nation. I know, I know, weak schedule and all, but if I'm trying to figure out teams I want to face in the tourney, teams with deep, talented front courts are not on that list.
because I think if MSU played in the WCC, Nix and Payne would be getting called the greatest big man duo in the history of the game. I'll be very interested to see how Gonzaga does in the tourney when all of a sudden they have to play multiple big games in a row
Sure, I agree that Gonzaga is almost definitely overrated and will probably get upset somewhere along the line, but I still think that's a matchup nightmare for Michigan if they did end up playing each other.
And let's not act like Gonzaga hasn't played anyone this year. Olynyk has 20 points in just 19 minutes against Kansas St., and went for 21 & 9 in 23 minutes against Oklahoma St. Harris had 20 & 7 against Butler in 22 minutes. Say what you want about Gonzaga as a team, but that front court has proven it's legit.
Perhaps it would be a tough matchup, but I think the odds are pretty good that Gonzaga doesn't even make it to the elite 8. Which would give Michigan a chance to advance to the final four without facing anyone higher than a 3-seed. Pretty good deal.
Whey were they playing such few minutes?
They've played and beat some good teams.
Also, you can be a REALLY good team in a BAD conference without it hurting you.
Kentucky was just this last year. They were in awesome team and the SEC was TERRIBLE last year.
Memphis has been this in the past as well.
Sometimes you're Boise St. and you're a legit contender who's just in a shit conference...but that doesn't make you any less of a team.
I would have said that I put 1 year's salary on a michigan zags game against you. as stated before, their guard play vs our guard play is an amazing matchup that i would take without any other analysis
about the matchup a week ago. I feel a lot better seeing how we did against Nix and Payne with Morgan in the lineup.
is what fuels deep tourney runs and, yes their big men are good but I will take Burke and THJ over their gaurds any day of the week
Gonzaga is in a conference that has no legitimate teams this year. They are 5-2 against teams that were ranked in the top 50 at the time they played; two of those wins were against St Mary's which is similarly overrated.
In other words, they are 3-2 against legitimate top 50 teams, with wins against KSU, OK, and OK St. They lost to Illinois and Butler. Everyone else they have played has been a tomato can or a JTTS.
Gonzaga would be hard-pressed to win 8 games in the Big Ten. I would love to see them in Michigan's bracket.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/teams/rpi/GONZAG/gonzaga-bul…
This probably is a silly argument since we're unlikely to play them anyway, but most of you guys are wrong about Gonzaga. They are good. They are very good. #1 seed good? Probably not. But if you've watched them at all, you know they're an excellent team. You don't get to be #4 on KenPom just by playing in a bad conference - if that were true, Memphis would be higher than 37. Gonzaga is going to be a popular upset pick, and a lot of people are going to be surprised by how good that team is. Lots of teams (Michigan included) can deal with one elite big man - it's why a team like Kansas or Duke doesn't scare me much. But there are very few teams that can handle both Olynyk and Harris. Having two elite big men is such a huge luxury and makes them super underrated. Throw in the fact that Kevin Pangos is a really, really good PG, and you have a team that is going to surprise people in the tourney. I'll leave it at that.
They just have to be worse than the other 3 #1 seeds.
Gonzaga would be a tough matchup. Also, I am not so sure we would see New Mexico in the Sweet 16. I think we might see VCU and they present another list of problems. They are the Arkansas reincarnation of 40 minutes of hell from the 1990's. It could get ugly watching Hardaway and our freshmen throw the ball away left and right against that pressure. Michigan has seen nothing like what they would see if they played VCU. I am hoping that Michigan does not see really strong defensive teams or teams with really good frontcourts. Early on, that may be realistic. If we advance, we are likely to see one or both.
They're a DESERVING 1-seed and a GREAT team.
I like being in their bracket because of the matchup, not because they aren't good.
I'd rather play them than a high pressure team.
Gonzaga's big man duo is called the best because they compete in a conference with no big men that can match their size and physical play. The minute they have to face a team that has big men with actual size, they are done. Two 7 footers versuses like 6'8" guys isn't exactly that difficult. Gonzaga shouldn't even be in the top 10 let alone #1 and a 1 seed.
Looks like it was changed, or you saw it wrong maybe. UM showing a #3 it appears to me with Louisville in the #2 seed. But I agree, with Zaga as the #1 seed, UM could make a deep run in that bracket.
Make sure you update the bracket so it says March 5th....I believe you are looking at the March 1st bracket
Thanks. User interface problem fixed.
As long as we are not in that current Midwest Bracket! Yikes!
I am more concerned/interested with us than any other team out there.
"Know thy enemy"
North Carolina in the 2nd round? Ugh. They have been on FIRE since switching to a small ball lineup. I'd hate to run into them early.
UM would match up well with that style of play, though. Rebounding issues probably would be mitigated.
I live in ACC country, and honestly, there's not a team in that entire conference that scares me. At least not anywhere near the level that some of the teams in the Big 10 do. I'd rather play Duke twice than Indiana one time.
I'd actually rather play Duke than Miami.
Beilein doesn't go with "2 Bigs" enough for us to hold the Canes inside. However, I think Robinson would do as well as anyone could vs. Ryan Kelly's inside/outside game. I've seen medicore guys really shut Plumlee down (relatively speaking). I think Morgan would be fine vs. him (relatively speaking).
That said, I still don't want UNC in the 2nd round.
Also, VCU is in this bracket. That pressure would give us FITS!
I completely disagree with the OP. I'd want to be the 2-seed in the SOUTH.
Pretty interesting that they've been playing four guards...something tells me we would actully play a heck of a game against them.
Too bad NONE OF THIS MATTERS and there is a lot of basketball left to play...
We're fans, we can look ahead. And dream...
Ohio St. the 4 in that bracket! I would love to see those two teams square off in the Elite 8.
Question: Have you been posting more often this week? Or have I just noticed your posts more since your hijacked avatar?
btw I would recommend keeping it...it really stands out (maybe try to incorporate a block M or something)
I posted on the mgoboard for the first time this week (which was a terrible idea). But no, not anymore posts than usually. Gotta be the hijacked avatar. We will see about this whole add a block m thing.
UNC in the second round and potentially VCU in the third does not exactly seem like a cakewalk.
would you rather play lets say Louisville, Florida, Sparty? I'll take my chances with VCU or New Mexico. I agree with your UNC thoughts but this UNC is not exactly a world beater team
We do not want to see Louisville, I think their fast paced, fast break transition offense would be too much. (See State & IU game) Our D played alot better Sunday however I still don't know how deep we will go. We started out so strong and now..... We are under achieving. I am just trying to be realistic not negative guys. I hope we win it all but our D is not looking good, neither is our offense for that matter. If it weren't for Trey this team has 8-10 losses IMO. Still not terrible but this is Michigan FORGODSAKES!
i think people would be estatic because albrecht is the only point guard we would have and that means he would have found his inner steve nash.
UNC in the "third round" looks to be the toughest team in our bracket, especially with the way they are playing right now.
But if this were a final bracket, the two hardest teams Michigan could potentially play are probably OSU and UNC. That's a very strange bracket, because it is asking for a ton of upsets. Arizona is probably the best 5 seed and San Diego St can do some damage. That being said, New Mexico is probably the weakest of the 3 seeds (but could still do some damage), Gonzaga seems to be the weakest of the 1's.
I think this bracket is way off even as of now though. I think both UNC and UCLA end up getting higher seeds, as both have been playing well of late (UCLA looked really good the other night). The committee looks at how you've been doing lately significantly when placing teams, and I expect both those teams to be at least a 6, and potentially all the way up to a 4 depending on how the rest of the season goes. As of now I'd rather play any of the 5's or 6's before playing UCLA or UNC.
The conference tounaments throw such a monkeywrench into any projection. Imagine the seed spread between UM winning their last two regular season games and the Big10 tournament verses losing one more game(6 conference losses) and perhaps a loss in the 3rd game of the Big10 tournament. That would make the difference from a #1 seed to as low as a #4 seed.
Considering that the Big10 is considered by the pundits the most difficult conference, I can't imagine us not getting a #1 seed if we ended up splitting home & home with Indiana and having to two beat two of the premier teams to win the entire thing.
I think this braket would be a tough braket ( not that there is such a thing as "An easy braket" ). VCU is gonna be a tough team to beat, North Carolina has been on fire of late. Gonzaga is a very good team ( are they a #1? Probably not but I wouldn't want to face them early.) And ohio is sitting there at a 4? This is a tough braket.
Sure, they are a Mountain West team so by name recognition it's not as scary as facing Duke, but their lineup would worry me. Their top minutes guys (20+ per game) are:
Kendall Williams - 6'4" guard
Tony Snell - 6'7" guard / forward
Alex Kirk - 7'0" center
Hugh Greenwood - 6'3" guard
Cameron Bairstow - 6'9" forward
Chad Adams - 6'6" guard / forward
They don't shoot a lot of 3's and seem to feed the ball down low to their 7'0" center pretty regularly. So having a height advantage at pretty much every position in a slower-tempo game just doesn't look like the matchup we'd want, right?
Interesting bracket. New Mexico is weak for a #3 and I'd be fine with Gonzaga as the #1. North Carolina might be tough for a #7 but that's life. The real interesting matchup would be VCU (if they beat New Mexico, and kenpom does have VCU as the better team). Not sure how that would work out. Burke's so great but Hardaway's handle is terrible against traps or in the open court and Stauskas isn't good at that either. You'd have to play LeVert 30 minutes as we'd need his handle against that D and either go real small or cut Hardaway/Stauskas' minutes. Anyway, still probably a very favorable bracket overall.
For michigan I'm not too excited about play UNC or Oklahoma in second round but other than that it's good. If that bracket were real I wouldn't be surprised to see a michigan vs osu elite eight.
The Georgetown bracket has a bunch of teams that can't score (Georgetown, Pitt, Wisconsin) and that usually isn't a recipe for success. It also has Florida and Miami who are each lacking in big wins. I think a healthy NC St. does damage in that bracket.
Given that this is truly hypothetical- If these were the brackets it would be interesting to see us match up with UNC in the 2nd round. James Michael McAdoo would be a very tough matchup for Michigan. The uptempo style may also be somewhat troublesome for us.
Honestly, I'd hate to play either Ohio State or Gonzaga on the other side if we were to make it past VCU/New Mexico. Craft has a way of challenging Burke, and DeShawn Thomas seems to perform very well against our defense. I wouldn't sleep on the combination of Pangos/Olynyk from Gonzaga either. Pangos is a very good guard and Olynyk is better than any of our bigs. Mark Few is also an awesome coach, probably COTY at this point in the season...and he's had a pretty impressive tournament resume.
The overall quality of our hypothetical region is probably a step below at least 2 of the others, but I don't think I'd want to play out in LA for the regional semis/finals.
I'd be happy with a 2 seed nonetheless.