Final coaches poll released - UM #4
I was wondering how the final poll would shake out, with us losing in the Elite Eight.
That question has now been answered, as the coaches ranked Michigan #4 in the final poll, behind Baylor, Gonzaga, and Houston, and ahead of Alabama and Arkansas. That seems fair. Michigan was a better team than UCLA, but just had a worse night (still think it was some Faustian voodoo crap they pulled on us).
Still one helluva season and all the recognition is well-deserved!
Other teams of interest:
4. MICHIGAN
7. UCLA
8. Illinois
10. Florida State
13. Iowa
15. ohio state
28. Purdue
30. Wisconsin
36. Maryland
39. Rutgers
40. LSU
Illinois also claims the #4 spot.
Nope, they claim 3b.
Does this make Loyola big ten champs too?
....the joke that keeps on giving, much like scottie frost's team outhitting us everywhere but on the scoreboard!
I don't see Houston being a "better" team than Michigan, but none of this really matters anyway.
I see this opinion a lot and I’m genuinely interested in what you mean that it doesn’t matter. Polls and ratings are inevitably subjective and are more for fans to eat up than anything else, but I think they have real world impacts. Ranked teams by and large get more media attention, interest from high-level recruits, etc. so I do think rankings matter in that sense. Would be curious to hear your perspective.
Not the same person, but I'd tend to agree. Polls in general have their use, but does anyone care who was #3 and who was #4 in the final coaches' poll? I'd argue that Michigan would be favored against Houston, but I'm perfectly OK with Houston getting some recognition for a Final Four.
TrueBlue2003 said everything that I said so I edited my comment. I will add that Houstons regular season wasn't too impressive either and that the final rankings should be about the whole body of work.
I agree that they matter somewhat during the season but these final season polls don't matter at all. Barely anyone even knows they do end of season polls. They have no impact on TV schedules and get no coverage since the season is over. What matters at this point is how far you made it in the tourney, not what your final ranking is.
Not that this poll matters but it's absolutely ridiculous Houston is ahead of Michigan. They made it to the Final Four without having to beat a single digit seed (15, 10, 11, 12) and then looked like a JV team and got crushed once there. They shouldn't have even beat the 10 seed but Rutgers crapped the bed.
UCLA got screwed IMHO. At least #5.
Well they did barely make the tournament. Prior to that they were very mediocre.
Makes sense. Michigan had a great season. For a two weeks towards the end of the season (Feb. 14 - 27) with a healthy Livers, they were playing about as well as any team in the country.
We were playing really well before then, too. From the New Year’s Eve game at Maryland to the end of February we were dominant.
Houston is like Gonzaga, except Gonzaga actually played some good teams.
Finishing #4 team in the country is a great season.
Winning the B1G? Great season.
Final 8? Great season.
Last game was a down note in a season of upbeat joy.
Season was fun. Thanks for everything, boys!
UCLA erased alot of good teams, had Gonzaga beat, and should be 5 ahead of Arkansas and Bama
"Had Gonzaga beat" is really stretching it.
I think you missed MSU on that list...
They weren't a tourney team so that could be why Staee is so low.
How is Oral Roberts not ahead of Ohio State?
Because anything can happen in single elimination.
Probably for the same reason UCLA is not ahead of us.
surprised purdue dropped out of the top 25
Captain Obvious here, but had we made any of our last 8 shots against UCLA, we could have hung with or beaten Gonzaga and Houston. Really great year overall.
I don't disagree with anything you said, but we didn't make any of our last eight shots, so we didn't deserve to be there. Plain and simple.
I have to give credit to UCLA; somehow in the tournament, they had an uncanny way of taking their opponents out of their element. I don't know if it was something specific that UCLA did. I don't think UCLA runs some kind of defense that no one else runs, but it seems almost too coincidental that when Alabama and Michigan both went up against UCLA, they proceeded to have their worst games of the year.
Like I said - Faustian voodoo or something. They put a hex on us.
FWIW, I take any coaches' poll with a lot of skepticism. We saw how Tom Osborne got a nice retirement gift from his fellow coaches in 1997. Do the coaches really spend time on stuff like this, or is it their SIDs doing the work?
UCLA knocked off favored Michigan in the 1965 championship game too.
Maybe they have a book of magic spells that the current team's supporters found and dusted off for this year's run?
Or they peaked at the right time? Though their opponents' shot woes are suggestive . . . .
A great year, nevertheless, where we far exceeded expectations. Except in the last game, but that happens. Sometimes, you get lucky (Poole's buzzer beater). Sometimes not.
The final poll is better than the pre-season one.....