LSAClassOf2000

April 7th, 2015 at 11:12 AM ^

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.

Saint_in_Blue

April 7th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^

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.

Trolling

April 7th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^

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....

gwkrlghl

April 7th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

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

Wolverinefan84

April 7th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^

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.

RationalBuckeye

April 7th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^

I'd say if Russell comes back, with the talent coming in, they're at least a top 20 team, but I don't think anyone is looking at that as a scenario with any chance of occurring. Also it's conceivable that Jae'Sean Tate will be the only one starting next year that even played this year, so there are too many unknowns to be high on the team as of now.




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ghost

April 7th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^

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.

BigBlue02

April 7th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

Final four does not equal great team. Final four equals great match ups. MSU put it together at the end of the year, but they weren't a top 25 team this year. Their best games were near losses to good teams and a victory against OSU. They beat Maryland in the B10 tourney, but that was when they were clicking at the end of the season. They had as many bad losses as they did good wins. They were decent, but they are way too high in this poll

funkywolve

April 7th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^

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.

ijohnb

April 7th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^

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. 

In reply to by ijohnb

BigBlue02

April 7th, 2015 at 3:52 PM ^

I loved our championship game run, but I liked the next year better. Winning the B10 by 3 games shows our team was far and away the best team last year and that is much better than a single elimination tournament in my opinion. March madness is fun to watch, but the best teams show they have it all year long. I'd much rather have a B10 banner than a final four banner that led to a 20 point blowout

ijohnb

April 7th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^

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.

champswest

April 7th, 2015 at 4:42 PM ^

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.

Ziff72

April 7th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^

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 

ppudge

April 7th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^

If Dekker goes to the NBA, they lose Kaminsky, Dekker, Jackson, Gasser and Dukan. Leaving only Koenig and Hayes as regular contributors from this year's squad. Bo Ryan gets the most out of his guys but that's a lot to lose. No way are they in the top 25.