MBB Rankings

Eh, it's fair to have them where they are.  They haven't beaten anyone even considered top 100.  They went to OT in a game they played really badly to a team that's outside the top 300 and which is getting pounded by everyone else by 40.

I think they could be top 20 but they haven't really proven that...yet.

The voters don't exactly go on things like "I feel Wagner and Livers are going to start dominating".  The fact they aren't yet (and that Franz has been quite disappointing) is exactly why it's fair to have them at 26th right now.

Well, we're #26, so almost there, keep winning and things will take care of themselves. 

I love the depth too, keep improving!

The fact that the AP bumped Tennessee up a spot, despite not having played a game yet this year, tells you all you need to know about rankings.

I agree with a lot of other folks. Don't give a shit about rankings as long as this team keeps getting better and keeps winning. I love the energy of these freshmen! I think Terrance Williams is rapidly becoming my new favorite player, but its tough to unseat Brandon Johns. They both bring so much energy, and they make those around them better.

Rankings... meh.  Not being ranked gives them something additional to plan for.  That oakland game was not pretty.

If there are three things you can count on in life, one of them would be the basketball team being underrated at the beginning of the year and improving while the football team does just the opposite. Frankly, I like the fly under the radar nature of the basketball program. Keeping the attention in the region on Izzo then crushing his soul is as good as it gets. 

once the season gets cancelled, it will officially be one in which we aren't ranked and the program isn't moving forward. Fire Howard.

The last thing they need is a "target" on their back.  There are a lot of new contributors on this team and it will take time for them to gel, but by the end of the season (barring injuries), they could become a team that no one wants to face in the tournament.  Go Blue!

This team has the potential to be a top 10-20 team by season’s end. Saying they are definitively in that caliber now is premature. 
 

Ball state and BGSU are decent teams and one of them will likely make the tournament. UCF sure seems to have talent on their roster. But we have not played a team in the Kenpom top 100 yet. 
 

I have a feeling this team will start to gain respect once Big Ten conference play starts. Plus, it always feels better to fly under the radar for a while before coming on strong. 

The only rankings I take stock in are the kenpom rankings which use real data.  We are currently #16 right now in those rankings.

Need the NC State game to happen this week. At least that could be a W against a decent ACC team. 

Completely meaningless things that the board loves to endlessly debate:

1. Basketball rankings

2. Coaching searches

They definitely seem to be playing better, but looking at the resume as a whole I think fringe top 25 is about right for now.

They've got some really interesting pieces, and at times they seem to figure out how to put them together, but there have also been plenty of stretches of basketball where they don't look like a top 25 team.

They'll get there by the end of the year, assuming the season doesn't go down in covid flames.

Another year, another ranking where voters don't actually watch games or pay attention

There's no way Duke is the #10 team.

Michigan is 4-0 with 4 double digit wins, 3 of them being against KenPom top 150 teams. That's a better resume than a handful of ranked teams

Meh, pollsters probably just caught the first 10 minutes of the UCF game, it will work itself out very soon. 

Most of teams ahead of us have wins over power conference teams or started the season ranked ahead of us and haven't done anything to drop. Outside of the last 28 minutes, we haven't looked great. Had a close call with a bad team (Oakland) and the other two games were solid. I think we are not close to our potential, but I don't think we have a clear cut case to be ranked above the teams ahead of us. I think we are better than OSU, Rutgers, and maybe a few others, but it's not an open and shut case. 

This is said all the time, but rankings mean jack shit, most of all in college basketball where there's a huge fuckin tournament to decide the champion

AP geniuses had Kentucky as a top ten team going into the year. They're 1-3 and look to be the worst Kentucky team Calipari has had (including their NIT team). And this isn't basketball, but the AP also had LSU as a top 6 team preseason. They must not have realized they lost their entire program to the draft and coaching changes

Vast majority of voters haven't watched a Michigan game this year, so just let them sleep. Plenty of games ahead of us to get the respect we deserve

I just looked at our BB recruiting rankings on 247 and realized that next season, we should have 8 of the highest 25 players that Michigan has ever signed (in the modern age of rankings) on our roster.  This includes Houstan (#1), Diabate (#2), Dickinson (#11), Bufkin (#14), Collins (#15), Johns (#17), Jackson (#20), and Williams (#22).  Livers will be in the NBA, and perhaps Wagner as well, but the 2021-2022 season looks like a dream team!

I see ASU is ranked in the top-25. Has anyone watched Christopher yet? How has he looked?

This team is raw and doesnt have its identity yet. Playing time and more games will really help them. 

I'm not worried about it.  Keep playing well for the next few weeks and things will shake themselves out.  I'd rather sneak up the rankings than fall in them.  Too much noise early in the season - there's too much gravity built in.  

MSU is going to get a bump from beating Duke more than dinged for struggling against UD and even yesterday until the last few minutes too.  

The good news in basketball is that we're going to play a ton of tough teams and settle it mostly on the court.  I think about #25-30 is about right for now.  

Just win baby win!!! The boys know they aren’t ranked which is perfect. 

Rankings are sort of irrelevant most years, but especially this season where teams have such weird schedules.  Michigan just needs to play well and if there's a tourney they'll be in it.

Eh. We went to OT with Oakland. I know other teams have bad losses and/or bad wins but it'll sort itself out over time. If we fare well in-conference, we'll have nothing to worry about

Its the same shit every year, Michigan always has to prove itself all season long. Every preseason they pick a player or two we lost and talk about how it'll be hard to replace them while UK and others can lose their whole team and be right back in the top 5. It took UK to lose 3 games before they dropped out of the top 25 and they still got 1 vote in the coaches poll lol. Outside of a couple years I always felt Michigan gets lowballed when it comes to tourney seeding as well and yet we march right on through the tourney. Heaven forbid should we actually entertain to the coaches and media that Michigan might perhaps have an outstanding basketball program.