Michigan Basketball #20 AP, #19 Coaches Poll
Obviously losing to Iowa by 16 really hurt us on Saturday, made us drop 6/7 spots. Let's just beat up on MSU on Tuesday...GO BLUE!!
January 16th, 2012 at 5:44 PM ^
Win and we are right on track. Lose and we may have to start worrying about avoiding a big slide that could take us out of an NCAA birth. The team seems really due for a big game from Morgan, Hardaway and Smote so lets hope tomorrow is the day they all get it going.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^
I think we have a good chance making the tourney it's just a matter of seeding. We definitely need to avoid playing a top 10 team in our second round game.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:49 PM ^
I think the term should be "all zook"
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January 16th, 2012 at 5:50 PM ^
I'm not giving up on this team or season by any means, but we do not deserve to be ranked this week.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:55 PM ^
Just like North Carolina and Michigan State shouldn't be ranked? This isn't football, if you drop a game to a worse opponent you don't automatically drop 25 spots.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
Our loss was much worse than MSU's. We got manhandled by a bad team, worse than the final score indicates. UNC's loss was on par with ours, but they and MSU have fewer losses and were ranked higher to begin with.
The other difference is that UNC and MSU have established reputations as quality programs. You can argue that it's not fair for voters and pundits to give teams credit for previous years' accomplishments. Every year should be a clean slate. But that just isn't the case. UNC and MSU have credibility because they are good every year. We are still a program in rebuilding mode. The jury is still out on Michigan basketball as a program, and we set ourselves back big time when we get crushed by Big Ten cellar dwellers. Once we string together five tourney appearances in a row, then we can shrug off a blowout to Iowa.
Vanderbilt, Kansas State, Marquette, and Harvard are a few teams that should ranked above us.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:29 PM ^
State has 3 losses, just like us. We lost to Virginia, Duke, and Iowa. MSU lost to UNC, Duke, and NW. I don't rank how good teams are by past performances over present performances. You can if you wish, but bottomline is Michigan is a top 25 team right now.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:01 PM ^
We lost to Indiana, too. We have four losses. But the Iowa loss was a humiliating loss. State doesn't have any of those this year. Hopefully that changes tomorrow.
My other point is just that programs like MSU and UNC have street cred. They'll be buoyed in the rankings due to that even if they suffer short slumps.
January 16th, 2012 at 8:22 PM ^
Wow, sorry don't know how I forgot about Indiana.
January 16th, 2012 at 9:29 PM ^
Your whole argument is a mess. You say that the voters shouldn't take street cred into account but do, then in the same breath you say Michigan shouldn't be ranked this high because we lack street cred. Which side are you on? The voters seem not to take reputation into account as much as you are trying to since we're still ranked...
January 17th, 2012 at 12:46 AM ^
I don't know if there's a principled argument that we should not be ranked based on what the voters should or should not consider. Nevertheless, we looked like a shitty team losing to Iowa the way we did and it's hard to feel like we still deserve to be ranked.
January 16th, 2012 at 6:21 PM ^
You seriously think we should drop out of the top 25 because we got beat on the road (an arena that is traditionally difficult to win in) and just a few days before a major rivalry game?
January 16th, 2012 at 6:57 PM ^
They are one of the better teams in the big ten. The hardest conference in the country. They deserved to be ranked.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^
needs to figure out how to use the pick and roll effectively to run their offense. Also getting Horford back will help with depth/take the pressure off of Morgan to peform.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^
I think JohnB needs to bench EvenSmot cause he showed little effort for the past two games.
January 16th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^
I think JohnB needs to bench EvenSmot cause he showed little effort for the past two games.
January 16th, 2012 at 6:05 PM ^
Agreed. Smotrycz shows NO effort when his shot is off. If he isn't scoring he falls out of the game in all facets. I'm really disappointed in his play.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:50 PM ^
Smotrycz is leading the team in rebounding and steals despite being a short-armed forward with zero athleticism. I'd hold off on questioning his effort.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:32 PM ^
well, I did not write this just based on a single game. And I believe you win games with points, you cannot win games with rebounds
January 17th, 2012 at 7:08 AM ^
"And I believe you win games with points, you cannot win games with rebounds"
I think it's perfectly legitimate to question Smotrycz's effectiveness the past few weeks, but it's quite another to question his effort. If I were to call a kid lazy, I'd want to feel pretty solid in that assessment, and it seems to me that evidence points to Smot busting his ass on the court.
January 16th, 2012 at 6:48 PM ^
We need Smote to get out of his funk, sitting on the bench and watching Vogrich or Christian give us nothing is not the better play ... especially against MSU.
January 16th, 2012 at 7:19 PM ^
when he's not hitting, but M needs him with his big boy shirt on tomorrow night.
January 16th, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^
but I think the ranking is pretty close.
Michigan State will be a tough game. I like our chances at home if the crowd shows up (and they will) be we'll need a few things to fall in line and avoid foul trouble. If the refs are in Izzo's pocket we have no chance.
Iowa really exposed our lack of depth at point guard, as if that wasn't obvious so Izzo will try to exploit that by clearing out for trice and woodl to try to draw fouls on trey burke.
I am going to predict a big game by... Mc Limans. Yes that's right, Blake Mc Limans will come up big in when Morgan gets in foul trouble early with solid D and 8 points down the stretch. Novak and Stu will be a big factor but Trey will win it on the line in overtime.
Or maybe not?
January 16th, 2012 at 10:12 PM ^
dont worry Michigan will do fine at home. Tough road loss after a tough game against NW. As always when Michigan is missing its 3s it will be tough to win, especially with no inside presence.
I so cant wait for the recruits of 12'-13'