Michigan BBall 14th in AP Poll

Seems about right. Would be nice to work back into the top 10 but it's looking like the B1G teams are going to brutalize each other.

Hard to argue with that. With 3 losses we aren’t a top 10 team. But, we are solidly within the top 25.  And ahead of sparty. 

I'm good with this. It will be interesting to see how much Wagner improves, and whether Johns' confidence continues. We have 7 in rotation:

• David DeJulius
• Isaiah Livers
• Zavier Simpson
• Jon Teske
• Franz Wagner
• Brandon Johns
• Eli Brooks

Right now, I don't think Castleton, Davis, or Nunez are able to be regular pieces (although all three can slot in for specific situations.) If Wagner and Johns both are able to produce, that gives Coach Howard a lot more flexibility. We have been sunk when shooting is off (i.e., Livers, Simpson, Teske, Brooks have all had off days.)

As teams look at what happened in our three losses, they will try to do similar things, depending on their personnel comparisons to Louisville, Illinois, and Oregon. Now we get to see how Michigan will react when they face a similar defensive pressure, (both Lousiville and Oregon taking Michigan out of their offense) going forward. We'll also see how we'll deal defensively with a versatile big, (as we faced vs. Iowa and Illinois) and how we'll deal with a very good guard (as we faced against Oregon.)

One thing we learned with Beilein is that it matters more how you finish the season in March than how you played in December. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

1-3 in Q1 games when we should be 3-1 or 2-2 at worst. That’s gonna come back to hurt. 

On a sidebar: 1st time PSU has been ranked in an AP basketball poll since March 1996.

Indiana football, of course, broke their own long streak of being unranked (September 1994) just last month.

I think the net ranking is more accurate, for Michigan at least. 20ish feels right to me. 

Feels about right but of little to no consequence.  Keep improving, win the home games, steal a couple road games.  All the goals are still possible.

Looks about right.  PSU getting in is a bit of a surprise, mostly because I assumed they were never going to be all that good.

This feels like the most appropriate place for this team

Im still Pissed at that Oregon loss...

Have got to do everything in the team’s power to make the Oregon loss the only home one for the rest of this year.

Defending home court is vital to being a good team. I’m confident the team can do it if we stop with the slow starts.

Hot Take: Maryland either fails to make the NCAA tournament or they are a bubble team by seasons end

Ive seen nothing from Maryland that makes me believe theyre Top10. They havent faced a single ranked team yet

I guess thats how it goes when we lose two in a row....  I still wonder why Davis didn't play to counter Cockburn. 

I really like this team and just feel like they are only going to get better. It’s going to another fun and intense seasons. 
 

Once Wagner hits his stride, and if they get DDJ more minutes (please), this will dilute the “usage” of Z and Teske.  They’re both VERY good college players, but neither is great offensively and it’s hindering the offense by constantly running a 2 man game with them.  This team should be a scary out in the tourney with livers/Wagner/DDJs ability to shoot.

Fourteen seems about right. If Michigan can stay in the teens through the B1G schedule they will have done very well. It remains early-now the grind begins-well, in 3 weeks.