Support MGoBlog: buy stuff at Amazon
per Michigan Basketball via facebook
Michigan is now ranked No.5 in the AP and Coaches' Poll
| AP Top 25 | |||
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Louisville (36) | 15-1 | 1,591 |
| 2 | Indiana (13) | 15-1 | 1,527 |
| 3 | Duke (14) | 15-1 | 1,501 |
| 4 | Kansas (1) | 14-1 | 1,416 |
| 5 | Michigan (1) | 16-1 | 1,415 |
Others of Interest:
| 9 | Minnesota | 15-2 | 1,041 |
| 11 | Ohio State | 13-3 | 939 |
| 14 | North Carolina State | 14-2 | 836 |
| 16 | Kansas State | 13-2 | 670 |
| 18 | Michigan State | 14-3 | 426 |
| 23 | Illinois | 14-4 | 199 |
One point less than Kansas, who is #4
Beat the Gophers
It boggles the mind that the primary criterion seems to be not the quality of opponents you beat, nor lost to, but how recently you lost. Thank God these people are not actually in charge of anything that matters.
The top 7 or 8 teams in college hoops just cycle throughout the year. Once you are in that "club" it is very likely that you will remain there the entire year absent an epic 3 in a row losing streak. That is also why a lot of times the 8th or 9th rank team at the end of the year can end up being a number 1 seed in the tourney. When it is all said and done it is body or work and where you are ranked within the top 10 at any point during the season does not matter. That being said, I think Michigan deserved to fall with yesterdays first half. I would not have been surprised if they had won the game and not ended up being number 1. There were a lot of suprerlatives being tossed Michigan's way and I think it was good they were brought back down to earth a little bit.
"I think Michigan deserved to fall with yesterdays first half"
Well, I think they deserved to win after the middle 25 minutes. That's such a subjective thing to say...and imo not something a true fan should be saying after seeing the full team effort they put up to tie the game.
I am a true fan, so I guess a true fan would say something like that. #1 is something reserved for both talent and poise. Michigan has the talent, but #1 teams don't go down 24 before the ten minute mark of the first half. They may very well be ready to be deemed the #1 team in the nation by the end of the year, but not yet, and that first half yesterday is the reason.
Come on man. Is # 5 so far from where you see them?
I agreed with everything you said until "I would not have been surprised if they had won the game and not ended up being number 1."
The only undefeated team in the nation coming back from a 24-point deficit to win on the road against a top team in the Big Ten. There is no chance in hell we wouldn't have been ranked #1. Every team goes through rough patches throughout the season, and I am proud with how this team bounced back, on the road, and gave Ohio everything they could handle. I do agree that this loss will be a wonderful learning experience for this team, and knowing Beilein, it will help them improve in the future.
It boggles my mind people care about rankings 3 games into conference play when a 64 team tournament determines it all.
While you are correct that it doesn't matter, the fact is there are human beings voting on these things and media outlets publishing and hyping them. I think it is fair to question and criticize them for doing it so wrong.
It boggles my mind that people take the time to read a thread about rankings, clearly indicated by the title, solely to complain about people caring about rankings.
I just put this in a thread below - the AP vote distribution for Michigan, courtesy of Pollspeak.com, came out a while before the poll itself unfortunately, so apologies to the board for that. In any case, Cormac Gordon was our sole #1 vote, and the remaining distribution came out to four votes for 2nd, nine for 3rd place, twenty-four for 4th place, nineteen for 5th place, and eight voters put us at 6th place in the AP Poll.
perfectly reasonable
The mental exercise involved with Louisville being #1 and Duke being #4 is kind of boggling my mind. Louisville is #1 because they have a better loss (to... Duke). Louisville beat Missouri and Kentucky. Duke beat Louisville, Kentucky and Ohio State.
/Confused
Losses:
Louisville: vs. Duke (#3)
Indiana: Butler (#13, neutral site)
Duke: @NC State (#14)
Kansas: vs. MSU (#18)
Michigan: @OSU (#11)
Wins:
Louisville: vs. Mizzou (#17)
Indiana: vs. Minnesota (#9)
Duke: vs. Minnesota (#9), vs. Louisville (#1), vs. OSU (#11)
Kansas: @OSU (#11)
Michigan: KSU (#16, neutral site) vs. NC State (#14)
Seems obvious to me Duke is still #1, you can argue about Michigan and Louisville, and then you can argue about Kansas and Indiana.
Duke lost to Louisville. and you would rank Duke over Louisville ?
All just mental masturbation right now anyway .... I like U of M's chances. This team needed to learn a few things before the NCAA tourney and hopefully we'll see them progress.
Go Blue!
In reality, anywhere in the top 8 is pretty much the same when it comes to The Tournament seeding. Better to be #1 in April than in January. Not losing any sleep on the O$U, a potential loss at Minnesota (especially if Hightower is there), or where we are ranked now.
The rankings will take care of themselves!
You said it, just win and we will be hoisting more than one banner next season.
Lousiville and Kansas have games against teams they could lose to today, and Indiana gets Wisconsin tomorrow at home, which is no guarantee. So, if somehow at least one of them loses, we move up, provided we win.
5 seems about right. I don't think Indiana should be #2.
It boggles my mind at how many people's minds are boggled in this mind boggling thread.
While I agree that timing of the loss should be irrelevant in rankings, football is a whole different beast because of the small sample size and lack of direct comparisons. I don't think anyone can fault a voter for thinking Alabama was more deserving than Oregon and K State of the #2 spot, given their body of work throughout the season and the track record of SEC teams in BCS games.
I think rankings are fun, so, yes. 5th seems right and you could argue for worse if you want to look at the first half (which, of course, ignores a heartfelt and great effort to tie the game after being down by 24).
We have a very, very tough opponent in Minnesota and given the last two games we've scored 20+ points under our season average and shot nearly 20% worse than our previous season average, I don't think winning at Minnesota is any sort of a done deal. If anything, Minnesota should be favored over us.
All in all, I see us finishing 13-5 in the conference. If we pick up a road win at Minny this changes to 14-4.
Where are the four losses? Remaining schedule:
@Minny
Purdue
@Illinois
NW
@Indiana
OSU
@Wisconsin
@Sparty
PSU
Illinois
@PSU
Sparty
@Purdue
Indiana
@Minnesota and @Indiana are reasonable games to expect to lose. We're more talented than every other team on the schedule except home against Indiana, and they are not a good road team. Maybe lose one of the back to back @Wisky/Sparty in early February? I feel like 14-4 is likely, 15-3 very doable.
I think this is fair considering how the (meaningless) polls work in college basketball. I am not losing any sleep over being ranked #5. All we have to do is take care of business and everything will work out in the end. What truly matters is getting that #1 or #2 seed in the tourney, and I think we are in a very good position to accomplish that goal.
Thursday's game is going to be just as difficult as yesterday's was. This is the Big Ten. Beat the Gophers.
I haven't slept since the poll was released.
As badly as I hate losing to ohio, this loss didn't bother me... We played horribly and still almost won. Missing six shots at the end of the game, coupled with our turnovers and first half deficits, we should have been blown out...
This is a great basketball team, and we will continue to get better. This loss will pay dividends in March...
I find that rankings are directly related to the amount of media attention a program receives. As in, I find positive distractions with the national media's attention on Michigan when they are ranked #2. I don't find positive distractions when I see the 90Nth article on Duke basketball. No distraction = back to work. I'd rather Michigan be ranked as highly as possible.
FML.
Let's not stress over rankings until the BCS standings are tallied.
Obviously it's nice to keep a high ranking but the only goals should be...
1. Get a #1 seed
2. Win the Big 10 regular season title
3. Win the Big10 tournament title
If they take care of 2 and 3, #1 should follow.
I still think we should have been at least #4. Ahead of Kansas for sure.
