bacon1431

November 29th, 2019 at 10:52 PM ^

Good portion returned but we still lost over 40 ppg and outside of Livers, Teske, and Simpson we knew very little of what the roster would do. Throw in replacing our best coach in program history with a first time HC and I don’t think it’s that unfair. 
Most experts and fans thought we would be close to a bubble team. Which is outside of the 25

Joined: 07/26/2008

MGoPoints: 25294

charblue.

November 29th, 2019 at 11:24 PM ^

My sentiments exactly. This wasn't even based on Beilein's departure and the exit of three players who didn't make up the core of the team. How do you leave a team out of the Top 20 with three veteran returners who helped win more than 30 games including one of the nation's longest winning streaks. Most teams lose that number of players a year and are still not dissed the way Michigan was.

The team's early success is sweeter because of the failure of basketball pundits to see this team as more than collection of question marks. They play hard and every aspect of their game outside of free throw shooting seems to be improving each game. Not worried about lack of recognition, just surprised by the lack of respect for the program's continuity of success.

Joined: 05/25/2010

MGoPoints: 11420

robpollard

November 29th, 2019 at 11:54 PM ^

Whoa. Michigan lost its top 3 scorers from last year, (we didn't return a single player who averaged double digits) and its best wing defender; combine that with a good but not great recruiting class and losing, unexpectedly, the best coach in program history and replacing him with a first-time head coach, there were plenty of legit questions.

If it matters, I thought we should have been somewhere in the 20-25 range, but being unranked wasn't unreasonable. 

All that doesn't matter. What matters is, though there will be some ups and downs (App State was this season, as hard as that is to remember), this is a Top 10 team that can compete at the highest level now and appears to be well set for the future (e.g., top-notch coach; obvious replacements for next year's departures). That is awesome.

Joined: 06/03/2009

MGoPoints: 14005

J.

November 30th, 2019 at 1:10 AM ^

The AP put together a story on Michigan that included some stats: since the AP went from 20 to 25 teams in 89-90, five teams have gone from unranked to the top 10, and one single, solitary team has gone from unranked to the top 5.

People who are predicting this don’t understand how the polls work, and suggesting that it’s some kind of anti-Howard bias is silly.  Preseason, Michigan was picked around the middle of the conference by just about everyone, because they lost so much of their offensive production from last year and it wasn’t obvious who was going to replace it.  Nobody saw Eli Brooks blossoming into somebody who could drop two dozen on North Carolina.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

mgoblue14050

November 29th, 2019 at 10:52 PM ^

This team is legit. Has great depth, plays outstanding defense, and they are incredibly efficient on offense. If they limit the turnovers they are arguably the #1 team in the country. They have the #1 resume that’s for sure. Fun to watch them beat up on two top ten blue bloods in consecutive days! 

Joined: 12/12/2011

MGoPoints: 112

Durham Blue

November 30th, 2019 at 12:20 AM ^

I understand that but we returned three very good players in Teske, Simpson and Livers.  And you had to know that Castelton, DeJulius and Brooks would be solid.  Add a top Fr talent like Franz Wagner and I don't see how we are not at least #25.  Most of our guys are pure shooters and elite defenders.  They work hard and bring it every time.  All respect to John Beilein.  We lost a great one.  But I think Juwan is filling those shoes admirably.

Joined: 10/09/2008

MGoPoints: 30056

JamieH

November 29th, 2019 at 11:20 PM ^

C'mon, we lost our 3 leading scorers and our coach.  I'm not sure anyone was thinking we'd be this good.   Even the biggest homer fan wasn't predicting Eli Brooks was going to be dropping 24 on North Carolina before the season.  Hell I'm shocked he dropped 24 on ANYONE.  Last year his season high was 6.  SIX.

The team is rolling because Livers, Brooks, Teske and DeJulius have stepped up offensively in a BIG way.  Livers is shooting over 50% from 3.  Brooks is shooting 50% from 3.  DeJulius is shooing 48% from 3.   These numbers are not likely to hold up over the season, so there is likely to be some regression for this team.  Hopefully they can just avoid going cold all at the same time. 

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

WolvinLA2

November 30th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^

Most probably didn't think we'd be THIS good, but many of us thought we be pretty good.  Zavier and Teske are great players and the guys we lost were good players but not exactly irreplaceable.  We all saw Livers's potential last year and knew Franz was coming and was a bit of a known quantity.  That meant all we needed was one of Brooks, Nunez or DeJulius to step in and be a solid 5th starter, not exactly a stretch for guys with a full off-season to improve and compete with each other. 

I didn't expect us to be top-5, but I thought it was odd we weren't in the top 25 after so many consistent years of top-15 or better play.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191