Sporting News Way-Too-Early Top 25 2019-20- Michigan #4
So now that the championship game is over with, Sporting News is out with their far too early Top 25 for the 2019-20 college basketball season (actually, it came out before the game tonight).
http://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/college-basketball-rankings-sporting-news-way-too-early-top-25-for-2019-20/1oplcsov8ioxf18ydgei068fyp
1. Virginia
2. Michigan State
3. Kentucky
4. Michigan
5. Duke
6. Oregon
7. Marquette
8. Tennessee
9. Purdue
10. Auburn
Interesting...Oregon could probably be higher and may well be when the season starts...
Here's a proper link
EDIT: SI is also out with their WTE 25- They also have Michigan at #4 but they rank Sparty at #1...the second half of SI's T10 is...interesting
Lol... only if Franz Wagner comes in next year.
You must be one of those "fire Beilein in February 2018" people
Michigan is set to return the bulk of a team that despite the disappointing finish was still #6 on KenPom at the end of the season. With no one signing a mega-class like Duke getting 3 of the top 4 HS players this year, Michigan is likely to be a preseason top 5 team by default.
If the rumblings are true we’ll be without Matthews and Poole, which (sadly in retrospect) won’t be that much of a loss based on what we got from them this year other than stellar defense from Matthews. I think we would need them to stay and be more consistent to really take the next step. We need shooters badly. Without them the team will basically look the same as it did this year. MSU is going to be scary next year, and we need some major leaps from a few role players to keep up.
Where is Poole going? I don’t understand the Poole leaving talk. He would have a hard time make the Grand Rapids Hoops.
I think the OP is insinuating Poole will be at a different college.
Why one earth would he transfer though? He obviously wants to be in the NBA and transferring would only make him sit out a year
...and if he wanted to make it to said NBA, why would he, with almost all of his teammates returning, leave his spot, currently a starter on one of the top teams in one of the top conferences with one of the top coaches with a pedigree of turning even middling recruits into NBA guys?
Because fans are dicks on Twitter?
I'm sorry but in the history of Bad Decisions that would be a DOOZY and I don't think he or his dad are that dumb.
I'm gonna guess you're a GR Polish west-sider like myself, maybe even a GRWC grad.
Go Falcons!
This season’s team won 30 games. Not much wrong with looking like that again.
if we get incremental improvement from the veterans plus DDJ and Castleton earning rotation roles, that should equal a second-weekend team again. From there, it’s largely about matchups, getting hot and catching some breaks.
Xavier Tillman and Cassius Winston would be in the NBA if they played for us. Best of all worlds for sparty.
Conspiracy mongering blah blah but Tillman has a kid and can make millions if he leaves but stays. Don’t tell me MSU isn’t bending the rules.
Accusing MSU hoop of cheating is arguing with Beilein, who uses his words carefully.
Before the BT title game: “It’s a great game between two really storied and solid and clean programs.”
He would not say that about a team bending the rules.
Not saying Mich St is cheating but Beilein isnt going to call any program out publicly, especially the instate school. Beilein likes to believe in the purity of the NCAA to an extent, its what helps him survive in this toxic environment he coaches in.
Beilein also doesn't have to publicly praise and compliment his biggest rival in being clean. If he says it, he truly believes it. And he's probably right.
I doubt they are cheating. Izzo has them afraid to leave. If you even think about leaving, he'll sit outside your apartment in his car every night, all night long until you change your mind.
I don't understand the Poole leaving rumblings either. NBC's too-early top 25 suggests he's gone too and has us at #2 behind state.
https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2019/04/08/college-basketball-2019-2020-preseason-top-25/
Purdue at 9 seems like a stretch.
Also feels like people are sleeping on Gonzaga.
But otherwise looks about right. I do think MSU underwhelms compared to expectations next year. Not a ton, but they had a bit of a charmed season and this was the perfect Izzo team for him to coach. An MSU with expectations and young guys who need good mentorship isn't always a great mix.
Not entirely certain on rosters outside the big ten, but doesn't Tennessee lose a ton? Not high on Barnes at all so I would be surprised to see them repeat the year they had without Schofield and Grant. Even then, they only made the sweet sixteen. Same concern with Purdue. They're losing three starters and almost all of their scoring. Respect for their program but would be very impressed if they don't have a severe drop off next year
Final Four?
Freeze it right there.
Our success will depend in large part on our ability to find new avenues to score with pretty much the same players. Opposing teams started to figure us out as the season went on. We will be in just about every game because of our defense, but will our offense do enough?
As we saw in tonight's game, you have to be able to hit those timely threes.
Duke is too high. Their incoming class is nowhere near the trifecta they're losing.
Oregon and Auburn will be dogged by the feds.
Barnes is ditching UT for UCLA.
Purdue is not a top-20 team without Edwards.
So basically they got the top ten half right.
Barnes will be back at Tennessee, after all.
UCLA BB can't find a coach
My way too early ranking still has Izzo at #1 Douchebag especially how post Texas Tech game he threw his players under the bus in interviews. God I hate that dick.
I expected Auburn to be higher.
In retrospect, the Okeke injury screwed Auburn.
With a healthy Okeke, Auburn probably beats Virginia (nearly beat UVA without him) and matches up well with Texas Tech because Auburn can rain 3s with regularity.
You wanna see a really dumb way--too-early top 25, go check out ESPN.
1. MSU
2. Marquette
3. Kentucky
4. Virginia
5. Villanova
6. Duke
7. Michigan
Then again, I really could have said, you wanna see a really dumb _________, go check out ESPN.
I haven't understood the Marquette hype all season long...and now this...a preseason #2...that's a joke...way too much French pastry by ESPN
Name one player on Marquette
Before I start, let me say I think Beilein should get a lifetime contract. As to this ranking, I hope it's right, but I'm not as optimistic about next year. It's great that we could get everyone back except Matthews, making us really experienced. The problems are, Zavier Simpson can't shoot and that's unlikely to change, severely limiting his impact on offense. Poole makes bad decisions and hasn't shown the ability to create offense against good competition. So we don't have anyone who can reliably create offense, and our team offense is severely limited because we don't have a reliable three-point threat. We have decent three-point shooters, but we lack a guy who you can count on to knock it down when he gets an open look or five. The Texas Tech game (and others) showed that we have the ability for everyone to go cold and miss shot after shot, and that's deadly if you don't have someone who can do it other ways. And with all of those weaknesses on offense, I'm really worried about losing Charles Matthews's defense. Isiah Livers does not replace that, and is a better shooter, but otherwise, I'm not sure he's much on an improvement on offense. All that being said, I can't wait for next year, I hope I'm wrong, and I look forward to the possibility that something completely unexpected and awesome emerges.
Why don’t you think the returning players will improve? Especially mentally. Poole, Livers and Iggy all have pretty high ceilings and will improve. Teske and Simpson will find a way to improve. The incoming frosh have better offensive skills than Matthews. If they come in ready and this seasons frosh improve more than slightly, next years team could be better.
Losing Matthews isn't great for the defense, but besides that, isn't the only direction this team can theoretically go, up? Everyone will be a year older and better and we'll have more depth
This feels about right. If everyone returns. This team won 30 games and that's nothing to look down at.
All I see here is people posting about what the team did wrong, and I think that's a bit shortsighted. This team does a lot of good things too.
With everyone a year older, they could just be better players. Is that so hard to see?
I counting on our huge centre to improve the same amount as last off season , and if he does , MSU is going down.
We're a football school.
We definitely better ball
handling from the wing players and 3py shooting. Watching the final four there were several good Defenses but they all had at least a couple capable 3pt shooters on the court. Almost at one time.
Dont think you can grind out elite 8 and final 4 type wins consistently. Need shooters so you can go on mini runs at least or keep up frankly when the other team eventually knocks down a couple in a row
My takes....
- There are too many last minute changes to be able to predict this far ahead. TT was relying on two grad transfers heavily - who could have predicted that? Until the NBA departures and transfers settle it will be hard.
- Assuming that MSU inexplicably keeps everyone, they will be hard to beat. I do think that McQuaid and Goins were critical to their success on both ends of the court, but they have a lot returning and Izzo thrives with experienced teams that will let him humiliate them in public.
- Don't sleep on Duke for the same reason. I think Coach K also does better with a deeper and more experienced team. Losing some of these 1-and-done kids might be a Ewing theory moment.
- Michigan should be a lock for the top ten....but they have work to do to compete for the top five. Hopefully everyone stays and gets better this off-season.
- Gonzaga has this crazy ability to find amazing basketball players from all over the globe to attend their tiny college in the middle of no where so they'll be good again.
- I'm skeptical on Auburn, Tennessee, UNC, etc. All should be good - but too early to tell how good.
- Purdue and Wisconsin will be fascinating. I think both will struggle the first half of the season and then come on strong late. I have no idea who will score for either team, but I think their systems, coaches, and style make them someone I don't want to play late.
Ward is the only question mark for MSU, and they beat us twice without him. But I think the assumption is that Langford will be back 100% for sure, that's an unknown, he's still out for a few more months. If he is back near 100%, he's a significant upgrade over McQuaid for them.
I think that Aaron Henry is a future star for them, his development is worth watching. He's their most talented player and did well guarding both Matthews and Iggy when he was asked to. Very quick and strong.
MSU has a couple potential impact recruits, both at positions of need. That Watts is a Blue Chip kid at the combo guard spot, having another player who can create their own shot is big for that team. They have a stretch 4 coming in that should contribute right away.
On paper MSU will be better, how they gel together is yet to be seen.
Duke has made 1 Final 4 in like 10 years, they haven't been a juggernaut.
I really like Purdue's young talent, but they will really miss Kline's and Edward's shot making, that team will really be challenged offensively.
Iggy needs to come back for us to contend with MSU. If he leaves we are not close to them on paper. But the games are played on court regardless. Poole, are there still rumors? That's not good.
I wouldn't say Langford is a major upgrade over McQuaid. He should bring more to the table on the offensive end assuming he fully recovers, but McQuaid was definitely the better defender. I'd say Langford would be about the same as McQuaid overall, maybe slightly better if he steps up on defense. Also that is a very good point about the team gelling. On paper, we look to be more talented next year than this year, but they still have to go out and play as a team in order to be successful. Given the amount of experience returning, I wouldn't expect chemistry to be a big issue, but it's never a guarantee.
This is dead on IMO regarding Michigan. They will be an elite team next year. They have senior leadership with playmakers at every position. They should have a better backup situation at C next year with more contributors on the bench. It will come down to if they can create more offense next year as to whether they underachieve or not. They have the foundation to win it all.
Go Blue!
Assuming that our entire team returns, minus Mathews, I have no issue with this ranking or any ranking that puts us in the Top 10. However, unlike football, who cares about Basketball Rankings. They really have no impact on anything important, yeah they are fun to look at, but don't matter.
Looking at the team for next year, again assuming Mathews is the only one leaving of value, I think we might actually be better. Livers will go from 6th Man to starter but more importantly, that moves Iggy to the 3 instead of 4, which I believe is a more comfortable offensive position for him. It also puts a more reliable 3pt shooter in Livers on the floor, not to mention, makes for a bigger line-up.
Then, from a bench perspective, I believe we will have a deeper bench than in years past. Brooks becomes the 6th Man, Castleton (with some added weight) and Johns will take over the back-up 4/5 sports and I think DD makes the turn and will play PG and Combo Guard (think of the line-ups where we had X and Eli, now you can do that with X/DD, Eli/DD and Poole/DD).
The one area I think will hurt, as it did this year as well (lets not get into X's ability to shoot, at this point, it is what it is) is a larger 2/3 off the bench. Can DD be an off guard volume score like a Carsen Edwards negating the size issue, can Nunez develop enough to earn 10-15 minutes a game? This is an issue I noticed when Poole came out of the game, we struggled at that 2 Guard position because either Eli came in and we went 2x PG's, or Mathews slide over and just didn't shoot reliably from the outside.
Iggy candidate for POTY next year - lock it. Teske will be better and bigger. We lack a shooting threat at the point. Poole confounds me. I expect livers to make a significant leap.
If anything I see improvement over next season after notching 30 this year
"Iggy candidate for POTY next year - lock it."
In the NBA? LINK
B10 but it's possible
I’ve seen a few that has Michigan #2. I think we will get a revised version after the draft and everyone has a better idea of what the roster will look like.
A couple of writers that have Michigan #2 has MSU #1. Next season should be a good one.