UM Hoops Rankings
AP - 20
Coaches - 22
Hopefully, with the gauntlet we have coming up, we can cling on to the top 25.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
that we didnt fall further. We need a quality road win to gain some cred.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^
Beat a top team in MSU and lost on a 3 pointer that rimmed out on the road after clawing back from an insanely infuriating first half.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^
Does it really change based on how far we were down? I figure polling comes from people who either barely watched or just saw the score at the end. I would think it hinges more on whether or not we won. Possibly margin of victory. But would it really matter what the score was at halftime, for example?
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
It's possible that a lot of the pollsters didn't watch the game (especially the coaches) but it was a nationally televised game on the weekend. Reading a quick recap would have told them that anyway.
And even if they don't look at either of those, I'm sure MOV comes into account. I'm sure the pollsters look at how the top-25 fared this week, and losing @ARK by 2 is a lot better than losing by 15 or more.
People who follow basketball know that a 2-point loss is almost a toss-up, but a 15+ point victory generally shows one team is better than the other. This is likely teken into account on the polls.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
That seems logical, but what about early points in the game? Maizenbluenation mentioned "clawing back after an insanely infuriating first half," which implies that the voting hinges on how we played poorly in the first half even though we came back. If that were the case, then a game like (football) Wisconsin 2008 should be detrimental since we played so terribly in the first half, even though we in fact came back to win the game
I know it must be taken into account if somebody saw the game or if the recaps cover it (hopefully they mention that Arkansas absolutely could not miss a shot), even if it shouldn't, but is it a standard criterion/point of consideration?
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
Its the same argument MSU had for football this year. They beat us at home, wha wha. You look at the poll--mainly you just want to stay away from the one and two seeds(top 8). Of the at-large spots, you want a 1-6 seed or an 11-13 seed to avoid playing those teams till the sweet 16(if not longer with upsets). There is very little separating 9-25.
Mostly I want our guys hungry for the sweep.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^
Yeah, MSU is probably ranked too high, and we're probably ranked too low, but it's still too early for these polls to really matter.
In terms of seperation of the two team's rankings, though, it's actually hard for me to determine quantifiable reasons for the 10 spot difference. If I were to guess, I'd say it's the "quality of losses" argument that is always tossed around. MSU really only has one bad loss(NW) and we have a couple (Iowa and Arkansas).
If we can go .500 over these next 5 games I suspect you'll see a slight rise in rankings.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:33 PM ^
I, too, am outraged that our arbitrary spread in rankings isn't a slightly smaller arbitrary spread in rankings.
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
They've played a tough schedule and have some nice road victories. I'm fine with them being ranked ahead - UM needs to take care of business and then we'll see what happens.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:41 PM ^
Arkansas is a tough place to play, and Michigan beat the then-No.9 team in the country since the last rankings.
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
I don't buy the notion that the Arkansas game didn't matter just because it wasn't a B1G game. If we win that game (i.e. if Trey's 3 is 1 cm better) we're easily looking at a top 12 ranking and thus giving us a much easier road to finishing in the top 25 and getting a better seed. Yeah, that game likely cost us 10 spots in the polls and would have put to rest all the points about UM not winning a road game all season.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
RPI ranking is No 28 as well. http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa_mens_basketball_rpi
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:10 PM ^
Meh. These polls don't matter too much, especially in January. I would start paying attention to RPI/SOS and wins vs. top 25 and top 50, which are the things that are really relevant in college bball.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
I think our ranking is about right. These next couple weeks will be interesting. An absolute gauntlet we've got to run through. I think we could feasibly go 3-2 through it:
W @Purdue
L @OSU
W VS Indiana
L @MSU
W @Nebraska
But I'll be thrilled if that happens.
On another note, how is Cincinnati unranked? They're 3-1 against the ranked teams they've played so far. Sure, they've got some inexplicable losses, but every team has those.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^
We aren't losing to state. That team has a strange problem matching up with us. Plus coach B is in tommy's head pretty bad right now.
January 23rd, 2012 at 3:15 PM ^
Michigan is in Draymond's head.
Dude can't produce against the maize and blue.
January 23rd, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^
I don't know, I just don't think the game's anywhere close to a gimme. I think we definitely have a great chance to pull it off, we obviously did it last year, but MSU's still a really good team who will be playing us at home. Not to mention the fact that we haven't won a road game all year. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we pull it off.
January 23rd, 2012 at 3:23 PM ^
Luckily, basketball has a tournament to determine a true champion. That means that the Wolverines will have the opportunity to prove their worth I would like to see a seed other than 7,8,9, or 10 so that they don't have to play a one or two seed in the second round.
You have to eventually beat the best to become a champion, but it would be nice to see Michigan get a decent draw and have a better chance to make it to the second weekend. The second weekend is really the next increment of improvement; it would be nice to see it happen this year.
January 23rd, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^
Rough stretch ahead. It would be a helluva achievement to stay ranked.
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^
is definitely not hurting MSU right now, considering they blew out FSU. I don't have a problem where UM is sitting right now, or where MSU is. Until UM can win games on the road, they don't deserve to be any higher.
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:44 PM ^
A bit off-topic, but how come Arkansas, who has a respectable record and almost made a complete joke of a top 20 team (who in turn had just beaten a top 10 team), does not get a single, solitary vote in either poll? A few of their losses this season came against ranked teams and Michigan was the 2nd ranked team they had beaten in 2 weeks. I know I shouldn't look into rankings too much, but what gives?
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
I'll take 2 wins out of the next 4 games. Mich needs a road win to stand on. Please just get out of there with 2 wins.
January 23rd, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
Let's take it out on the Boilermakers.