WBB left out of ESPN Bracketology again

Submitted by Fifth-Stringer on

Charlie Creme's new Bracketology out today continues to omit Michigan, not even putting them the First Four Out or Next Four Out, while seven Big Ten teams are in the mock bracket.

Michigan's argument: only losses are to 1 seed Notre Dame, 5 seed LSU, 6 seed MSU, Next Four Out Bowling Green and in OT to Xavier (i.e. only one bad loss so far), combined with road wins over supposed 11 seed OSU and 6 seed Purdue.

I'd say that while the resume may not be strong enough for a bid yet, consideration is certainly warranted and KBA is of course doing an incredible job. The rest of the B1G schedule will be big.

Thoughts on the ladies' tournament chances?

M Fanfare

January 20th, 2014 at 8:27 PM ^

Keep winning and it won't be an issue. Over the last couple of seasons it seems like WBB has been good at knocking off the top teams in the league but has lost to enough of the middling and bottom teams that it holds their end-of-season resume back. Eliminate the bad losses and the program will take a big step forward.

Raoul

January 20th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^

Right now, it probably comes down to RPI. In the "official" NCAA RPI, Michigan is at 64, which probably places them just outside the "next four out" that he lists. If they win enough games down the stretch, their RPI will improve enough to get them in.

They're 4-1 in the conference right now. If they can finish at least 11-5 (20-9 overall), they should be fine regardless of what happens in the BTT. One good thing about the Big Ten having so many good teams is that only Illinois currently has a +100 RPI, so there are limited chances for additional bad losses.

EDIT: Also, Creme isn't the only game in town. The S-Factor, which is an obscure blog but has a good track record of mimicking the choices of the selection committee, has Michigan in the tourney as a 9 seed as of last Thursday.

Raoul

January 20th, 2014 at 10:06 PM ^

Because of their youth and inexperience, they were expected to finish toward the bottom of the conference. Pleasant surprise is exactly right.

I do wonder if this Big Ten season might end up playing out much like last season. The team got off to a 4-1 start in the conference last year as well and then went just 5-6 the rest of the way. That was with a veteran team. Both last year's and this year's schedules are similar in being back-loaded with tougher stretches toward the end. Can this young team do better than the veteran squad did last season? Keep in mind, too, that Barnes Arico has shortened her bench considerably of late and has been playing just 7 players. So will any players wear down toward the end of the season, or will there be games they lose because of foul trouble?

One side note: After a couple of great games, Siera Thompson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week and also made the Player of the Week Honor Roll.

Mr Miggle

January 20th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^

especially with a young team. The seven player rotation has been in effect much of the season though, hasn't it? I think she just tried a few more options when Shannon Smith was out.

Raoul

January 20th, 2014 at 10:46 PM ^

I guess that was sort of my point. Both Kendra Seto and Danielle Williams had gotten some non-garbage time minutes earlier in the season, and now they're not playing at all.

The injury Williams suffered seemed to really set her back; otherwise, I think she could have been a solid contributor this year.