Should MBB be ranked?
Pretty straightforward question. Wanted to know what people think. Currently they are not ranked in the top 25 of either the AP or the Coaches poll.
However, we are ranked 15th in the Sagarin ratings and 21 in the BPI.
Most importantly, we sit on top of the B1G along with MSU, with key wins against Minnesota on the road, FSU at a neutral site, and a current 6 game win streak, 4 of which were conference games.
Our 4 losses include #8 Iowa State on the road, #23 Duke on the road, and a 2 point loss at home to #1 Arizona, and one bad loss the Charlotte.
Michigan has the 18th hardest schedule in the NCAA.
In my opinion, they deserved to be ranked around 20 or so. What do you think?
January 16th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^
I feel like we have proven ourselves as one of the 25 best teams in the country. However, a few factors are clearly pulling us down in the voters eyes: how bad our loss to Charlotte was, the loss of Mitch, the lack of credit we get for losing to an ISU team that turned out to be pretty darn good (to go along with our two other respectable losses), and just the general mindset that we are nowhere near the quality of team the media initially predicted.
These factors make it a no brainer to leave us out of the rankings until we get a signature win, even though there is little doubt that there are not 25 teams that can beat us. Once we get that big win (without another embarrassing loss), we're in the rankings.
January 16th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^
January 16th, 2014 at 5:41 PM ^
I actually like them playing unranked. With the gauntlet coming up as mentioned, i'd like to beat the MSU's and OSU's with as much underdog perspective as possible. All they need to do is focus on each game at a time. With the schedule they are going to go through, if played well, the ranking will come. JUST WIN BABY!
January 16th, 2014 at 6:01 PM ^
Beat Wiscy on the road, and abso-friggin-lutely. Right now, I consider us a fringe top-25 team. But that loss to Charlotte still just stings our rep right now.
January 16th, 2014 at 7:11 PM ^
January 16th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^
We were ranked fairly high early on this season before our losses to Charlotte and ISU. My reality is that the top for this team is likely to be a 1st division finish in the B1G (top 5?) and a sweet 16 appearance given what we have seen so far this basketball year to date. Anything beyond that would be very surprising to me. However, we have some games coming against MSU, Wisconsin, OSU, and Iowa that will tell us whether we have improved enough to do better than this.
January 17th, 2014 at 8:41 AM ^
Polls don't matter in basketball. That's not a rationalization - it's fact. They hold no influence over the selection committee. The RPI does matter, though.
As for us being over the moon if we hired Johnson, yeah, that's probably true, but that's an example of the phenomenon you describe in the other direction. People would be building him up into more than he was. He's just a position coach, and PSU's D-lines haven't been all that great under his watch. His main trump card is in recruiting, but neither Michigan nor OSU has struggled in that regard.
January 18th, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^
January 16th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^
Number One in the hearts of loyal Michigan fans. Isn't that the only ranking that really counts?
January 16th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^
I think we should be ranked ahead of Saint Louis. With a win on Saturday, we'll definitely earn it.
January 16th, 2014 at 8:53 PM ^
Doesn't matter, it will all sort itself out in the next few games.
January 16th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^
January 16th, 2014 at 9:45 PM ^
January 16th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^
Looks like that win @ Minnesota is a better win than some may have thought. That ohio team sure is struggling right now against the Gopghers.
Also, how about all these low scoring games in the Big-10 lately. Ill/NW, NW/MSU, and now OSU/Minn.
January 16th, 2014 at 10:46 PM ^
January 17th, 2014 at 9:56 AM ^