MBB: Michigan ranked 18th in AP Poll

Submitted by Bambi on November 12th, 2018 at 1:09 PM

Link to the poll

Michigan moved up a spot to #18 after #13 WVU dropped out after losing to Buffalo. Duke jumped Kansas to #1 while Kentucky fell all the to #10.

In the B1G, MSU dropped a spot to #11 and Purdue moved up one spot to #23. Those are the only ranked B1G teams but Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Maryland are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th respectively in the receiving votes category. All of these teams except Maryland play in the Gavitt Games this week so they all have the chance to win and move into the rankings.

Our next opponent Villanova is at #8 while UNC is at #7.

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TrueBlue2003

November 12th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^

Wouldn't be that shocking.  Michigan is ranked (and deserves to be) and has one of the best defenses in the country.  Michigan has a reasonable chance to win any game on the schedule.

It is certainly not expected, but wouldn't be a shock.

EDIT: for added context, Michigan came into the MSU game last year with a 15% chance to win per kenpom.  We all know how that went.  Kenpom is giving M a 23% chance to beat Nova. Not likely, but wouldn't at all be a "shock" level upset.

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footballguy

November 12th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^

I don’t really get how there can be poll movement when everybody are playing equivalent of JuCo’s.

Duke looked scary against Kentucky, but were in a game with Army with about 10 minutes left in the game, and Kentucky looked average in their other game.

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TrueBlue2003

November 12th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^

Well, Michigan moved up a spot because WVU which was ranked 13th lost to one of those JuCo's (Buffalo) as the OP noted.

And then some actual basketball games were played amongst actual basketball teams, like Duke vs. Kentucky, and did offer some information (like wow, Duke looks scary and/or UK might have a long way to go).

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NJblue2

November 12th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^

I don't know if we'll stay ranked next weekend if we lose to Nova. Our offense is pretty bad right now, hopefully they get better, but I don't think we'll be able to keep up with them. Also Duke seems scary good this year, those freshmen are amazing.

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MgoHillbilly

November 12th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^

Where's osu? Judging by their board activity, you'd think they were tied with Duke for #1. Poor fans need something to focus on since their football team has disappointed them so far this year. 

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footballguy

November 12th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^

I watched their second half last night on BTN and they actually looked pretty good. I am going to bet they get into the ranking at some point before conference play starts.

That being said they are not the #1 team lol but they look solid

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Gameboy

November 12th, 2018 at 2:54 PM ^

We are #27 on Kenpom and I think that is about right for where we are right now. Villanova is #6 on Kenpom, BTW.

I would say we can beat Nova if we hit better than 38% on threes and 70% on FTs.

You can gauge how likely that is on your own.

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TrueBlue2003

November 12th, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^

Irrelevant that it was against bad teams.  Three point shooting percentage has been proven to be opponent independent.

That said, yes, we have not been good.  Three point shooting is definitely dependent on who's shooting the shots and Duncan Robinson, Derrick Walton and Nik Stauskas are not walking through the door.

Hopefully a version of Jordan Poole that is actually as good as or even slightly better (we'll take that right now!) than the freshman version of Jordon Poole does walk through the door.  I'm sure he will. Sooner would be preferred to later.

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