Michigan Basketball moves from unranked to 12th in ESPN's College Basketball Power Rankings
ESPN admits they "underestimated" Michigan heading into the season. Maybe we did too!?
I know, I know, it's early, but at the very least, last night proved to me that we will be a factor to win the B1G this year.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25200602/college-basketball-power-rankings
November 15th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
And #2 in SOR (ahead of Duke!)
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bpi/_/dir/asc/view/overview/sort/sorrank
November 15th, 2018 at 9:21 AM ^
The people who predicted MSU to run away with the conference with no competition remind me of the people making awful Harbaugh takes. They're just talking about stuff they don't understand or aren't looking at the full picture.
Still, this result was... unexpected.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
MSU was the default choice for a lot of people. There were the runaway favorite in the number of predictions, but I didn't hear people saying that they would run away with the title. They just had the most known quantities when all the best teams in the Big Ten had a lot of question marks.
The Big Ten looks very strong in the top half. MSU could be as good as expected and finish 3rd.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
MSU was the default choice because Izzo used to be a good coach. I'm not sure how many disappointing seasons it's going to take for him to lose that undeserved reputation.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
Yeah. They lost a ton of talent. So did the other good teams. So the media played “spin the wheel of B1G basketball teams” to predict the winner and MSU had 50% of the spaces because they’re MSU.
It’s not that there’s another team that is clearly better established, it’s that the media has no idea what the league will look like (can’t blame them, honestly) and liked the SAPS on the Dallas when it detects a hydrodynamic propulsion unit on a Soviet missile submarine, they run home to mama when they get confused.
November 15th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
They lost two top 15 picks though. So they lost a lot more talent than everyone else and were starting from behind Michigan in the first place. Michigan also had far more promising young pieces likely to make leaps than MSU did. Poole, Livers, Teske, Simpson all were in better places to make improvements. Matt McDoyle mostly is what he is at this point, so is Nick Ward, etc.
The media didn't need to play spin the wheel. The above stated facts were all they needed to know Michigan should have been the favorite in the B1G.
November 15th, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^
I think that people look at the MSU talent and "Izzo's great coaching" and expect them to control things. But they also expect that talent to develop and for the most part that does not really occur at MSU lately.
Michigan routinely starts with "less talent" (especially from the freshmen), but that talent takes a big leap from season to season and during the season. The experts seem slow to adjust to this "new reality."
November 15th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
I don't follow you jonesy.
November 15th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Thanks for the HFRO reference. I employ the SAPS analogy frequently.
I thought I heard singing.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
....also because they lead the B1G in floor slaps per game.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Honestly I think it's worse, because there were some real issues with the football program. Basketball has been rolling and although we lost some, we still returned 3 starters, our entire staff, and brought in a top 10 recruiting class. State also lost their best two players by far.
You would have to really truly not pay attention to think state was a clear favorite at all. I think any state fan who isn't a blind homer would even favor us after dominating them last year.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
Michigan State is down at 15, and apparently Nick Ward's ankles haven't healed from what Mo did to him last year.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
....they never will!!!
November 15th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Did we ever get that GoFundMe started for Ward's ankle surgery?
November 15th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Basketball little brother
November 15th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
Better late than ever, "Worldwide Leader in Sports". Bunch of idiots there in Bristol. Michigan announced itself last night, now nobody can ignore them.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
ESPN was far too busy watching Zion Williamson dunk on the utterly helpless.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
But still... That kid will be unstoppable. Hope he's a one and done.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
He is absolutely one and done. He's projected as the top overall pick in the draft next year.
He. Gone.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
we also jumped from 27thish to 11th in kenpom
November 15th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
Still ranked too low.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
I hope so, but football over the past 2 years should have taught M fans to be cautious of early season results. After 2017's Florida game, we were thinking possible Big Ten championship. After 2018's Notre Dame game, a loud minority of the blog wanted Harbaugh gone. After North Carolina, we'll know more.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
"After 2018's Notre Dame game, a loud minority of the blog wanted Harbaugh gone."
Who the fuck ever said that? I hope they were IP banned.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:29 AM ^
I was pretty plugged in that week. There were a lot of calls for Hamilton to go. There was little, if any, assertion that Harbaugh needed to be fired. Even by the most negative of nancies.
Basically everyone understands that Harbaugh is as good a coach as this program can get.
November 15th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
If Michigan's QB's could have stayed healthy last year, they could at least competed for a conference title.
Even a remotely functional QB could have won the MSU and OSU games last year. Optimism was warranted. Starting QB goes down and that made a huge difference given what our backup situation was.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
We'll have to wait and see how good Nova actually is. A 27 point win over a tounament team is a 27 point win, but is it over a team that's going to get a 1-4 seed? Or a team that'll be a 5-9? UNC will ground everyone a lot more on just how good Michigan really is. This ranking feels about right for now.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
It's a 27 point on the road against a team that won 2 out of the last 3 national championships and has 2 potential all-americans. Nova may not be as good as they were last year but they are a damn good squad.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
Roll this weekend and should be ranked near 5 in the next set of polls
November 15th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
Its comical that this is what happens to Michigan every year. They have a great season and then get no respect in the next preseason. Yes, M lost all its production, but Villanova lost even more and they were viewed as a top 10 team because Wright is a great coach.
I didn't expect the destruction we saw last night (I expected a loss on the road by <10), but at some point JB needs to get some respect that he will be a championship contender every year. Either B10 or NCAA.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
Eh. I'm fine with not getting national respekt if UM and Beilein keep doing what they've been doing year-in/year-out. Staee and D'artagnan made a living off it in football for years.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
True there is a "respekt" aura about this team in how it's consistently undervalued, but it goes about earning that respect year after year with hard work, defense and integrity behind a class act coach as opposed to steroids, criminals and "chip on our shoulder" references employed by certain rivals.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Lighten up. They had injuries!
November 15th, 2018 at 10:55 AM ^
Starts with the fanbase giving coach B and the team respect.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
After what I saw last night, we should be 5th
November 15th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Treasure these times when we can start a season underrated.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
Winning on the road to a ranked team, a ranked team which happens to be the defending champions, is a big accomplishment.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
I suspect that Villanova was a tad bit over-rated at this point. They lost 4 guys to the pro's that are all contributing, so that 's a lot to replace. I expect them to be better in Feb, but that will help us also if they win and beat some ranked teams on the way.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
Michigan lost 3, so what
November 15th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
They lost that ginger assassin.
November 15th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
No doubt. I always wonder why Michigan fans give other teams the benefit of the doubt but hamblast their own team if they struggle with the same difficulties.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
Don't care about rankings
Care about progress and THE Final Four.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
Yup! Basketball rankings are pointless all season long. In football, they actually mean something around halfway through the season. That is not the case in basketball.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
Are we really getting hyped about basketball in mid november? I think Villanova's ranking was pure blasphemy as well. It's far too early in the season to get a feel on any team.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
"Are we really getting hyped about basketball in mid november?"
Why not? It might be too soon to pencil Michigan into the NC game against Duke, but there's nothing wrong with getting excited about how the team looks at the moment. It's what fans do.
November 15th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
This is a bad post and false in every regard.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
I'd pick us over most of that Top Ten.
November 15th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Excellent, looked really powerful obv
November 15th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
This writers a clown.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
I feel disrespekted