MBB Drops To #5 in AP
Tennessee takes over the top spot, followed by Duke, Virginia and Gonzaga.
We are still ahead of Sparty, who is at #6. With their unbeaten conference record - I can only imagine the bitching at the RCMB right now...
Lot of basketball to be played this season - going to be fun to watch as teams shift in the Top 10 throughout the year. Hopefully, our upward shift begins tomorrow with Minnesota at home.
Go Blue!
January 21st, 2019 at 2:11 PM ^
Great Day for ESPN.
They get 2 teams from the basketball conference they are always in the tank for (ACC) and a team from the conference they own 50% of the television rights to (SEC) ahead of the B10 team.
The great thing about basketball is that it is settled on the court. A bonus is that ESPN doesnt own the tournament.
*After watching a few games on ESPN I was reminded how shockingly bad their coverage really is. 5 minutes of announces forgetting the were at the Michigan/Wisconsin game. Graphics covering half the court on the others.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
Disrespect MSU! Got to love it!
January 21st, 2019 at 3:19 PM ^
A bunch of slappy sparties on RCMB are so angry about this (meaningless) poll. Dumb asses.
January 22nd, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
They are dumbasses, but we were all pretty pissed about the preseason poll
January 21st, 2019 at 2:24 PM ^
We're blue bloods!
January 21st, 2019 at 2:27 PM ^
Michigan should have been ranked fourth in my opinion. But, as many stated, that is irrelevant right now and they just need to keep getting wins. I can see Michigan and MSU both going 7-3 over the next 10 games. (MSU will lose to Michigan at crisler but will probably even the score the last game of the year).
Go blue!
January 21st, 2019 at 2:57 PM ^
Ranking not a issue. We only play 1-3 games per season where multiple players have "no show" results.
Kohl Ctr has made many more talented teams look like crap...Izzo kryptonite.
Two loss max for rest of Big. Beilein is a master fixer and will secure a 1-3 seed. Sparty gonna drop a few more as Langford's ppg will catch up with them.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
Let's take a closer look. 13 games left in the regular season.
6 at Home: Minnesota, OSU, Wisconsin, Maryland, MSU, Nebraska
Not a creampuff among them. As long as the wheels don't come off, that's probably 4-2 or so? Obviously they can win them all and will probably be favored to do so. But that's a tough slate.
7 on the Road: @ Indiana, @ Iowa, @ Rutgers, @ Penn State, @ Minnesota, @ Maryland, @ MSU
I could see 3 or 4 losses in there. Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Maryland & MSU will all be hostile. I'm saying 4-3 and I think that's pretty fair. Road games in the B1G are hard (see: NW, Illinois, Wisconsin) and five of those teams could be ranked when we see them.
That puts us 8-5 to close. Finishing the B1G at 25-6 (14-6).
Tack on maybe a highly seeded 2-1 in the B1G Tourney with a loss in the championship (seriously, we can't win the thing every year, can we?) and you're 27-7. That's almost exactly what our pre-tourney record was last year, which earned us a 3 seed on the cusp of a 2.
Anyway, this was done in response to your "Two loss max for rest of Big." I'll hope you're right and I'll take the over.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:47 PM ^
At this point it would take a collapse of epic proportions to get anything lower than a 3 seed.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:13 PM ^
They have been ITCHING for a reason to drop us. Already refused to give us the #1 spot we’ve deserved for weeks. Man Tennessee is overrated.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
I think that's about right. Always felt like we are a top 10 team. Should be interesting the two games against sparty. Sweeping them would be huge.
GO BLUE!!
January 21st, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
Guys, Michigan lost to a KenPom #16 team (probably > #20 before Saturday). Michigan has not looked good since December.
January 21st, 2019 at 6:24 PM ^
Are you saying it's bad to lose to the #16 team on the road?
January 22nd, 2019 at 1:00 PM ^
Typically losing is deemed to be less advantageous than winning, so, to answer your question, yes. To an unranked team that lost the last 4 of 5, including last 2 at home - definitely. And we are still ranked top 5. Not understanding the outrage. But this is the internet.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
rankings right now are meaningless. The team has some things to work on. Beat minnesota tomorrow and then prepare for a big test at Assembly hall on Friday
January 21st, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
I think they were looking at the winning streak like they couldn’t get beat. The loss should help to adjust their focus.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
Meanwhile, the only unbeaten team in the country at D1--women or men--is NC State.
They are 18-0 and dropped in one poll from #8 to #9.
Michigan will zip right back.............
MSU may lose at home tonight!
January 21st, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
You’re crazy.
MSU wins and beats the line @ -9.
January 21st, 2019 at 6:25 PM ^
Yeah, they're going to crush Maryland. Maryland isn't the kind of team that will give MSU problems. MSU is going to hit 12+ threes on them.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
MSU always has the best losses. They should put a banner up for it.
January 21st, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
To be fair they lost by 5 to kansas when they were #1 with Azubuike (arguably their best player) who is now out for the season, and by 2 in OT on the road at Louisville. Also they have been on a B10 win streak (set school record) without 2 starters, one who may be one of the best on the team. Just sayin'
Also hoping we dont get the injury bug down the stretch....
January 21st, 2019 at 4:44 PM ^
I am not confident in our low post defense . We need Johns to get some minutes ! Playing at MSU and Maryland with Davis playing scared the crap out of me .
January 21st, 2019 at 4:56 PM ^
I dont worry about Gonzaga because they play such a weak conference schedule that there NCAA Seeding will reflect that. Their loss to NC and our big win over NC will be the tie breaker if it comes to a #1 seeding
January 21st, 2019 at 6:40 PM ^
It'll be interesting to see how the NET rankings might change that assumption. The use of efficiency ratings that aren't opponent adjusted could end up favoring teams in bad conferences. Gonzaga is going to really pad their ranking with blowouts that the formula doesn't even care who those blowouts are against. Same will go for their opponents in the WCC like San Fran and St. Mary's that will help them stay in the top tier.
Still, I think the Big Ten champ gets a 1 seed, regardless. If Michigan is runner up behind MSU, they'll probably share the 2 line with Gonzaga anyway. Only if the B1G champ is shared with 4 or more losses should Gonzaga get consideration. Michigan now has ground to make up there. MSU winning at Nebraska and M losing really hurt.
January 21st, 2019 at 6:54 PM ^
Charles Matthews needs to be more Consistent..He has moments but goes through 4,5,6 games stretches where he disappears..I still don't think he's NBA ready
January 21st, 2019 at 9:39 PM ^
How much does travel fatigue play into away games?
Did UM have to get up early to make it to Wisconsin for the noon start? Or did they travel the night before?
Many of the players just didn't seem to be in sync. Same impression for the Nebraska away game last year.
January 21st, 2019 at 9:42 PM ^
I don't think those games are comparable really. I think the Nebraska game was like our 3rd in five days or something ridiculous and we had a week off for Wisconsin. I doubt we got there the morning of, but don't know for sure. Saturday just seemed like a young team not ready for their first big road game in conference
January 21st, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
Ranking Gonzaga is like ranking UCF in football, pointless and filler that takes up a spot that would go to a team that could actually gauge their success/take pride in their accomplishment
January 21st, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
Baseketball Polls: tl;dr
January 22nd, 2019 at 6:17 AM ^
I don’t worry about ratings too much but for the way they looked, # 5 is not too bad of a plunge. Hoping Beilein can get them mentally regrouped for the next run. They no longer have to focus on staying undefeated. They can take it one game at a time.
January 22nd, 2019 at 6:23 PM ^
We're not really bitching about the rankings (outlying whiners excepted), because it's well understood that they don't mean anything of importance. Both our games against Michigan look like they'll be important and anxiety-inducing.