ESPN's 2016-2017 College Basketball Early Top 25
Michigan nowhere to be found. Hard not to feel like next year isn't a huge season for Beielin. He's due to make 3.37 million dollars in 2016. Only Coach K, John Calipari, Bill Self, Rick Pitino, and Tom Izzo will make more. Also of note is that 10 of the last 15 national champions started the year in the preseason top 5.
What about bracketology?
seed, NIT, hosting Arkansas State.
getting really angry with Lunardi this year. It was like with every Michigan win in the BIG tourney he kept changing the criteria/dynamic to still have us out. Between Lunardi and Bilas I thought we were going to get snubbed from the NIT.
Even after we beat Indiana he had us out, then suddenly on Sunday he changed his mind and put us in. Thanks for the expert "bracketology", Joe.
Since this past season was not a great success, M would need a better recruiting class to crack this list
Recruiting is the lifeblood of your program.
Needs to get better under JB. Not every class is going to be like the 2012 class, but he cannot have anymore classes like the 2014 class. This years class needs to pan out, especially the big guys.
we will be able to tell pretty early how next season is going to go. For the last two years, I was immediately underwhelmed by our performances against early season cupcakes, and noticed either stagnant development or actual regression in some players. If the first couple of Beilein press conferences next year consist of him explaining certain players recovery goals and explaining how long it is taking "this group" to get it I think we are in for another long season. A quick start would be a welcome development next year.
is that we get pretty much everyone back who played significant minutes, with the exception of Ricky Doyle. With the young bigs coming in and a year of maturing for both Donnal and Wagner, we should be okay there. This team should be at least 2-3 games better than last season and make the tourney more comfortably. Now they just need to quit scheduling RPI anchor opponents...
was the exact same thing that most people said at the beginning of this year, only instead of "2-3 games better" most people thought we would be a sweet 16 seed this year. Then we watched the Xavier and UConn games and puked and realized that sometimes getting everybody back isn't all it is cracked up to be.
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you do realize this past year, they absolutely demolished all the cupcakes on their schedule, with LeVert and Walton posting triple doubles. It was the good teams they were getting blown out by.
And two years ago they got beat by Charlotte and then went to the elite eight.
JB's teams genreally get better as the year goes on. I don't think the team you see against the early season cupcakes is the team you are going to see come March.
watched them play all of their cupcakes this year and I did not see a team capable of making any noise in the tournament.
what did you see that was underwhelming in 60 point wins?
of the same things that were underwhelming in 20 point losses.
There is clarity in actually having seniors leading, for the first time since Novak/Douglass. There's been uncertainty about roles beginning every year since. Remember that it was no sure thing that Morris, Burke, Stauskas would be the players they was heading into their sophomore years. Since then, injuries have derailed things and roles have never fully been clear. Even Caris had to figure out how much to defer and to whom. Injuries have really hindered team development (chemistry/roles) the last two years.
Next year's identity is already pretty well established - this is Walton and Irvin's team. Everyone else will fit around them. Although there is still some doubt about exactly how Walton/Rhakman/Irvin will distribute ball-handling duties, and how big of a role Simpson will have, and what the frontcourt rotation looks like - the core foundation is set.
I'm looking forward to seeing if Walton and Irvin embrace the leadership role and have big years. Feeling optimistic that they'll play better individually knowing what they have to be AND having more help next year.
A post-championship basketball top-25 is even dumber than football. No point in even discussing until after draft departure decisions are made. Indiana could lose their top 4 scorers from when they actually played well, yet they're currently ranked #8. He acknowledges this in the post, so why even do it?
It's because people will read it, and certain parts of it will get some variation of a conversation going, especially with all the emotions that come with a championship game and a season ending. Case in point, your very comment above.
I'm not saying it's not stupid, but it certainly serves it's purpose for what it is.
I have us as a 6 seed in the East, playing Pitt who won the play-in game in Dayton against the MAC winner.
Also, half these teams wil lose contributing players to the draft that have not declared. Michigan will not.
is so oddly specific that I kind of believe it will happen.
can't be in a play-in game. They'd be auto-bid. Unless the prediction is that this is the regular season MAC winner that loses their conference championship but still gets the at-large. This would be even more oddly specific and unlikely because the MAC hasn't been a two bid league in a long time. But let's go with it!
think that is true. I think that all conference tourney champs are given an auto-bid to the tournament, and the First Four is "part of the tournament" or so they say. The 16 v. 16 First Four games are almost always conference champions.
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Sorry to not be more specific but yes, Buffalo will win the MAC regular season and get upset by CMUs crazy tourney run to get a 15 seed out west. Then Buffalo will lose to Pitt in Dayton. Set your DVR for TRU TV Wednesday at 9:15 to scout our upcoming opponent. Thanks for the clarification.
But does the play-in game go to overtime?
I look forward to the day you don't get so rustled about what strangers post on a message board.
Go back to the Kentucky board before you make a bigger ass out of yourself than you already have.
before asking people to leave because of their username.
You change your username to something Michigan related. I'm not sure why we let a Kentucky fan talk like an expert about Michigan basketball.
for mediocre results. I need to find a gig like that.
anybody know how many sex-related scandals Pitino will be allowed before it becomes a problem for him?
I am actually more intrigued by the nature and circumstances of the sex scandal that might get Rick Pitino in trouble rather than the specific quantity per se. It will be interesting to see what - under that sort of criteria - would catapult Lousiville into the presumptive #1 among very strange sex scandals. It must be an exclusive list, one that any school would be proud to inhabit.
So I'm pretty sure the "dead girl / live boy" criteria would apply.
The hookers went to recruits didnt they? And recruits are all pretty much under 18? Why arent the Feds making arrests?
Ergo no one cares.
/myself included
is not the kind of thing a national analyst is going to pay attention to. Walton and Irvin will be one year older, healthier.. sure. But to a national analyst, they're the same player, basically. Wagner barely even registers with them. Simpson is just a generic 4 star to them.
I expect the team will be better next year, but up from an 11 seed to a 6 seed (ranked)? That is probably on the optimistic side, objectively.
Agree. I expect Wagner to take a big step forward next year but that's because I've followed the program closely. A national analyst, who has to follow the entire country, won't take note of a guy who averaged 3 ppg this year.
I'm cautiously optimistic about next season, but the first thing I'm hoping for is no more offseason injuries.
I would think most teams have some young player or incoming freshman that will make a much larger impact than what people outside of the program/fanbase are going to expect. I don't disagree on Wagner, I just think an x-factor like him isn't that unique.
I think the real keys to success next season are improving defense and taking the load off Irvin so he can work off the ball more rather than running the offense directly through him. To those points, I do agree that Simpson and Wagner will be big factors.
You're really banging this drum hard, man.
I think we all agree that Michigan's ceiling as a program is better than the round of 64. And that yes, college coaches make a lot of money.
Do you actually want Beilein fired? If not, what do you really want to see, other than "more wins"?
of think that is his best point. Beilein is paid like an elite coach. We could probably have a middling BIG team at a substantial discount from that salary. Time to step it up a notch.
Well, I wouldn't want us to skimp on our coach's salary. We did that in basketball for a long time and ended up losing two of other coaches to other schools (in lateral moves, at best).
That Beilein is now among the highest-paid coaches is predictable. Coaches generally get their deals renegotiated after big seasons, rightly or wrongly, and we had three banner seasons in a row. OTOH, they never end up getting pay cuts after a down season.
I am saying is that he is getting paid big money, and while I agree it is based on those succcesful seasons he needs to continue to justify that salary. Those seasons and that money creates expectations, you can't have the fifth highest paid coach in college basketball and continue to miss the tourney and/or play in the First Four.