#1 Gonzaga loses to #7 Tennessee 76-73

Submitted by Bambi on December 9th, 2018 at 5:13 PM

Great game on a neutral court in Phoenix as Tennessee beats Gonzaga on a 3 with 20 seconds left to beat undefeated Gonzaga. Tennessee was lead by the phenomenaly named Admiral Schofield (brother of former Wisconsin LB O'Brien Schofield) who had 30 and the game winning 3.

Interesting to see how the rankings shake out. Gonzaga now has this as their only loss with a neutral court win by 2 vs Duke. Tennessee has only loss, to #2 Kansas in OT on a neutral court. I wouldn't be surprised to see us jump over Gonzaga and stay ahead of Tennessee, or see us fall behind Tennessee and stay behind Gonzaga.

Michigan is now one of 9 undefeateds left in college basketball.

Gatekeeper

December 9th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^

The voters will probably do the weak thing and just move everyone up 1 spot, slotting Gonzaga in around 7 or 8.

 

Makes Kansas, who barely squeaked by New Mexico St, the new #1, Duke 2, Virginia 3, and Michigan 4th.

 

I have no idea why UVA is ahead of Michigan, though. I can accept Duke, because they are "Duke," but why UVA?

J.

December 9th, 2018 at 11:08 PM ^

The numbers say otherwise (although they looked awful on offense today).  They're #11 in KenPom AdjO and #9 on Torvik.

They don't put up high point totals because they play at a snail's pace (about four possessions per game fewer than Michigan).  And they're not fun to watch -- whereas Michigan plays at a slow tempo because they're methodical, probing the defense repeatedly until they find a look they like, Virginia plays at a slow tempo because they walk.  A lot.  And dribble.  And walk some more.

It works, though.  Virginia is an excellent team.

Mike Damone

December 9th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^

As the OP on the previous deleted post, agree that this one is superior.

But now done figuring out "OT".  I could correlate or rationlize any college sports news to how it impacts Michigan - rankings, recruiting, comparative perception...

Other than the "coral reefs" post this week - that shit was definitely OT.  

B-Nut-GoBlue

December 9th, 2018 at 5:35 PM ^

Good OP but you forgot to bitch about Gonzaga playing a schedule they're forced to play as they ARE a smaller, mid-major school (yet leaving out the fact they've beaten Duke in non-con, play UNC still, just played Tennessee, and tend to build a good resume regardless of conference affiliation).

J.

December 9th, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^

Well, it's indisputably true that they "may," but if you mean it's most likely true that they will, I'm not so sure.  Once you get far enough into the season, the rankings tend to be pretty predictable -- you rarely will see a team move down unless they lose -- especially if they're a name team and/or from a power conference.  Michigan was significantly ahead of Tennessee -- 83.7% of all possible points to 77.4%.  It would take an awful lot of voters changing their mind in order to elevate Tennessee.  They may pass Nevada, though, despite Nevada beating a "top 25" ASU team earlier this week.

MH20

December 9th, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^

Michigan moved up to #3 on KenPom, now fractionally ahead of UVA, who was lackluster in victory over VCU and Nevada, who is currently playing Grand Canyon (18-point favorites on KenPom).

J.

December 9th, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^

Yep.  They had actually moved ahead of Nevada based on overnight adjustments.  (You'll see it with the first result of the day -- as soon as there's one result posted for the current day, the pre-season projections are weighted a little bit less).

Nevada isn't playing like they intend to defend their spot, although it's early still.

Mike Damone

December 9th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

They should get points deducted just for playing a college called "Grand Canyon" in the non-conference portion of the schedule, when you already play in the cupcake Mountain West.  Christ, they are only up by two, 34-32 at half.  Pathetic.  

On a separate note - had a girl in my condo complex nicknamed Grand Canyon.  She was a popular, though not choice, late night destination...

Mike Damone

December 9th, 2018 at 6:33 PM ^

If you didn't consider the politics of pre-season rankings and ESPN's fixation with Duke and Kansas, you could make a pretty goddamn good case that Michigan deserves to be #1.

Gonzaga has lost, Duke has lost, Kansas slid by New Mexico St., Virginia's offense actually makes Wisconsin look exciting (think they had 38 points with about 5 minutes left vs. VCU).

Yep - we're #1!!!

J.

December 9th, 2018 at 9:39 PM ^

Win out?

There hasn't been an undefeated men's college basketball team in 42 years.

I want them to win every game, but I also know that's not realistic.  But if they can win enough to win the Big Ten and win their last game of the year, that's probably fine. ;)

L'Carpetron Do…

December 10th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^

I think one thing is for sure though: teams will be coming for Michigan. Michigan will likely keep climbing and winning but it seems like teams are getting psyched out of their minds to take out a top-5 Michigan team. And it will get more intense the higher Michigan goes in the polls.

Purdue played pretty well but Michigan was so hot it didn't matter. Northwestern put in a huge effort and caught Michigan off-guard for several minutes in the second half. South Carolina played above their ability and played their best game of the year. Michigan should expect this from every opponent from here on out. 

I hope Z and Matthews recognize this. Those guys are serious competitors and the team leaders. And I think if they get in the right mindset to fend off each team's best challenge, this team can be insanely good.