Duke, Kentucky not in Top 100!!
Watching Michigan basketball right now is so good, but almost as good, is Duke and Kentucky not being in the top 100.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:03 PM ^
And neither is Michigan state
January 4th, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
That goes without saying
January 5th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
Let's say it anyway
January 4th, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
Hate to see it.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:37 AM ^
Just like Coach K, I'm wondering if they should even play at all...
January 4th, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
Hate to see it.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:19 PM ^
It's worth repeating.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:06 PM ^
2021 is off to a great start.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:06 PM ^
Jaden Bradley headed to Kentucky.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:20 AM ^
Would love to have him but that is the one position I’m not worried about for the next few years. We have Collins and Zeb. The shooting guard position is the one where we haven’t landed an elite player yet. Bufkin is really good but we need more of them.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:07 AM ^
Based on the needs of our team next year, I hope Eli comes back to sure up that 2-guard spot. The only other shooting guard we have on scholarship is Nunez (who I do not expect back next year).
January 5th, 2021 at 9:12 AM ^
Not worried about landing Bradley because ... we have Zeb?
Im not worried about catching a shark either because i have 8 lb. test
January 4th, 2021 at 11:19 PM ^
Puke.
Ken-fucky!
January 4th, 2021 at 11:33 PM ^
The Sparty thing to do would be to get angry about being left out of the heading of that article and not be included with the likes of Duke & Kentucky.
January 5th, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
They aren't a blue blood, so I don't see why they should be upset.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
I mean, they kinda are but slighting them just feels right.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
Maybe. In the past 20 years they've made 7 Final Fours (2000, 01, 05, 09, 10, 15, 19). In that span though they have one title (21 years ago now). Since then, UConn, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina, and Florida all have multiple championships.
At this point, you'd have to at least call them a blue blood of the past two decades. Especially if you are going to include Kentucky in that list, as they have less Final Fours and as many Titles as MSU.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:33 PM ^
Wow guys, this is such a low blow. How can you expect any program to succeed when they only brought in...*checks last year's recruiting ranks*... THE NUMBER 1 AND 3 CLASSES NATIONALLY??? SIX COMBINED FIVE STARS IN THIS ONE CLASS ALONE?? Forget it, these guys are FUCKING LOSERS!!!
January 5th, 2021 at 12:20 AM ^
Pulling in top 5 classes every year can be a weakness if they’re all one-and-dones (or think they are). I think Juwan is being a smart recruiter by pulling in a combination of guys who a freak-athlete five stars and guys who will require development but have the potential to be great upperclassmen.
It doesn’t matter how highly ranked your class is if you don’t have much continuity from year to year. A quick look at 24/7 shows that Kentucky has two scholarship upperclassmen–both transfers. I would rather see Juwan emulate Jay Wright than Calipari. Not only do I think it’s a better strategy, but it makes the team more fun to follow.
January 5th, 2021 at 11:02 AM ^
Plus, in the Big Ten you are going to face a lot of teams made up of predominately Juniors and Seniors who have deep experience and cohesion.
You can't expect to just out-athlete them with freshmen with one eye out the door to the NBA that don't gel with each other.
January 5th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Since I have never actually had the experience I can't say for sure... but I think I would have trouble feeling connection to a bunch of one and dones as I have with the Belein teams and Howard's teams so far.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:13 AM ^
A lot of Milk
Because this is a weird stupid Covid season that doesn't count, obviously.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:38 PM ^
Love to see it but are there really 100+ teams better than Duke, Kentucky, and MSU? Probably not.
January 5th, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
No there really are. They all suck. Thus far anyway. Other than Sparty beating up on one of the others mentioned, they've all looked like dogshit.
Most Big10, most Big12, some Pac12, most Big East, some other SEC some other ACC, a few MAC, some A10, some MW, Gonzaga, a few MVC...etc. Are ALL likely better teams than Dook and Kerntercky.
January 4th, 2021 at 11:58 PM ^
FUCK DOOOOOOK
January 5th, 2021 at 12:32 AM ^
Well I hope you like fucking because Michigan is quickly turning into Duke Midwest.
January 5th, 2021 at 7:34 AM ^
There are many unknows here. Indeed, next year could be a very interesting one for Juwan and Michigan basketball. Next year Juwan and staff may well be without 6 of the top 7 players from this year's team. How quickly and successfully will that #1 class of 2021 blend in with this year's freshmen? Is Juwan a better coach than Coach K, Calipari and Izzo...he may well be-especially with the one-and-done kids.
Personally, I'm betting on Howard and this staff to quietly take Michigan to "perennial power" level-the Villanova of the B1G. Here, all arrows are pointing up. And additionally, I believe Juwan stays at Michigan long-term...and I get to enjoy Michigan basketball being elite for the rest of my life-he is 20 years (and 1 month) younger than me. Regardless-Go Blue!
January 5th, 2021 at 11:05 AM ^
It's ironic that we are concerned about next year when it was this year that was supposed to be the concern . . .
January 5th, 2021 at 8:16 AM ^
Maybe we should win a couple of national championsips first.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
In basketball you do not need to win a couple national championships to be an elite national program. This game holds a huge amount of variability. To win a championship you must win 6 consecutive games against the best 64 teams in the country.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:24 AM ^
duke midwest? our coach does not look like a rodent.
our coach is the king of genuine coolness and graciousness.
January 5th, 2021 at 12:00 AM ^
UK I can understand right now after 6 losses before an OT win at Miss St.
Duke is still Duke with losses to respectable teams. 3 and 2.
MSU we can only hope Izzo has finally run out of gas and is showing what finally happened to Mack Brown, Phat Phil, and Booby B. during the end of their runs
January 5th, 2021 at 7:39 AM ^
Izzo has been running on fumes for some time now-has already over-stayed his "welcome". He is lucky that 18 year old kids do not have much sense.
January 5th, 2021 at 12:30 AM ^
Kentucky sucks but Duke's talent is really starting to come on and their team is playing pretty well now. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make a run from a 4 or 5 seed.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
? They're 3-2. They got blown out at home by a garbage MSU team and looked completely uncompetitive at home against a very good Illinois team. This is not a typical Duke team.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
? They're 3-2. They got blown out at home by a garbage MSU team and looked completely uncompetitive at home against a very good Illinois team. This is not a typical Duke team.
January 5th, 2021 at 5:48 AM ^
Great news!
January 5th, 2021 at 7:37 AM ^
Rutgers vs MSU tonight. Will be interesting to see how that one goes. Hoping for a Rutgers victory.
January 5th, 2021 at 9:16 AM ^
Yep, this is going to be good (i hope!)
If Rutgers wins rather easily, MSU is missing the tourney.
January 5th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
Yup and it’s a Pick ‘em game, so it’s free money if you take Rutgers.
Edit: Staee is actually favored now!! -2
January 5th, 2021 at 7:54 AM ^
As an Arizona basketball fan, the FBI investigations seem to really have deterred slimy recruiting practices and have reduced the "competitive advantage" some teams have over others. Arizona has been dog shit the past few seasons since they haven't had a clear talent advantage over other teams. Look what happens when Duke and Kentucky can't field an entire starting five of 5* recruits. Sure they are still getting recruits better than anyone but the talent gap isn't as large as it used to be and other talented teams with great x's and o's coaches are catching up. I wonder if the same can happen with football?
January 5th, 2021 at 8:27 AM ^
I'd love to see it, but it won't come from the NCAA. It took the FBI's involvement for anything to happen with college basketball. What outside influence would compel the NCAA to clean up football?
January 5th, 2021 at 8:37 AM ^
Great coaching is certainly a difference-maker everywhere. However, the one-on-one physical matchups in football are more important than in basketball and having the superior athletes are a greater advantage. Here, the nuances of playing the game of basketball are unique and simply being the better athlete is not as predictive of success-relative to football. In these regards, Michigan football has been and remains the exception to many "rules".
January 5th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
Agreed that you can "out skill" a more physically dominant basketball team (see #1 Arizona with #1 pick DeAndre Ayton get blitzed in the first round by Buffalo with a rain of 3's) but that is still the exception, not the rule. Kentucky and Duke have won championships simply because they formed a super team out of top 10 players. If teams are deterred from dropping $100k on DeAndre Ayton, that takes away a major competitive advantage. I hope the NIL will encourage a more balanced distribution of talent than what is clearly shown. The lack of parity that was in basketball and is now in football is bad for the sport ultimately (good for the fan base of a handful of schools, bad for the fanbase of everyone else). But the past few seasons have basketball have given me faith that the return of parity is at least possible to some degree. If the FBI dropped a similar hammer down or if the NIL allowed for players to earn wages, I'm sure Clemson, OSU, and Bama would still be top dogs but we wouldn't be seeing them outright dominant like they are now.
January 5th, 2021 at 8:40 AM ^
I’m also a UK fan. It’s not good over there. Half to 3/4ths of the fan base is calling for Cals head especially after this whole Allen fallout. Cal has pissed off a lot of the fans
January 5th, 2021 at 9:10 AM ^
Its not that surprising that this year teams that rely heavily on freshman superstars would struggle to start the season
January 5th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
But MSU is still ranked with 3 losses. These polls are basically rigged. They don't matter anyway.
January 5th, 2021 at 11:09 AM ^
These polls are basically rigged.
Hey, no politics!