Hail-Storm

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^

Playing the number one team on their court? A win is house money.  I just love to see this team play.  I hadn't gotten to watch them play until this weekend, and man they are fun.

Their defense seems to be close to the defense they have been playing. I was worried about losing Beilein's magic on the offensive side, but they are just as fun to watch.  Liver's is amazing, love to see Simpson hitting 3s (I had to check a few times that was him), Brookes is super exciting to watch, and Big Sleep is so fun to watch dominate at both ends, with surprising touch and quickness.  And Frans is just starting to find his stride.

Sorry, went off on tangent, but how can you not watching them play.

Joined: 06/07/2010

MGoPoints: 9864

lhglrkwg

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^

Not the same. There's so much more variance in basketball. Evansville beat #1 Kentucky in Lexington. SFA beat #1 Duke in Durham. No chance an equivalent FBS team with such a talent gap beats Bama in Tuscaloosa or OSU in Columbus. It's part of why March Madness is so fun and the CFP is becoming boring

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 87985

Champeen

December 2nd, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^

Is this going to be a tough one because the name 'Lousville'?  or because its on the road?  Because if you look at who Louisville has played, and what they have done against who they have played, they sure the fuck do not deserve to be number 1.

This is an extremely winnable game, and i would not be surprised at all if Michigan was favored by a few.

Joined: 04/07/2011

MGoPoints: 15031

J.

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:18 AM ^

Polls are not about who you’ve played.  Good Lord, this is driving me nuts.  Polls are about preseason expectations plus when you lost last, or, if you prefer, who the pollsters think would beat whom on a neutral court.

And what’s wrong with “what they have done against who they have played?”  I see a 6 point win over Akron that’s not that impressive.  Otherwise, you’ve got a 13 point road victory at Miami (YTM) and a bunch of 20-point victories over unimpressive opponents.

Bracketology is about who you’ve beaten, and Michigan got a 1-seed on ESPN’s latest bracketology.

And while Michigan might win this game, they will absolutely not be favored, because going into a top opponent’s building and winning is extremely difficult.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

MH20

December 2nd, 2019 at 9:10 AM ^

Not that it isn't really cool to see Michigan at #2, however this is ESPN's power ranking and not an "official" poll.

Those polls (AP and Coaches) come out this afternoon.

Joined: 10/30/2008

MGoPoints: 40761

outsidethebox

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:00 AM ^

Again, these polls are heavy on entertainment value but very low on actual knowledge. What informs the voters/assessors who determine these ratings-my belief/experiences says "not much". They can mostly be identified as simply being big sports fans-with very little actual game experience or knowledge. Parsing between the AP and Coaches Polls and the ESPN power ranking is an exercise in futility. 

Joined: 01/23/2017

MGoPoints: 18818

Boner Stabone

December 2nd, 2019 at 9:11 AM ^

We were severely under ranked coming into this season.  I know there were some unknowns on the coaching front, but we did return 3 quality starters and that should have counted for something.

Joined: 01/06/2015

MGoPoints: 24119

J.

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^

No, this team wasn’t “severely under ranked” to start the season.  There were a ton of legitimate questions; even the previews on this site put Michigan in as a second-tier Big Ten team, somewhere around #5 in the conference.

This team has played better than anyone expected — and, I hate to break it to people, because I know everyone is looking for something nice to think about — but the team still needs a lot of improvement to be elite.  In particular, the shooting isn’t going to be sustainable at current levels; they’re going to need to do something about the gap in shot attempts with the opposition.

I am hopeful that they can continue to improve, but I feel like we’re collectively getting ahead of ourselves.  Michigan is not the best team in the country, nor are they the best team in the Big Ten.  That’s not to say that they can’t get there, and I hope that they do.  But they’re not there yet, and if the AP poll does somehow defy expectations and move Michigan into the top 5 — something done only once since the poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989-90 — it’s premature.

For me, the nicest thing about the win at Atlantis — besides the good feelings, of course — is that those are all wins that are going to look very good to the selection committee.  If they can continue playing at that high level, great!  But, if they eventually come back to earth a little bit, they’ll still have some nice neutral-site wins in their pocket to help them when it comes to tournament seeding time.

Joined: 03/11/2012

MGoPoints: 13057

Teeba

December 2nd, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^

To the outsider, (who is responsible for the rankings,) we only returned 2 starters. Poole, Iggy, and Mathews were all starters. Plus, we’re changing the coaching staff. I can understand some initial hesitation in ranking us. But now that games have been played, enough questions have been answered to put us in the top 10 for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us top 5. To stay there, the hot shooting has to not fall off completely and Wagner has to shake the rust off. This team has all the elements you need for March/April.

Joined: 09/25/2019

MGoPoints: 3282

bronxblue

December 2nd, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^

I think Michigan is one of the best teams in the country; #2 might be a bit of a stretch, but we're also talking about meaningless basketball rankings so whatever.  Should be fun.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171874