Michigan Bball. #5 in AP/Coaches' Poll

Submitted by robbyt003 on

per Michigan Basketball via facebook

Michigan is now ranked No.5 in the AP and Coaches' Poll

ESPN LINK

 

AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Louisville (36) 15-1 1,591
2 Indiana (13) 15-1 1,527
3 Duke (14) 15-1 1,501
4 Kansas (1) 14-1 1,416
5 Michigan (1) 16-1 1,415

Others of Interest:

 

9 Minnesota 15-2 1,041

 

11 Ohio State 13-3 939

 

14 North Carolina State 14-2 836

 

16 Kansas State 13-2 670

 

18 Michigan State 14-3 426

 

23 Illinois 14-4 199

 

 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 14th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^

It boggles the mind that the primary criterion seems to be not the quality of opponents you beat, nor lost to, but how recently you lost.  Thank God these people are not actually in charge of anything that matters.

ijohnb

January 14th, 2013 at 1:26 PM ^

The top 7 or 8 teams in college hoops just cycle throughout the year.  Once you are in that "club" it is very likely that you will remain there the entire year absent an epic 3 in a row losing streak.  That is also why a lot of times the 8th or 9th rank team at the end of the year can end up being a number 1 seed in the tourney.  When it is all said and done it is body or work and where you are ranked within the top 10 at any point during the season does not matter.  That being said, I think Michigan deserved to fall with yesterdays first half.  I would not have been surprised if they had won the game and not ended up being number 1.  There were a lot of suprerlatives being tossed Michigan's way and I think it was good they were brought back down to earth a little bit.

MGoRobo

January 14th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^

"I think Michigan deserved to fall with yesterdays first half"

Well, I think they deserved to win after the middle 25 minutes. That's such a subjective thing to say...and imo not something a true fan should be saying after seeing the full team effort they put up to tie the game.

ijohnb

January 14th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^

I am a true fan, so I guess a true fan would say something like that.  #1 is something reserved for both talent and poise.  Michigan has the talent, but #1 teams don't go down 24 before the ten minute mark of the first half.  They may very well be ready to be deemed the #1 team in the nation by the end of the year, but not yet, and that first half yesterday is the reason. 

Come on man.  Is # 5 so far from where you see them?

PitchAndCatch

January 14th, 2013 at 2:24 PM ^

I agreed with everything you said until "I would not have been surprised if they had won the game and not ended up being number 1." 

 

The only undefeated team in the nation coming back from a 24-point deficit to win on the road against a top team in the Big Ten.  There is no chance in hell we wouldn't have been ranked #1.  Every team goes through rough patches throughout the season, and I am proud with how this team bounced back, on the road, and gave Ohio everything they could handle.  I do agree that this loss will be a wonderful learning experience for this team, and knowing Beilein, it will help them improve in the future.

MGoCombs

January 14th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

While you are correct that it doesn't matter, the fact is there are human beings voting on these things and media outlets publishing and hyping them. I think it is fair to question and criticize them for doing it so wrong.

LSAClassOf2000

January 14th, 2013 at 1:27 PM ^

I just put this in a thread below - the AP vote distribution for Michigan, courtesy of Pollspeak.com, came out a while before the poll itself unfortunately, so apologies to the board for that. In any case, Cormac Gordon was our sole #1 vote, and the remaining distribution came out to four votes for 2nd, nine for 3rd place, twenty-four for 4th place, nineteen for 5th place, and eight voters put us at 6th place in the AP Poll.

MGoCombs

January 14th, 2013 at 1:31 PM ^

The mental exercise involved with Louisville being #1 and Duke being #4 is kind of boggling my mind. Louisville is #1 because they have a better loss (to... Duke). Louisville beat Missouri and Kentucky. Duke beat Louisville, Kentucky and Ohio State.

/Confused

enlightenedbum

January 14th, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^

Losses:

Louisville: vs. Duke (#3)

Indiana: Butler (#13, neutral site)

Duke: @NC State (#14)

Kansas: vs. MSU (#18)

Michigan: @OSU (#11)

Wins:

Louisville: vs. Mizzou (#17)
Indiana: vs. Minnesota (#9)

Duke: vs. Minnesota (#9), vs. Louisville (#1), vs. OSU (#11)

Kansas: @OSU (#11)

Michigan: KSU (#16, neutral site) vs. NC State (#14)

Seems obvious to me Duke is still #1, you can argue about Michigan and Louisville, and then you can argue about Kansas and Indiana.

 

Zoltanrules

January 14th, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^

In reality, anywhere in the top 8 is pretty much the same when it comes to The Tournament seeding. Better to be #1 in April than in January. Not losing any sleep on the O$U, a potential loss at Minnesota (especially if Hightower is there), or where we are ranked now.

maizeonblueaction

January 14th, 2013 at 1:38 PM ^

Lousiville and Kansas have games against teams they could lose to today, and Indiana gets Wisconsin tomorrow at home, which is no guarantee. So, if somehow at least one of them loses, we move up, provided we win.

inthebluelot

January 14th, 2013 at 2:06 PM ^

Just like football. Oregon and K State were both above Bama. They both lose and Bama jumps both? So, in the case of Oregon, losing to Stanford on the road is not a better loss than losing to ATM at home. Good fucking joke! EDIT: my iPhone just inexplicably autocorrected Bama to Obama. Funny!

LJ

January 14th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^

While I agree that timing of the loss should be irrelevant in rankings, football is a whole different beast because of the small sample size and lack of direct comparisons.  I don't think anyone can fault a voter for thinking Alabama was more deserving than Oregon and K State of the #2 spot, given their body of work throughout the season and the track record of SEC teams in BCS games.  

Soulfire21

January 14th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^

I think rankings are fun, so, yes. 5th seems right and you could argue for worse if you want to look at the first half (which, of course, ignores a heartfelt and great effort to tie the game after being down by 24). 

We have a very, very tough opponent in Minnesota and given the last two games we've scored 20+ points under our season average and shot nearly 20% worse than our previous season average, I don't think winning at Minnesota is any sort of a done deal.  If anything, Minnesota should be favored over us.

enlightenedbum

January 14th, 2013 at 3:52 PM ^

Where are the four losses?  Remaining schedule:

@Minny

Purdue

@Illinois

NW

@Indiana

OSU

@Wisconsin

@Sparty

PSU

Illinois

@PSU

Sparty

@Purdue

Indiana

@Minnesota and @Indiana are reasonable games to expect to lose.  We're more talented than every other team on the schedule except home against Indiana, and they are not a good road team.  Maybe lose one of the back to back @Wisky/Sparty in early February?  I feel like 14-4 is likely, 15-3 very doable.

PitchAndCatch

January 14th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^

I think this is fair considering how the (meaningless) polls work in college basketball.  I am not losing any sleep over being ranked #5.  All we have to do is take care of business and everything will work out in the end.  What truly matters is getting that #1 or #2 seed in the tourney, and I think we are in a very good position to accomplish that goal.

 

Thursday's game is going to be just as difficult as yesterday's was.  This is the Big Ten.  Beat the Gophers.

The Geek

January 14th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^

As badly as I hate losing to ohio, this loss didn't bother me...  We played horribly and still almost won. Missing six shots at the end of the game, coupled with our turnovers and first half deficits, we should have been blown out...

This is a great basketball team, and we will continue to get better. This  loss will pay dividends in March...

jasonmkeith

January 14th, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^

I find that rankings are directly related to the amount of media attention a program receives.  As in, I find positive distractions with the national media's attention on Michigan when they are ranked #2.   I don't find positive distractions when I see the 90Nth article on Duke basketball.  No distraction = back to work.  I'd rather Michigan be ranked as highly as possible.

FML.

smwilliams

January 14th, 2013 at 6:28 PM ^

Obviously it's nice to keep a high ranking but the only goals should be...

1. Get a #1 seed

2. Win the Big 10 regular season title

3. Win the Big10 tournament title

If they take care of 2 and 3, #1 should follow.