Sporting News Way-Too-Early Top 25: U-M No. 4
This is a foolish exercise until you know who's leaving and who's transferring in, but it's still fun. All the Way-Too-Early Top 25's will be posted in the next day, and the Sporting News one is already up. They're bullish on our chances, putting up at No. 4.
LINK.
They make the assumption we get Hunter back but lose either Moussa or Caleb. Again, meaningless but fun.
Football: yes
Basketball: probably like 20-25 range
I thought this was a football post. April fools on me
Thought this was Football.
Wow, that’s a nice change.
Yeah, uhh, I don't think so. #14 maybe, but what did anyone see from this team that equates to potentially 4th best team in the nation?
Did you watch Purdue last year? Because this is almost the same situation.
I thought this was a football post and I said "yeah, perhaps".
But then I saw basketball names and...cumong...we did this already. I'll believe #4 when it see it but I like the way they think.
That's, um . . . optimistic.
Some would argue too early
This list has zero credibility in my eyes. They mention Frankie's late season surge as signs that we'll have "two talented point guards" going into next season. They seem to count Devante Jones, despite the fact he's already confirmed gone. While I liked Frankie's Colorado St game, and he has athleticism that we haven't had at PG in a while, right now calling him the lead guard of a Top 5 team is a horrific overestimation, bordering on lunacy. I think he'll get there, but the finishing and shooting still needs polishing. As I see it, unless they're forseeing a big transfer at PG this year, we're closer to having no functional point guards than 2 strong ones.
Even if Hunter returns, as it stands (without knowing the transfer market) I think we're borderline Top 25, and that will require growth from most if not all of our younger guys. Frankly, I'd much rather start barely in or outside the Top 25, and earn our keep over the course of the year (ala Juwan's first 2 years), rather than buy into hype led by outlets like these who have no idea what they're talking about.
The thing about the otherwise delightful Frankie Collins, as Dylan keeps pointing out in his pods, is that he has not been, to now, an accurate shooter.
And I agree--praying they know something we don't and that Hunter is returning (I will drink some celebratory libation, if he does), but otherwise. . . Juwan could be the best coach of all time and they might struggle to be a top 25 team.
Even if Hunter returns, as it stands (without knowing the transfer market) I think we're borderline Top 25
That would make us a first-weekend tournament team. If Dickinson is back, I'd predict us to be a Sweet 16-caliber team. He's a game-changing talent.
But top 5 is definitely on the optimistic side, especially if they think we're losing one of Houstan/Diabate.
ESPN has us coming in at #11 and projecting Dickinson, Houstan, and Diabate all returning.
If that’s the case, I’d say that’s pretty accurate.
But ESPN also has us starting Dug and Frankie as our two guards, which according to Brian, and i think most of us can agree, can't happen.
I concur, we would also likely have a numbers problem to get any guard help out of the portal.
They really think we'll start a collective 11 feet of guard next year? LOL!!! Not gonna happen... If Frankie and Dug get on the court at the same time next year, it'll be because of free throws and only last until the next whistle.
2014 UConn.
Frankie is a legit 6 foot but plays bigger with his hops. Dug is 5-9 and I don't know about his athleticism.
Dug is super quick and athletic. Actually looking forward to see what he can do. Praying for Allen Iverson lite! Hey nothing wrong with being hopeful!
Just for reference, forget MSU guard, Tum Tum Nairn, is 5'10". That guy was so small. Dug is smaller. Hope it works out, but this feels close to "can't be a good QB in the league if you're short with small hands"... We all want it to be stupid, but it proves to be true far more often than not.
That said, I'm hopeful the local kid (to me), Dug, finds some role on the team
Collins plays bigger cuz of his hair.
Make up for it with 15 feet of C/PF?
Agree not gonna happen. But if it CAN happen its the college game where it's still possible.
Two athletic bigs who can close out and are serviceable on the switch, along with two guards who can move, interchange, PR and get where they want on the floor... that's not something I'd say no to.
That said, it's also the best case scenario for all of this, from HD and MD coming back, to Frankie and Dug's development, etc. Hunter can't switch like that, as has been previously documented. Frankie has a year under his belt and isn't that guard yet, we hope he WILL be. And Dug hasn't even stepped on a college court yet.
But again, two bigs and two littles and... Houstan or Jett at the 3? Kobe spelling the Gs. A few other pieces mixing in. Sure. But as far as likelihood, it's the 2021 Michigan Football scenario all coming together.
No Moussa or Caleb, 2 returning guards (neither starters) and #4? Sounds like the same set up as this year. Thats dumb.
Lol #4 here we go again.
For football, I worry about the defense to be ranked 4. May be number 8, since our offense will carry the football team.
Basketball, if everyone returns I could see number 10 to number 15. I hope everyone returns and the young guys get much better in their second year.
Overall, it is exciting having a good football and basketball team next seson.
Any prediction that considers Caleb Huston a threat to leave early for the NBA has very little credibility when it comes to in depth analysis.
I don’t necessarily disagree with them but they are not doing the extra homework.
Him being NBA ready and him leaving are not necessarily overlapping concepts
LOL. 23% of D1 players are in the portal FFS.
Is the 23% number real or made up?
allegedly 1100 out of an estimated 4900.
isn't this the place for the '63% of statistics on the internet are made up' comment?
Didn't Abraham Lincoln say that?
you're right. who will believe me when i don't show my source?
% werent invented yet.
Fun Fact did you know during George Washington's lifetime he rode 4 dinosaurs.
“Fourscore and 1100 transfers ago…”
Mark Twain quoted Disraeli "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
SI has us at #15. This seems like a better prediction.
https://www.si.com/college/2022/04/05/ncaa-basketball-rankings-early-top-25-arkansas-kentucky
yeah, and our barn cat is a cheetah....
This must be the rating if the team spends all off season working on free throws and layup drills for 8 hours every day.
To say the least. Practice, practice and still more practice. These guys should also watch the film on how well Villanova shot at the FT line during the NCAA tourney, that was a clinic.
They could get the entire team back. I don't see how that equates to a to 4 team. They won 2 games in a row at the optional time. Otherwise, this team stunk, by our own recent standards.
I agree with the other posts about Dickinson. Love the guy, but his style severely limits how the offense runs. You can have a post up big, but there's needs to be more athleticism at that position in today's game.
HD is one of the best, if not the best, offensive center in college basketball. it's on the D side of the court where he has some limitations.
I'd take either center from last night's game in a heartbeat. Both for their offensive prowess, but for all the rest that they bring.
Man, we have some crazy recency bias
Wait, basketball? I thought we reverted back to being a football school?
No way in hell bball should be ranked in the top 10 to start the year, let alone at #4! No proven guards, no proven wings, a 2 and 3 that can't shoot, and nobody knows who'll be at center. Da fuck are they thinking?
It's possible that Frankie works out, that Bufkin/transfer figure it out and shoot, that Houstan starts putting it together and gets more offensively reliable, that Jett is a legit 3 that can play now, and that Diabate returns. Those things would put us in the top 10. But that's a lot of 'things' that need to sort out positively...
In my opinion Michigan shouldn't even be ranked to start the season.
This feels extremely high, but other top teams stand to lose more NBA-level talent. ESPN has us at #11 which seems more realistic right now before all the underclassmen declare.
Unrank us. We have proven that ranks don't matter to start the year.
I've seen a few projections and they all had Michigan at a top 10 and for some reason they all assume we get Hunter back. I really don't see us getting him back unless there's some huge NIL deal he gets
This is "way too early" in a pre-transfer portal world, and now it is "absolutely way WAY too early."
Whether Michigan will be a Top 10 team next year will be determined, in significant part, how things go in the transfer portal.
To take just one obvious example, a key reason UNC got to the National Championship was Brady Manek. He didn't announce his college choice last year until mid-April. So any ranking done on April 5, 2021 wouldn't have accounted for this (not to mention likely underappreciating how vital he would become to their team).
This is just one data point. Take it for what it is worth (i.e., not much).
To Basketball fans -
Don't let pre-season "rankings" skew your view of the team until you see them play 6-7 games minimum.
They aren't 'underachieving" if they were overrated in the first place.