Quick Takes: Michigan could use a U-turn

Beyond Ohio State being a rival, losing at home to the Buckeyes leaves Michigan in need of a U-turn. Now at 13-9, having lost 5 of 7 games, the Wolverines a flirting with what we like to call the bubble.

The good and bad news for Michigan is oddly the same.  Big Ten competition provides high-level win opportunities almost every night; it also puts teams at risk of losing those tightly contested games.  And that’s why Michigan could use the U-turn.

Here’s what’s ahead:
An angry Michigan State team, fresh off a home loss to Penn State, arrives in Ann Arbor this weekend. After that, five of the Wolverines final eight games are on the road, where UM is 1-5 this season (true road games).  February is going to be an important month for Big Blue.

Quick Takes: Big start for top tier of Big Ten

It’s been a BIG start for the top tier of the Big Ten.

By now, we’re well aware of Michigan’s resume attributes from the Battle 4 Atlantis (wins over Iowa State, North Carolina, Gonzaga).  Maryland hasn’t yet added the same name power, but the Terps do have victories over Temple, Marquette and Notre Dame.  Wednesday night, Ohio State rode a dominant second-half to a lopsided win at North Carolina; that after running past Villanova at home in November.

Those three are a combined 23-1 with the lone loss belonging to Michigan following its Tuesday trip to Louisville.  Pretty good stuff.

Quick Takes: Michigan makes case for No. 1 seed on Monday

Anyway you slice it, Michigan has made its case for a No. 1 seed when the first in-season bracket arrives on Monday.  The Wolverines exited the Battle 4 Atlantis with back-to-back wins over North Carolina and Gonzaga.  They also own November wins over Creighton and Iowa State.  That’s a pretty strong quadrant of victories.

Past performances are never an indication of future performance, of course, but Juwan Howard’s crew is worthy of distinction.  If Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky or Kansas had the same collection of wins we’d be gushing over such a strong start.  For what it’s worth, Michigan visits Louisville for the Big-ACC challenge this week.  It’s a game that could overshadow Duke-Michigan State and even Ohio State-UNC. Who thought that three weeks ago?

Quick Takes: Michigan, SDSU impress; Iowa makes statement

On a day when Oregon and Gonzaga needed overtime in the Bahamas, two of the most impressive performances on Thanksgiving arrived via Michigan and San Diego State.  The Wolverines thumped North Carolina (a late UNC push made the final score deceiving), and SDSU throttled Creighton.  If you haven’t yet tuned in the Aztecs, it’s time.  Their earlier road win at BYU is looking better all the time, too.

For what it’s worth … Michigan looks like a major player in the Big Ten race – and San Diego State looks like a strong challenger to Utah State in the Mountain West.

Let’s also not overlook Iowa’s surprising victory over Texas Tech in Las Vegas.  Moving forward, we’ll see whether that result tells us more about the Hawkeyes or the re-tooling Red Raiders. 

Seed List: Breaking down the top line

Who’s the best team in college basketball?  It’s a tough question, with four or five terrific options.  Who’s the team with the best resume among those five?  Figuring that out was the goal of a deliberate break-down early this morning.

How did it turn out?  The biggest debate was actually between teams four and five, in other words, the last No. 1 seed and the top No. 2 seed.  In this case, those teams were Virginia and Michigan.

Seed List

Ultimately, Michigan State moved to the first position.  The Spartans have a group-best six road wins, lead the nation’s No. 2 NET-rated Conference, have five wins against the currently projected at-large field and rank No. 1 against the Strength of Record.  MSU also has 11 wins against NET Groups 1/2 – including nine  against Group 1.  Note: the last NET rankings available at the time of publication was through Wednesday’s games (1/23).

Bracketology: Five teams, four spots for top line

Someone had to be the odd man, i.e. team, out this morning.  Try as I might, there simply wasn’t a way to fit five teams into four slots on the top seed line.  Five teams have deserving resumes, and if you consider Gonzaga, which you should, it’s really six teams for four spots.  Talk about your square pegs in round holes.

Bracketology   |   Seed List

Depending on your choice of metric and resume breakdown, there is no “wrong” order to the five (or six).  If we were in the Selection Committee room, discussions would be eventful.  After several run-throughs, the weekend chaos on the top line (Michigan, Virginia, and Kansas all lost), left Tennessee and Michigan State in the top two positions.  For what it’s worth, being a “projected league champion” for bracket purposes this morning ended up being a factor, too.  The good news:  We still have eight weeks to sort through the process, and usually, these things work themselves out.

Bracketology: Duke leads updated Field of 68

Merry Christmas from Bracketville!
With those wishes comes our annual Christmas Eve bracket update and seed list.  If we were watching Polar Express, the first gift of Christmas would go to the Duke Blue Devils, who hold the No. 1 overall seed.  Kansas is a close second, followed by Michigan and Tennessee.  Virginia is next in line.

Bracketology   |   Seed List

As usual for this time of year, we have a lot of ho-hum resumes.  Some teams have gifted themselves with strong schedules, others have been enjoying a feast of pre-Holiday treats, often served with icing on their home court.  As the New Year approaches and conference play begins, we’ll learn a lot more – or at least we hope so.

Until then, enjoy the Holidays.  Have a blessed Christmas with your family and friends.