Agreed. Some may think that talent overrules personality, but to get a kid like this that may poison the rest of team with this type of attitude has no right to become a Michigan man. Worth the loss IMO
Yeah, 15 is high for us at this point, given our lack of elite talent overall and inexperience up front. It’s not out of the question that we could peak that high this season if all goes well, but right now, 20-25 would be about the best I would peg us at.
After reading Goodman’s article again and really looking at the teams behind us, maybe #15 isn’t that crazy. And I really tried to take an objective look at it.
We all know there are a lot of “ifs” with this team, but when I looked at the rosters of each team below us…there weren’t more than 3 or 4 that I could even muster an argument that they deserve to be ranked ahead of us.
I guess I’m saying that there are a lot of teams with just as many “ifs” as Mich going into the season, so a team like ours with upperclassmen, depth, and solid coaching probably deserves to be slotted here despite coming off a subpar season.
This also leads me to think that parity will be even more evident this year (i.e. a LOT of the middle-tier teams having some head scratching losses throughout).
MSU is rated too high. They return only one top notch player, weak PG and lots of un-proven talent. They have as many question marks as UM, if not more. They may be good by season's end, but not pre-season.
MSU returns 3 players that started over 24 games, they return their starting PG in Nairn along with a transfer of Eron Harris. They bring in a very solid recruiting class as well with a good nucleus that went to the Final Four not sure how they are rated too high. If Michigan was returning that amount of talent from a Final Four team fans would be ecstatic.
MSU will be good.
Of course there are question marks… Will Eron Harris be better than Travis Trice when he was on? Will Denzel Valentine be more consistent?
Overall I think they lose some key pieces (Trice, Dawson), but still have a pretty dang good core. Will be interesting to see how Izzo uses Deyonta Davis.
They weren’t a worthy final four team last year as Duke proved.
They lost two of their best 3 players. Valentine is the only returning player of proven talent where we have at least four. They add a transfer and a good recruiting class (unproven) while we add a transfer and Wilson, Wagner (unproven). Match their projected starters against ours and tell me who would you pick over our guy? I’m saying they have a lot of potential (like us) and a lot of question marks. They are overrated.
So they went to the Final Four but wasn’t worthy of it because of how the season ended? That seems rather silly.
As far as rosters when the 2 teams play if both are healthy Valentine might be the best player on the court. Forbes can hit the outside shot and has hit big shots. Costello might be the best big out of both teams as well.
You didn’t really answer his question.
Walton or Nairn?
Levert or Harris?
Dawkins or Valentine?
Irvin or Davis (or whoever they start)?
Doyle or Schilling?
Bench:
Spike, MAAR, Chatman, Robinson, Wilson, Wagner, Donnal or
Forbes, Bess, McQuaid, Costello, Ahrens, Clark, Ellis
I would say it’s extremely close… I would likely take Michigan’s starting lineup and both should have deep, strong benches
I would say ranking the two teams similarly makes a lot of sense
You didn't really answer his question. Walton or Nairn? Levert or Harris? Dawkins or Valentine? Irvin or Davis (or whoever they start)? Doyle or Schilling?Bench:
Spike, MAAR, Chatman, Robinson, Wilson, Wagner, Donnal orForbes, Bess, McQuaid, Costello, Ahrens, Clark, Ellis
I would say it’s extremely close… I would likely take Michigan’s starting lineup and both should have deep, strong benches
I would say ranking the two teams similarly makes a lot of sense
Walton over Nairn, Walton can shoot better but Nairn is better defensively
I would probably give the edge to Levert but only the Levert from 13/14.
Valentine has a huge edge
Irvin has the edge
Schilling or Costello has the edge over Doyle
I would do it like this:
Walton over Nairn.
LeVert over Valentine.
Irvin over Harris.
Davis over Dawkins/Chatman/etc.
Costello/Schilling over Doyle.
The two and three are up for debate I guess. Valentine had a good year last year while LeVert didn’t and then got hurt. But LeVert is a better pro prospect and had a better '14 season.
Harris and Irvin could be close to a push. Depends on their roles and offseasons IMO.
Bottom line is that I agree with @MGoBlueAdam that placing them in similar spots this offseason seems pretty fair.
With all that bulk that Ricky has added he may be able to challenge Costello down low*
*except in east lansing where MSU bigs invariably get away with murder.
With all that bulk that Ricky has added he may be able to challenge Costello down low**except in east lansing where MSU bigs invariably get away with murder.
Yeah…I think I might take Doyle over MSU’s 5, or at least that’s what I’m hoping.
Since we’re talking Big Ten here… Some thoughts on the conference here http://www.umhoops.com/2015/06/01/big-ten-power-rankings-offseason-edition/