American Soccer Now does something like this I believe… but every week we’re going to have you guys vote to rate your feelings on the team, we’ll call it confidence level, on a five point scale.
0 voters
We’ll go back and track this over the season and see how it changes. Think it could be a fun exercise over the ups and downs of the season.
I’ll leave this one open through this weekend.
I’m currently at a 2. We have looked terrible in a 3rd of our games so far and the biggest problems seem like they will be with us season long. Sure they will improve marginally as they get healthier, but defense, rebounding and toughness will kill us all year.
Weirdly, despite all my complaining, I am at a 3. I am actually more concerned about the recruiting picture than about this team. The Big Ten is having a down year overall – both road games in Columbus and Madison look winnable to me – while Robinson and Wagner provide intriguing additions to the (possibly overrated) core of LeVert, Walton, and Irvin. The lack of progress seen from Doyle, Chatman, Dawkins, Wilson, and Donnal (fwiw) is troubling and definitely provides a counter-argument to the claim that JB is a flawless talent identifier and developer. And obviously Albrecht, Irvin, and Walton are not 100% healthy (though really what team is?). But, in a way, I have higher hopes for this year than for the more distant future, when we are not guaranteed to have any pro-level players. If this year ends up similar to the last one, I will hope for some attrition and a serious shakeup of the recruiting approach, though not holding my breath for that.
What do the numbers mean? I voted 3 just because - though despite our 3 ugly losses - I still think we’re top half of the Big 10 and have a chance to make some noise outside of Purdue, Maryland, and MSU.
I’m at a three. Going in to the season I thought a three loss non conf season would be followed by a six or seven loss conference slate. Both are still very realistic. Is this a top 25 team, no. But a top 40 team is definitely still in the cards in a weak Big Ten.
Kind of up for debate on a personal level… I figure that aggregating them all together will tell us something, but maybe not!
Really cool idea, Dylan.
I’d love to have seen how this chart would have looked back in 2013/2014. Preseason, most people were at a 4 or 5 (returning GRIII and McGary). Then, Michigan struggled in OOC play, including a loss to Charlotte. Most people probably dropped to a 3. Then, when McGary was determined to be out for the season, most people probably dropped to a 1 or 2.
Then, Michigan went on to go 15-3 in conference play. Roller coaster year for us that season!
I am down at a 2 but if the defense improves I could lean towards a 3. I just have a hard time seeing these bigs improve defensively though.
Hail in 13/14 some of their losses in non conference weren’t awful in the way of their performance. They went toe to toe against #1 Arizona it was a tough loss for sure but the play wasn’t good, Duke was a tough game but they kept working and Iowa St is very tough on the road but it was another close game. Against these good teams they haven’t had a pulse for much of the game. One thing I do feel confident in is this team won’t pull off a 15-3 in the B1G.
Yeah, Michigan had some close losses, but also lost to a terrible Charlotte team. 8-4 OOC with a loss to Charlotte is no better than 10-3 with blowout losses to good teams, IMO.
And of course this team isn’t going 15-3 in the B1G. I would have said the same thing about that year’s team when McGary was ruled out, too. I’m a pretty big optimist and even I was thinking that a bubble seed would be best case scenario. Boy was I wrong.
Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with this season. Different teams, different talent levels.
I never said that season had anything to do with this one. All I said that this poll and chart would have been fun to follow that season. Is that okay?