And UM hasn’t played Illinois yet. We’re in 1st place and our conference SOS is probably 1. The team had one or two clunkers, but it’s been a very impressive conference run so far.
We have taken on all comers. Now, what are our seed possibilities?
Our highest possible seed is a 2 IMO, especially if we win out. Even if we string together a Big Ten Tourney run and win the title, a 1 is hard to fathom seeing we have 7 losses.
MSU was a #1 seed two years ago with 7 losses based on winning the B1G and the B1G tourney. UM is T2 for RPI top-50 wins with 9 (tied with AZ behind KU’s 12). Their SOS is 3 and their nonconf SOS is pretty good. If UM wins the B1G outright, they’re no worse than a 3 seed. If they finish with only one more loss in the regular season and B1G tourney combined, they are highly likely to be a 2-seed. The only way they fall below a 4-seed is lose 2 more in the regular season and don’t make the B1G tourney final, and they may get a a 4 even then, depending on what other teams do. Four of the losses are to top-11 RPI teams. I know this seems a little optomistic compared to bracket-matrix, but do you really think if the season ended yesterday that Michigan State, Iowa State, and Wiscy would all be seeded ahead of UM? I don’t. And some of the teams ahead could fall pretty easily. Nova has 1 top-25 RPI win all year (a good one against KU, to be sure), and 4 top-50 wins. A loss @Xavier could easily put them behind UM. @MSU, MSU, @Wiscy, Iowa, @OSU, @Neb, Stanf(neutral) are a group of wins that not many teams will be able to match. Take care of business and we’ll be just fine.