Michigan picked first in B10 Media Basketball Poll
October 6th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
No-brainer. GO BLUE! It's a truly great time in major Michigan athletics.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
the illinois a.d. is convening a meeting to craft a STRONGLY-WORDED LETTER as we speak.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
(In response to JHumich) And minor ones, for that matter. We have turned into a B1G championship machine, and we are putting in top 3 performances in the NCAA President’s Cup.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^
Yep, I feel like it's always a good time in minor sports. I probably follow swimming most closely apart from the bigger sports.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
Fwiw Sparty came in 6th, lol.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:01 PM ^
Big time disrespekt for 'lil bro!
October 6th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
I'm not surprised by Michigan's expectations, but I am surprised by MSU's lack thereof. I think they'll be dangerous this year, and probably finish 3-4 in B1G.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
Agreed. Unfortunately I think they will be ranked in the top 25 most of the season and will be better than expected.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:17 PM ^
I also believe they will get bounced in the 1st or 2nd round as a 4 or 5 seed. This we know.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:38 PM ^
It is known
October 6th, 2021 at 6:49 PM ^
I mean, the difference between 3rd and 6th in the league is usually 2 games or so. It's not a tremendous gap.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:15 PM ^
Tim McCormick says Devonte Jones is on either Lindy’s or athlon top 25 player list . Him and Dickinson is one hell of a pick n roll combo ! Can’t wait
October 6th, 2021 at 6:47 PM ^
I have always respected McCormack's opinion.
October 6th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
But assist average was down last season to 2.9/game. Had to score more but hopefully will be able to feed Dickerson the ball similar to last season.
October 6th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
He was moved to the 2 guard last year to serve as their primary shooter.
October 7th, 2021 at 6:37 AM ^
Played PG 2 years ago and SG last year.
Will play PG this year.
Plus he held his own against other NBA Draft prospects (ala Chaundee Brown). I think he'll be the best offensive PG we've had since Derrick Walton. In fact, I'd be extremely disappointed if he wasn't the best since Walton.
He may not shoot as well as Walton (Jones is a little streakier), but he's more aggressive and can find his shot a little better. Defensively he's not Simpson, but he's bigger, where Simpson had trouble against larger PGs. He'll be an instant upgrade over Smith defensively. Though Mike had incredible pace and when he got hot, he was lights out.
Very excited about Jones. Jones and Brooks should be the best backcourt in the league.
Dickinson should be the best C in the league.
That leaves Johns, Houstan, Williams, Diabate, and Bufkin to provide us with quality minutes with the other 2 spots (...and to a lesser extent, Barnes and Tschetter). I like those chances. Especially since Johns and Williams are known quantities.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
Last year, we were picked 7th and came in 1st. Therefore, math, science and logic all indicate that we will come in 7th this year. Sorry.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:44 PM ^
Nope, just means we'll come in -5th somehow. I choose to interpret that as meaning we will not just be conference champions, but will be declared better than the last several conference champions.
October 6th, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
Better get that ok from Illinois upfront, don't ya think???
October 6th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
How can you be such a Faux Mo Fo?
October 6th, 2021 at 1:19 PM ^
Michigan State at 6 seems implausible.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:25 PM ^
Probably too high
October 6th, 2021 at 1:33 PM ^
yeah, things will really have to break right for them for that to happen.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
Speaks to the depth of the conference, IMO.
Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa were all composite Top-10 teams last year and Ohio State was #13, w/ another four teams (8 total) rounding out the Top-40. The B1G was better than the second best conference by a massive margin last year.
B1G basketball is elite right now. It wouldn't shock me at all if a team finishing as low as 8th in the conference was a borderline Top-25 team nationally.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:04 PM ^
I’m not sure id refer the the Bigten as elite. Very good but not elite to me. Perhaps the most depth across the board but perhaps lacks the star power at the top to get over the hump. Last title is 2001.
Im hoping Howard’s recruiting will change all of that.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
Keep in mind that there are 14 teams in the conference and they play unbalanced schedules (7 teams twice, 6 teams once). Sixth place isn’t necessarily that big of DISRESPEKT.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:39 PM ^
Sparty was bad last year and lost their best player (Henry) and most experienced player (Langford). They are counting on HUGE minutes/impact from a transfer and freshman at guard and the guys they are running out at 3-5 are pretty meh. I think they will be much improved squad but the margins are razor thin.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
Izzo will no doubt complain about his “weird lineups.”
October 6th, 2021 at 4:37 PM ^
They're catching on to Izzo's declining coaching prowess.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:22 PM ^
Anyone know the last time we were picked first preseason?
October 6th, 2021 at 6:45 PM ^
96-97?
October 6th, 2021 at 1:27 PM ^
Like flying under the radar better.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:48 PM ^
At some point you want the team to be good enough to be consistently picked #1 preseason. If that's the case, it means you're doing something right. Do you think OSU football prefers flying under the radar rather than being picked to win the Big Ten every year? Or Alabama to win the title?
I want our teams to be good, and I want fans, players, media, and coaches to expect them to be good, every single year.
October 6th, 2021 at 7:02 PM ^
The last ten preseason conference picks were:
- Ohio St.
- Indiana
- Michigan St.
- Wisconsin
- Maryland
- ? might have been Michigan St., might have been Wisconsin. I can't find an article anywhere.
- Michigan St.
- Michigan St.
- Michigan St.
- Illinois
Which is a long-winded way of saying that nobody's expected to win the conference every year. Seven different teams have now been picked just in the last 11 preseasons, and Purdue's not been one of them even though they've won the regular season twice in the last five. It's not football; players don't stay around long enough to build dynasties.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
I mean that's great... seems a bit high however, considering all the unknowns on the roster.
That said, it may simply be that other teams have more unknows than Michigan does.
Really excited to see the new additions in action though!
October 6th, 2021 at 4:04 PM ^
All the unknowns on the roster? What exactly is unknown? We have either a very proven player or absolute blue chip at every spot. We will have a McDonald's All American struggling to find PT. Not very unknown.
October 6th, 2021 at 4:43 PM ^
The "knowns" dwarf the "unknowns"...beginning with Juwan Howard and staff. This team has exceeded expectations for many years.
October 6th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
--Donald Rumsfeld
Sincerely no politics. You can like him or hate him but nobody parses and destroys the language more than politicians and the military. This is a hybrid.
October 6th, 2021 at 10:52 PM ^
Rummy was great at butchering the English language. He was always offering a good chuckle or two.
October 6th, 2021 at 11:18 PM ^
Doesn't take long in college basketball for the unknowns to become known.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:49 PM ^
Houstan; Freshman of the year and got 1 vote for first team all B1G!
This is gonna be a hellafun year.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:05 PM ^
It should also be noted that transfer DeVante' Jones received 2 votes for First Team.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:27 PM ^
Jones is going to be outstanding
October 6th, 2021 at 7:22 PM ^
Can he play D-line? Ah, nevermind
October 6th, 2021 at 1:51 PM ^
That's what I'm talking about! Go Blue!
October 6th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
And #1 in our hear..... wait a minute.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:28 PM ^
I'm not afraid.
October 6th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
Are they adding Michael Barrett though?
October 6th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
Pistons preseason beginnings tonight, time for the basketball!