(1) The battle for the 1 seeds in March is going to be even more intense than usual this year. What do you do with Nevada if it runs the table? Do you really give both Gonzaga and Nevada 1 seeds? Is it fair to award half the 1 seeds to schools that absolutely play no one after January 1st? Gonzaga plays a brutal non-league school at least. Nevada could have at most 2 wins over NCAA teams. IMO, Gonzaga is almost a lock to be a 1 seed because it will finish 31-2 or something like that. But then throw in the likelihood that Kansas gets a 1 seed, either Duke or UVA gets a 1 seed, and that leaves 1 seed remaining for Tennessee, Michigan, the ACC second place team and an unbeaten Nevada. You’d like to think that if Michigan goes 30-5 and wins the B1G that it would be a lock for a 1 seed, but it just seem as if it is even going to be more competitive this year.
(2) The polls are becoming an exercise in whatever it takes to get beloved Duke back to #1. Look, Duke may be the best team in the country. But I’ve never seen anything like their treatment this year. They already have a loss, have yet to play a true road game and are somehow ranked #2 ahead of two similar opponents who are unbeaten (UVA, UM) as well as one team that it lost to on a neutral floor (Gonzaga).
(3) As enter 2019, there will be 11 B1G schools that harbor legitimate NCAA aspirations. Do I think all 11 will make it? No chance. But the conference should get 8 bids for the first time ever, and 9 isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
(4) Our B1G schedule is interesting from a perspective of whether it is conducive to winning the league. On the positive, we don’t play Purdue, Ohio State or Nebraska away from Crisler, and those games would all be potential losses on the road. On the other hand, we don’t play Illinois or Rutgers at home, and those are probably the only two games that you’d say that there is no circumstance where you can see Michigan losing. Even Rutgers and Illinois on the road is more difficult than it projected in past seasons.
(5) The next three games we need to develop a reliable backup big. The final scores of the game is irrelevant. We’ll win between 10-30 points. But if we’re still at 7, we’re potentially 1 injury away from a scary situation.
(6) In a year where the B1G looks brutal, going unbeaten in the non-conference schedule with 3 quality wins (Nova, UNC, PC) cannot be overstated. We have a huge margin for error, not just in terms of making the tournament (frankly 8-12 would do it) , but any half decent B1G record (12-8 or better) should garner us a top 5 seed in March.
(2) The polls are becoming an exercise in whatever it takes to get beloved Duke back to #1. Look, Duke may be the best team in the country. But I’ve never seen anything like their treatment this year. They already have a loss, have yet to play a true road game and are somehow ranked #2 ahead of two similar opponents who are unbeaten (UVA, UM) as well as one team that it lost to on a neutral floor (Gonzaga).
(3) As enter 2019, there will be 11 B1G schools that harbor legitimate NCAA aspirations. Do I think all 11 will make it? No chance. But the conference should get 8 bids for the first time ever, and 9 isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
(4) Our B1G schedule is interesting from a perspective of whether it is conducive to winning the league. On the positive, we don’t play Purdue, Ohio State or Nebraska away from Crisler, and those games would all be potential losses on the road. On the other hand, we don’t play Illinois or Rutgers at home, and those are probably the only two games that you’d say that there is no circumstance where you can see Michigan losing. Even Rutgers and Illinois on the road is more difficult than it projected in past seasons.
(5) The next three games we need to develop a reliable backup big. The final scores of the game is irrelevant. We’ll win between 10-30 points. But if we’re still at 7, we’re potentially 1 injury away from a scary situation.
(6) In a year where the B1G looks brutal, going unbeaten in the non-conference schedule with 3 quality wins (Nova, UNC, PC) cannot be overstated. We have a huge margin for error, not just in terms of making the tournament (frankly 8-12 would do it) , but any half decent B1G record (12-8 or better) should garner us a top 5 seed in March.
