Michigan basketball: Why latest top-25 ranking is perfect for Wolverines

With news that Hunter Dickinson decided to return to Michigan for “one last ride” along with Eli Brooks coming back and transfer DeVante Jones pulling his name out of the NBA draft, and Michigan basketball fans have to feel good about the starting five for this season.

What does the media think about Michigan though? Where is Michigan basketball projected in the latest top-25 rankings? Well, CBS Sports put out another Top 25 rankings (because Memphis is going insane with recruiting right now) last Friday, and Michigan is ranked sixth.

Why this is the perfect ranking for Michigan

Before most Michigan fans get upset at this ranking, we need to remember that college basketball is still a few months away and the rankings fluctuate often.

The rankings are very subjective, and nothing is finalized. Also, the writer of the article, Garry Parrish, is well-known and has been doing these rankings for a long time. He wouldn’t just randomly put out rankings without an explanation or reason.

Michigan being ranked sixth is definitely not the worst thing in the world. While I’m sure all of us would have liked for Michigan to be ranked in the top-5 or top-3 (we definitely deserve it and get screwed in the pre-season rankings every year it seems) it doesn’t always work out that way.

Michigan lost quite a bit of production, from Franz Wagner to Isaiah Livers, to Mike Smith, and Chaundee Brown.

The Wolverines are going to be starting two completely new players in their rotation in transfer DeVante Jones, and freshman Caleb Houstan.

This doesn’t even factor in that Brandon Johns Jr. is going to be starting for the first time ever right from the start of the season. He played well as a full-in for Isaiah last season down the stretch, but playing starting minutes for the first time the entire season will be a new experience for him.

Ok, well what about the talent coming off the bench?

Well, all of that talent is unproven. Zeb Jackson is still only a sophomore. Yes, he has been working on his craft, his shooting, and his leadership, but he is still only a sophomore.

Same for Terrance Williams. He is only a sophomore. They both still aren’t that experienced.
The rest of the players that could factor into the rotation are freshmen. Frankie Collins is unproven.  Kobe Bufkin is unproven. Moussa Diabate is unproven, and Will Tschetter and Isaiah Barnes are unproven.

All of those guys are first-year players who, unless an injury or two occurs, likely won’t get that much playing time (unless Michigan is blowing out an opponent of course). Those guys are all very talented, but having experience, knowing how to play in the Big Ten is something that talent can’t teach.

Final Thoughts

Look, everybody knows Michigan basketball.  The Wolverines aren’t some Cinderella like a Loyola-Chicago. Michigan has been elite for the past decade.

But the team has a hard schedule this season and is in a tough conference, and you have to take a “no days off approach” in the Big Ten. If we look at the teams ranked ahead of Michigan (1-5) it’s Gonzaga, UCLA, Texas, Kansas, and Villanova.

Now, we can argue that UCLA was a fluke last year (which I tend to agree with) and Texas never does anything in March, but the fact is, whenever UCLA gets good, people will automatically think that they are elite since they have a historically elite basketball history. They will get the benefit of the doubt no matter what.

Texas hired Chris Beard (who U-M fans should respect but hate because of that 2019 Sweet 16 game) and they went bonkers in the transfer portal, adding a bunch of talent and veterans.

Kansas is Kansas. A blue-blood. Like Duke and Kentucky, even if the Jayhawks have a bad season, they’ll still get the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Villanova is Villanova. Recency bias (their couple of championships in the last few years) combined with the guys they have coming back and well-respected coach Jay Wright has them up there pretty much every year.

Lastly, Gonzaga, because, well, Gonzaga is really good.

Yes, I hate that they are in the WCC conference (just like everybody else, because it grossly inflates their win-loss record by a ton every season) but the Zags always play really good opponents before conference play begins to make up for that.

No, Michigan basketball probably should be ranked in the top-5 at least. But sometimes, things aren’t fair. Some of these teams get more attention than Michigan just because of the program they are historical.

That’s why John Beilein’s teams always had to prove themselves in March. People slept on Michigan. And look how it turned out. Michigan did amazing.

Juwan Howard also has to prove that last season was not a fluke season. He doesn’t necessarily have to only lose five games again or even win the Big Ten title every single season, but he has to prove to the national media and writers that he can consistently have Michigan basketball in the title conversation.

All in all, Michigan’s few returning players (they still have a top 2-3 starting five in the country), combined with the inexperience on the bench, and Juwan having to prove himself not a one-year wonder, has the Wolverines ranked where they are. They are definitely still one of the title favorites, but, have a teensy bit more growing to do than other teams ranked ahead of them.