CSNbbs

The Michigan Wolverines, one of the current media darlings, is presently 13-6 and are #31 in this week's AP poll with 41 votes. Western Michigan and Central Michigan, both coincidently with 12-4 records and wins at U-M, have a grand total of ZERO votes in the poll.

No doubt Michigan's 13-game winning streak is being noticed, but I submit the media exposure combined with name/league recognition is playing a significant role.

Why don't the pollsters look closer at U-M's overall record? They still have SIX losses: two at home, three on a neutral court, and one away. Only one of the those losses was to a ranked team. Regarding the 13 wins? Well, NONE of them have been to ranked teams and 10 of the victories have been AT HOME. Get a load of this: U-M has played 19 games thus far; 12 at home, 3 on neutral courts, and 4 away. Who wouldn't want that schedule?

As opposed to the AP poll, Sagarin's rating system has WMU #37 (84.02), U-M #66 (83.90), and CMU #75 (79.70). Who's poll is closer to reality?

My point of this post is not to bash Michigan (although I must admit it's enjoyable), but rather to illustrate the often unfair advantages teams have who belong to the "Big Boy" conferences.

P.S.- I'm now actually rooting for Michigan, for the sake of self-interest. Since U-M is on probation, they aren't going anywhere; they could knock out some fellow Big 10 members from at-large bids; and every win directly or indirectly helps the RPIs of every team in the MAC.

Michigan is one of the largest black holes in the country, with a gravitational force so strong that not even the smallest media outlet can escape it. Now, reading the UM boards, their fans have generally dismissed the early losses, and insist that if they played WMU or CMU today, they'd win by a very large margin. They are playing good ball, and their freshmen are looking so good that it'll be hard for the Broncos to continue to beat them in coming years. But UM fans (very few of which are actual alumni, mind you) are among the few who still manage to talk trash to an opponent they've directly lost to in back-to-back years.


Here are some common opponent games as well:

Virginia Tech 65 Michigan 53 (UM -12)
WMU 75 Virginia Tech 54 (WMU +21)

CMU 85 Michigan 78 (UM -7)
CMU 80 WMU 75 (WMU -5)

Michigan 83 BGSU 57 (UM +26)
WMU 76 BGSU 58 (WMU +18)

Michigan 85 EMU 57 (UM +28)
WMU 87 EMU 54 (WMU +33)

Michigan 84 IUPUI 79 (UM +5)
WMU 75 IUPUI 51 (WMU +24)


With the exception of the BGSU game, the Broncos have "performed" against their common opponent better than Michigan in every case.

And from what I understand, we can add Mechicken to the list of teams that will not play at Kzoo anymore (ever since they got their hides handed to them last year).

The media always love a team on a roll, particulaly a "name" team with a good story (Fab 5 debacle) underpinning it.
Hey, we're 13-2 with the best record in our li'l ole conference and we get a mere 4 votes in one poll and six, I believe, in the other to put us #39 and #42?
The Broncs have some good wins, but the losses kill you, plus the fact that you are still 7th in the MAC overall. When #1 trickles in so few votes, nobody else in the MAC is going to get any.
And our RPI problem is serious. History has shown us that being in the 40's just won't cut it on selection Sunday. And how do we get even to the 40's from where any of us are now? It's hard to hold place even by winning. One loss and the bottom drops out and you have to win 6-7 in a row to get back where you were.
WMU's wins over UM and Auburn don't really carry much weight--as noted in the Bracketology thread, look what wins over top 5 opponents did for Ball St. last year. What you need to do is finish with only 3 or 4 MAC losses to have any shot of an at-large, and only then if you make it to the finals at Gund. I think the MAC is screwed again, unless a team with no more than 4-5 losses overall loses the championship. I know if we lose 3-4 more MAC games, we are done. Maybe less than that, actually.
:(



<!--EDIT|axeme|Jan 28 2003, 01:50 PM-->

All that is true.

But no fair bringing logic into the matter, since I enjoy partaking in any conversation where I can bring up "WMU 56 Michigan 52". :D

Motown Bronco Wrote:All that is true.

But no fair bringing logic into the matter, since I enjoy partaking in any conversation where I can bring up "WMU 56 Michigan 52". :D

Did you say "WMU 56 Michigan 52"?

Really?
"WMU 56 Michigan 52"?

Hey, you guys have their number and would probably get them again.

What was that score again?
Oh yeah, "WMU 56 Michigan 52".

It does have nice ring to it, doesn't it?
:D

So what will be the score tonight at the Savage?

WMU 56 ... Beat-MSU-by-more-than-UM-did 52 :)

Seriously though, these next couple weeks are going to possibly be the toughest stretch for the Broncos. At Toledo, a team we haven't had any luck with in recent years, tonight. Then Kent State this weekend. Then we get Marshall (home) and CMU (road), a couple teams that beat us last month.

I'll be happy if we come out of that 3-1.