{"id":758,"date":"2025-04-07T12:01:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T12:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/michigan-needs-to-raise-its-standards-to-contend-in-new-big-ten\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T12:01:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T12:01:48","slug":"michigan-needs-to-raise-its-standards-to-contend-in-new-big-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/michigan-needs-to-raise-its-standards-to-contend-in-new-big-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan needs to raise its standards to contend in new Big Ten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>At the end of the Big Ten Tournament last season, the Michigan softball team stood alone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/softball\/anchored-by-derkowski-michigan-softball-stifles-indiana-to-win-the-big-ten-tournament-championship-3-1\/\">atop<\/a> the conference. The Wolverines hoisted the trophy, earned their rings and reaffirmed Michigan\u2019s elite status in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the new Big Ten arrived. Oregon, UCLA and Washington entered the picture \u2014 Southern California doesn\u2019t have a varsity softball program \u2014 and vaulted to the top of the <a href=\"https:\/\/bigten.org\/sb\/standings\/2025\/\">standings<\/a>. Without these new powerhouses, the Wolverines would be third in the Big Ten right now. With them, Michigan is sixth.<\/p>\n<p>In a conference of 17, sixth place is respectable. The Wolverines have had a decent season so far, posting a 27-12 record. They\u2019ve yet to beat a ranked team, but they\u2019ve come close, falling to then-No. 8 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/softball\/michigan-batting-fails-to-pull-off-upset-against-no-8-duke\/\">Duke<\/a> and then-No. 10 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/sports\/softball\/michigan-offense-explodes-after-slow-opening-weekend-in-red-and-black-showcase\/\">Georgia<\/a> in low-scoring, one-run defeats.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that with the new Big Ten powerhouses, a successful season for Michigan won\u2019t get it as far in the conference as in years past. Last season, the Wolverines and Northwestern duked it out, with the Wildcats taking the regular-season crown and Michigan taking the tournament title. Now, not only do the Wolverines still have to deal with Northwestern and other original Big Ten contenders like Nebraska and Ohio State, but three new heavyweights that muddy the waters even further.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s recent losses to the Ducks drew the line in the sand. Unsurprisingly, No. 6 Oregon has been raking through the Big Ten. The Ducks swept Illinois, Rutgers and Michigan, and they took two of three games from Washington. Tied with UCLA and Northwestern, Oregon sits atop the Big Ten standings.<\/p>\n<p>The Wolverines knew playing such high-caliber competition would be a challenge, but they were excited for the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conference realignment, in some ways, has been a really, really good thing for Big Ten softball, and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to approach it,\u201d Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl said Tuesday. \u201cWe love the fact that to be able to reach our goals and to win championships and get to Oklahoma City, you have to fight against and see top-caliber teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s one benefit of the Wolverines\u2019 rough weekend, it\u2019s that they now know where they stand. They mostly cruised through games against Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan State, knowing the Ducks would be their first big test. They had the chance to see if they could beat a championship contender, and they got their answer: they couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>To give credit where credit is due, Michigan played Oregon close in the first two games and showed glimpses of what it can be at its best. Two home runs on Friday almost gave the Wolverines enough juice, but a double and RBI single from the Ducks in the sixth inning plated the winning run. Michigan looked even better Saturday, claiming a 4-2 lead in the third inning with another home run. But then a seventh-inning collapse stole the Wolverines\u2019 chance of earning a signature win right from under their noses. In the second game of Saturday\u2019s doubleheader, one rocky inning, in which Michigan allowed five runs, sealed its fate.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>From second in the conference standings a year ago, with a Big Ten Tournament trophy to boot, to sixth in the standings today, it looks like the Wolverines have fallen off dramatically. In reality, they\u2019ve only taken a small step back. It\u2019s the Big Ten that took the bigger step forward, making Michigan\u2019s small step feel like a leap.<\/p>\n<p>The Wolverines felt it this weekend. In three games against a new Big Ten team \u2014\u00a0the best one at that \u2014 they saw firsthand how much tougher life will be in the new Big Ten. If they want to return to the top, they\u2019ll have to raise their standards.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of the Big Ten Tournament last season, the Michigan softball team stood alone atop the conference. The Wolverines hoisted the trophy, earned their rings and reaffirmed Michigan\u2019s elite status in the Big Ten. Then, the new Big Ten arrived. Oregon, UCLA and Washington entered the picture \u2014 Southern California doesn\u2019t have a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[515,806,222,804,805,259],"class_list":{"0":"post-758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-big","9":"tag-contend","10":"tag-michigan","11":"tag-raise","12":"tag-standards","13":"tag-ten"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}