[jwplayer eAQGqTzC-XNcErKyb]
It now seems egregious that Michigan basketball has spent the entirety of the short 2019-20 season unranked to this point.
With a solid early season win over Creighton — also unranked, but a very good team — it looked like maybe new head coach Juwan Howard was onto something. Then, in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas, the Wolverines made a statement, with consecutive wins over Iowa State, No. 6 North Carolina and No. 8 Gonzaga.
After winning the tournament, and having arguably the two best wins of any team in college basketball yet this season, the expectation was that Michigan basketball wouldn’t just finally get ranked, but that it could be ranked as high as No. 1 overall this week. Analysts Jeff Goodman and Seth Davis both have the maize and blue as their top team after those wins.
Brand-New Goodman Top 25 with a new No. 1 and plenty of movement (this is also pending Villanova and Arizona win tonight): pic.twitter.com/RGzV79UVs3
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) December 1, 2019
1.Mich
2.KU
3.UVA
4.Lou
5.Gonzhttps://t.co/QlxXbdOZHo
7.UNC
8.Ore
9.Dayton
10.Ohio St
11.Colhttps://t.co/ClLoKBfZsi
13.Duke
14.Mich St
15.Seton Hall
16.Fla St
17.Purdue
18.Tenn
19.Wash
20.Baylor
21.Aub
22.Ariz
23.Butler
24.Mem
25.SDSU— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 2, 2019
But what would the AP voters think? Is Michigan the best team in the country at the moment?
Not according to the AP. But the Wolverines moved from unranked to No. 4 in the country.
The Wolverines have a daunting challenge up next, however, with No. 1 Louisville on the road coming up Tuesday night.
Full rankings:
- Louisville
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Virginia
- Ohio State
- North Carolina
- Kentucky
- Gonzaga
- Duke
- Michigan State
- Arizona
- Oregon
- Auburn
- Memphis
- Seton Hall
- Florida State
- Baylor
- Dayton
- Colorado
- Tennessee
- Washington
- Villanova
- Butler
- Utah State