Michigan Closes In On Top Spot In AP Poll

For Michigan men’s basketball, it will be another week sitting at No. 2 in the AP Poll Top 25 rankings, but the gap between the Wolverines and the top spot is as small as it can get.

Arizona remains the top-ranked team, receiving 1,494 points and 32 first-place votes, but Michigan is just one point behind, with 1,493 points and 29 first-place votes.

With conference play picking up for most teams in the country, now is the time where big changes tend to materialize in the polls. Teams that previously rolled through lesser competition will now regularly face in-conference foes that will provide more of a challenge. On the other hand, teams that struggled to gel early in the season could flip a switch and rack up impressive wins in droves.

The Wolverines played a tough non-conference schedule and are sufficiently battle-tested, but Big Ten play still provides a new wave of challenges. The first of which came in the form of then-No. 24 USC Friday night. 

While Michigan didn’t play its best game offensively, its defense and transition play were still plenty good enough to earn yet another 30-point win, taking down the Trojans 96-66. This convincing performance was almost, yet not quite, enough to propel the Wolverines to the top spot.

Arizona earned a big conference win of its own, besting Utah 97-78 and fending off Michigan for at least another week. 

Nebraska took down Michigan State in a thriller, jumping the cornhuskers up from No. 13 to No. 10, and dropping the Spartans from No. 9 to No. 12.

Here are the complete AP Poll rankings from Week 9:

Other teams receiving votes: Villanova, Seton Hall, USC, Utah State, Miami (Ohio), Clemson, Saint Louis, LSU, Texas, Florida, Saint Mary’s, Kentucky, California, Miami, Indiana, Auburn, TCU, UCLA, Virginia Tech.

For a while, it seemed like the Wolverines were going to need Arizona to lose in order for them to move up, but recently, their continued dominance seems to have swayed some voters.

If Michigan keeps winning, and winning big, it’ll be hard to ignore both the metrics and the eye test. It has two more tests before the next poll, the first of which comes Tuesday at Penn State.

Despite sitting at 0-3 in Big Ten play, the Nittany Lions have shown the ability to put up a fight against tougher competition. They gave Michigan State a run for its money in mid-December, and they played Illinois tough just last week. Michigan shouldn’t have a problem taking them down, but a road game in the Big Ten is almost never easy.

On Saturday, Jan. 10, Wisconsin comes into Ann Arbor. The Badgers are 1-2 in the Big Ten, but their two losses came at the hands of No. 10 Nebraska and No. 5 Purdue. They have been ranked inside the top 25 at times this season, and they have the capability to hang around with very good teams.

If Michigan can parlay two more convincing wins over Penn State and Wisconsin, that might just be enough to take over that coveted No. 1 ranking.