The AP Polls were released on Monday afternoon, and both basketball teams at the University of Michigan remain ranked in the Top-10. The men’s team fell two spots to No. 4, while the woman’s team improved
to No. 8.
The men’s team had its roughest week of the season, which isn’t saying much considering how dominant the group has looked. The Wolverines squeaked out a win at Penn State last Tuesday before losing for the first time all season to a Wisconsin team that was an 18.5-point underdog entering Saturday’s contest.
Following the loss, Michigan is still ranked No. 1 in KenPom, No. 1 in Bart Torvik, and No. 1 on EvanMiya.com; the advanced stats still love that the Wolverines have beaten so many teams by a wide margin. They are also still ranked No. 1 in the NET rankings, but that ranking is the most precarious; Wisconsin is a Quad 2 loss, and the next highest-ranked team with a Quad 2 loss is No. 15 Florida. Michigan could dip quite a bit in the NET if the teams at the top of the rankings continue to dominate.
The Wolverines are heading to the West Coast this week to play Washington (Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 10:30 p.m. ET) and Oregon (Saturday, Jan. 17 at 4 p.m. ET). Head coach Dusty May did say after the loss that Michigan hasn’t played well in the past four games, and this week is a chance to right the ship and avoid a skid.
Meanwhile, the women’s team jumped one spot to No. 8, second in the Big Ten behind UCLA (No. 3). The Wolverines won all three of their games last week, coming from behind to beat Minnesota by 10 at home, winning at Penn State by 40, and then beating Wisconsin by 26 points on Sunday at Crisler Center.
In yesterday’s game, despite Syla Swords not playing, Michigan dominated from the start, jumping out to a 16-0 lead and never looking back. In her first career start, sophomore wing Te’Yala Delfosse was especially impressive, scoring 18 points, three behind Olivia Olson for the team high. Delfosse had an exceptional week, scoring six points in the Minnesota win and 17 points off the bench in the Penn State win.
The Wolverines have just one game this week, a home game against Illinois (Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. on Peacock). That’s effectively a trap game ahead of a Top-10 matchup vs No. 5 Vanderbilt in the Coretta Scott King Classic next week. That game in Newark, New Jersey tips off at 2:30 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 19) on FOX.
