Michigan rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for 1st time since January 2013
Michigan is No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the first time in 13 years, ending Arizona’s nine-week reign.
The Wolverines (24-1) claimed 60 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll to climb one spot and supplant the Wildcats, who were unbeaten entering last week before falling at Kansas and at home to Texas Tech.
“Not much,” coach Dusty May said when asked by the AP after Saturday’s rout of UCLA about the significance of potentially topping the poll. “It means we haven’t drank our own Kool-Aid. We’ve put ourselves in a position to be playing the types of games in mid-February that we want to be in, but we’ve got to continue to improve.”
Michigan had been ranked No. 2 behind Arizona for six of Arizona’s nine weeks at the top but was No. 1 in analytics rankings by KenPom, Evan Miyakawa and Bart Torvik last week.
Now the Wolverines have their first AP No. 1 ranking since January 2013.
Houston and Duke each moved up one spot to sit behind Michigan, with the second-ranked Cougars claiming the remaining first-place vote. The Wolverines and Blue Devils are set to meet this weekend in a marquee nonconference matchup in the nation’s capital.
Arizona dropped three spots to No. 4. UConn was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Purdue, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois to round out the top 10.
Rising
The seventh-ranked Boilermakers jumped six spots for the week’s biggest leap, coming after an overtime win at Nebraska and a win at Iowa. The preseason No. 1 has won four straight entering Tuesday’s visit from Michigan.
No. 13 Texas Tech rose three spots after its home win against Colorado followed by the OT win at Arizona. As did No. 21 Louisville, with freshman Mikel Brown starring with an Atlantic Coast Conference freshman-record 45 points in a win against N.C. State and 29 more in a win against Baylor.
In all, 13 teams moved up from last week.
Sliding
No. 15 Michigan State and No. 16 North Carolina had the week’s biggest tumbles of five spots. The Spartans lost at Wisconsin on Friday, while the Tar Heels lost at Miami while also learning that star freshman Caleb Wilson is out indefinitely with a fractured bone in his left hand.
Seven ranked teams fell from last week’s position.
Quick turnaround for Badgers
Wisconsin returned to the poll, going from receiving no votes last week to No. 24 after back-to-back wins against top-10 opponents Illinois and Michigan State last week.
Wisconsin previously had fallen out of the poll after a Nov. 21 loss to BYU as the Badgers struggled through a 7-4 start. Last week’s wins, along with being the only team to take down Michigan, has the Badgers alongside the Red Raiders as the only teams with victories against three top-10 teams this year.
“Early in the year we were soft mentally and physically,” coach Greg Gard said after the 92-71 win against the Spartans. “We had to mature, had to grow up collectively and individually. You’re not going to be able to compete in these types of games in the upper echelon of this league if you’re not physically and mentally tough. This group has responded.”
Comings and goings
No. 25 Alabama joined Wisconsin as the week’s new additions after the Crimson Tide pushed to a four-game winning streak.
They replaced Clemson (No. 20) and Kentucky (No. 25) in the poll.
Conference watch
The Big 12 and Big Ten dominated the top of the poll while tying with a national-best six ranked teams. Those two leagues combined to have eight spots in the top 10.
The ACC and Southeastern Conference were next with four ranked teams each. The Big East had two, while the West Coast Conference, Atlantic 10 and Mid-American Conference each had one.
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AP Sports Writers Larry Lage in Michigan and Steve Megargee in Wisconsin contributed to this report.
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