The Michigan Wolverines' basketball team rose to No. 4 in today's Associated Press top 25, thanks to a 2-0 week that saw Juwan Howard's crew pick up blowout wins over Maryland and Purdue, respectively.
U-M made a three-spot leap in this week's edition, jumping Tennessee, Texas and Iowa. The Volunteers, in particular, endured a horrendous 0-2 week, getting blown out at Florida Tuesday night and then returning home to suffer a nine-point loss to Missouri Saturday night.
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Iowa, meanwhile, suffered an upset loss as well, falling at home to Indiana Thursday night in surprising fashion, 81-69. Shaka Smart's Longhorns didn't lost this past week, but were nonetheless jumped by Michigan due to the Wolverines' two impressive showings.
U-M is now the highest-rated team in a loaded Big Ten conference that has six of its 14 teams inside the top 25. No. 7 Iowa, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 19 Illinois and No. 21 Minnesota are the other five.
The only three teams in the entire country who are still rated higher than the Maize and Blue are No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Baylor and No. 3 Villanova. The Bulldogs and Bears are each undefeated, while the Wolverines and Wildcats both possess one loss on the year.
At No. 5 nationally, Texas is the highest-rated two-loss team.
Unfortunately, Michigan is now on a two-week pause and has seen upcoming showdowns against Penn State, Indiana, Northwestern and Michigan State postponed as a result.
Whether or not those games will be rescheduled remains to be seen, though failure to do so could throw a major wrench into the Big Ten regular-season title race. U-M sits atop the standings by itself with an 8-1 conference record, though Iowa lurks close behind at 6-2.
Every other league member has at least three Big Ten losses.
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