After suffering its second loss of the season, Michigan tumbled in national power rankings again. Here’s where the Wolverines stand:
• Michigan jumped one spot to No. 5 in ESPN’s power rankings.
“Ignas Brazdeikis helped the Wolverines bounce back from their loss on Friday to Iowa, going for 23 points -- his highest point total since early December against Northwestern,” Jeff Borzello writes. “The freshman from Canada has been consistent despite Michigan's offensive struggles with the exception of one game: a zero-point effort against Wisconsin in the Wolverines' first loss. The revenge game comes Saturday.”
U-M Opponents in Rankings: UNC at No. 7, Michigan State at No. 10 and Purdue at No. 14
• Michigan fell three spots in Sports Illustrated’s power rankings to No. 7.
U-M Opponents in Rankings: UNC at No. 8, Villanova at No. 10, Michigan State at No. 11, Purdue at No. 15, Wisconsin at No. 17 and Iowa at No. 21.
• Michigan dropped one spot to No. 6 in this week’s NBC Sports power rankings.
“Michigan is the obvious one,” Rob Dauster writes. “They lost on the road to a team that has beaten everyone expect Michigan State and Wisconsin at home. That includes Iowa State, who they beat by 14 points. That happened on a night where Michigan got a tough whistle and had all of their bigs on the bench as Ryan Kreiner and Luka Garza just absolutely worked them over. Things like that happen in league play, to every team. There’s a reason it’s so rare to go undefeated through a power conference season.”
U-M Opponents in Rankings: Michigan State at No. 7, North Carolina at No. 8, Villanova at No. 11, Purdue at No. 15, Wisconsin at No. 18 and Iowa at No. 25
• In the NCAA.com’s power rankings, the Wolverines dropped four spots to No. 11.
“The Wolverines got handled at Iowa,” Andy Katz writes. “And that is why they drop.”
U-M Opponents in Rankings: Villanova at No. 7, Michigan State at No. 8, Purdue at No. 9, UNC at No. 13, Wisconsin at No. 15, Iowa at No. 23, Maryland at No. 27 and Minnesota at No. 28
• U-M fell one spot to No. 6 in the Busting Brackets power rankings.
“Another one of the Big Ten favorites, Michigan also suffered a disappointing loss during this past week,” Lukas Harkins writes. “And while losing to Iowa on the road, on the surface, is nothing to be ashamed of, the Wolverines struggled more in that matchup than many were expecting, especially on the offensive end. From an efficiency standpoint, Michigan still owns the best defense in the country but their offense has dropped all the way down to No. 42.
“But even though Michigan has slid a bit as of late, it is not time to panic. The Wolverines have still only lost two games all year and both of them came on the road against teams ranked in the KenPom top-25. Hard to really complain about that really, especially when you consider they also own 12 wins over the KenPom top-100, including those over Villanova, North Carolina, and Purdue.”
“Michigan is absolutely still in the running to land a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance and they could be poised for a deep run. In order to make that happen, though, the Wolverines will need to improve on the offensive end, especially when it comes to getting to the free throw line and capitalizing on those opportunities.”
U-M Opponents in Rankings: Michigan State at No. 7, UNC at No. 10, Villanova at No. 11, Purdue at No. 15 and Wisconsin at No. 20
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