Should the 14-2 Michigan women's basketball team be ranked in the AP Top 25?
Michigan guard Jenny Ryan, right, during a December game against Valparaiso.
Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com file photo
At 14-2, Michigan is currently off to its best start in program history, but the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings, released last Monday, still had the Wolverines on the outside looking as one of 12 teams to receive votes, but not be ranked.
But on Sunday, before, during and after Michigan was beating the Badgers, four teams ranked above the Wolverines lost games. No. 5 Stanford lost to No. 7 California 67-55, No. 17 Kansas lost to No. 1 Baylor 82-60, No. 18 South Carolina lost to No. 13 Georgia 42-40, and No. 24 Miami lost to No. 18 Florida State 86-65.
Will the Wolverines' continued success coupled with some top teams stumbling be enough for Michigan to be ranked? Or will Michigan's relatively weak schedule so far -- its faced just one of the the other 36 teams to receive votes in the rankings poll, Duke, and lost that game -- keep Michigan out of the rankings?
We'll find out on Monday when the Associated Press releases its latest Top 25 poll.
Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
David Muzzatti
Tue, Jan 15, 2013 : 2:34 p.m.
Jenny Ryan is really good. Played extremely well this past Sunday against Wisconsin.
Veracity
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 11:57 p.m.
Yep. An article at ncaa.com announces Michigan's entry into the AP's top 25 women's basketball teams at number 25. Nice article even if it is brief. http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2013-01-14/michigan-breaks-ap-top-25-first-time-more-decade-kansas-fal
rensational
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 7:55 p.m.
Well, they're in. ESPN's got an article about it, too. Whether they deserve to be ranked or not, I am so happy they're doing well.
Veracity
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 3:56 p.m.
Kudos to the Lady Wolverines who are playing very well right now and to its first year coach, Kim Barnes Arico. Michigan's RPI is 14th (0.6461) in the nation while Penn State and Purdue, ranked nationally as 8th and 12th, also have higher RPI's (0.6861 and 0.6633). Also Penn State and Purdue have stronger strength of schedules (13th and 31st in the country versus Michigan's 37th). Michigan will play Penn State on January 21st at home. If Michigan wins at Northwestern Thursday and then beats Penn State at home on the following Monday, then Michigan deserves a top 25 ranking. As it is now only Penn State and Purdue are ranked as Big Ten programs with Michigan garnering the next highest points after them. The team plays with a lot of chemistry and is entertaining to watch. If you have a couple of hours free when they are playing at Crisler you should stop by and watch. It could become habit forming. Thanks for the story, Pete, even if it is brief.
Pete Cunningham
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 3:55 p.m.
I'm anticipating Michigan creeping into the Top 25 today. In addition to Sunday, there were a lot of losses from top 25 teams the rest of the week. I don't know what to make of Stanford and California A) playing a Tuesday-Sunday home-and-home and B) the visiting team winning each, but that's neither here nor there. The other losses of note in the top 25 during the week were: Kansas losing to No. 21 Oklahoma State, 76-59 (giving the Jayhawks two losses in the week), No. 18 Florida State losing to Wake Forest, No. 20 Texas A&M losing to No. 6 Kentucky, No. 24 Maryland losing to No. 10 Maryland and No. 25 Iowa State losing to No. 1 Baylor. The only reason I see Michigan not being ranked with all of these losses would be that all of them except for Florida State's loss to Wake Forest are ranked teams losing to other ranked teams, while Michigan has been beating unranked opponents.
ahi
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 3:47 p.m.
The problem with all the ranked teams losing is that they lost to other ranked teams. With the exception of Miami they should all remain ranked, but the top 25 will be shuffled a little bit.
Pete Cunningham
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 6:36 p.m.
Ahi, You called it, Miami's out, Michigan's in at No. 25 and the rest is just a lot of rearranging: http://bit.ly/UZlkm2
Heidi Koester
Mon, Jan 14, 2013 : 3:33 p.m.
Don't know whether they should be ranked, since I have very limited knowledge about how they match up against the other ranked teams. A fun question, but of course pretty meaningless at this point in the season. I do love watching the U-M women play and hope they can make a deep tournament run. Pretty impressive that they can jell this well and this quickly with a brand new coach. Great reflection on the players as well as the coach.