Home loss drops Michigan basketball team to No. 13 in AP poll, Wolverines still a No. 3 seed in tournament projection
The Michigan basketball team's first, and only, home loss of the season Saturday delivered a hit to the Wolverines' national ranking.
But not much of one.
After falling 75-61 to Purdue at the Crisler Center, the Wolverines dropped two spots to No. 13 in The Associated Press' latest Top 25 poll, released Monday.
Michigan (21-8, 11-5) fell three spots to No. 16 in this week's USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.
In terms of RPI, the Wolverines fell to No. 15 overall, as of Monday morning, according to CollegeRPI.com.
Additionally, Michigan's loss to Purdue (which holds an RPI of 40) didn't drop Michigan in the eyes of ESPN "Bracketologist" Joe Lunardi, who kept Michigan a No. 3 seed in his latest NCAA Tournament projection.
Lunardi's recent tourney forecast has Michigan playing No. 14 Akron in Nashville, Tenn. Michigan has eight wins against teams currently inside Lunardi's latest tournament projection.
With two games remaining, the Wolverines still have a shot at a share of the Big Ten championship, but Michigan needs to beat both Illinois and Penn State, while Michigan State needs to lose to both Indiana and Ohio State.
In terms of RPI, Michigan's remaining regular season games will come against sub-top 50 clubs. Illinois holds an RPI of 74, while Penn State sits at 152.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, the Spartans, who clinched a share of the league crown after the Buckeyes fell to Wisconsin on Sunday, moved up to No. 5 in this week's AP poll, while Ohio State fell to No. 10.
Wisconsin climbed two spots to No. 16 and Indiana moved up five spots to No. 18 -- giving the Big Ten five teams inside the top 20.
Kentucky remains the country's No. 1 club, followed by Syracuse, Kansas and Duke.
Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.
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Comments
genetracy
Tue, Feb 28, 2012 : 2:03 a.m.
A 3 seed? I smell a first round "upset".
Bleedingreen78
Mon, Feb 27, 2012 : 11:07 p.m.
Not to worry, there is always the NIT to look forward to . . . . . . and continue to rebuild under Coach Bee line next year!!!
David Vande Bunte
Mon, Feb 27, 2012 : 6:53 p.m.
Don't care what they are rated. Polls are more or less meaningless. They are going to win the games they are going to win, and they are going to lose the games they are going to lose, regardless of if the little number next to their name is a 1, 4, 16, 22, or no number at all. The polls don't matter. The number of Ws and Ls on the schedule do.