After not being ranked in the AP Top-25 Poll last week, the Michigan women’s basketball is ranked again, being ranked No. 24 in the latest poll. And despite losing to the worst team in the Big Ten last week, the men’s team is still in the AP Poll.
After a brief absence from the poll, the women’s team had been previously been ranked six weeks in a row. This comes after Michigan picked up a 13-point win over Washington and a 16-point win over Rutgers in the past week. Senior Jordan Hobbs led the Wolverines with 22 points in the Washington win, tying her career high in her 100th game as a Wolverine. Syla Swords led the way with 20 points in the Rutgers win, with Swords and fellow freshmen Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway combining for 46 points.
The Wolverines boast a 13-5 overall record and a 4-3 Big Ten record, and as of Monday afternoon, they are projected as a 7-seed in March Madness by ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme.
Michigan has an important week ahead, traveling to The Barn to face No. 23 Minnesota (Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 8 p.m. EST on B1G+) before hosting No. 21 Michigan State (Saturday, Jan. 25 at noon on Big Ten Network). The Wolverines have yet to pick up a win over a ranked team this season, so winning both these games would be huge for Michigan’s tournament resume and Big Ten chances.
The future of this program is clearly bright, but in the present, winning at least one of these games is pivotal for the Wolverines. Stay tuned for more coverage this weekend from Maize n Brew.
Meanwhile, the men’s team dropped from No. 20 to No. 21 in the latest poll. The slight drop comes after Michigan lost on the road at the buzzer to a bad Minnesota team — a Quad 3 loss, which is quite bad for tournament resumes — before bouncing back with an overtime win over Northwestern on Sunday.
Michigan now has a 14-4 overall record and a 6-1 Big Ten record. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has Michigan ranked as a 4-seed. The conference schedule doesn’t get any easier, as Dylan Burkhardt with UMHoops pointed out that 10 of Michigan’s 13 remaining regular season games are Quad 1 games.
The Wolverines have one game this week, but it’s an important one at No. 11 Purdue (Friday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. on FOX). They’ll be back at Crisler three days later to face Penn State (Monday, Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network).
