Michigan leaps Baylor into second behind Gonzaga
Wolverines take advantage of Bears’ loss at Kansas to move ahead in top 25 poll
Michigan finally broke the stranglehold of Gonzaga and Baylor atop the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday, taking advantage of the Bears’ loss at Kansas to leap into the No. 2 spot behind the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga continued to hold down the top spot in the Top 25, just as it has all season, receiving 59 of 63 first-place votes among national media members. But the Wolverines picked up the other four to climb into second while the Bears, whose unbeaten season was foiled by the Jayhawks on Saturday night, dropped back to third place.
Illinois climbed one spot to fourth and Iowa gave the Big Ten three teams in the top five.
“We look at it like there’s room for improvement,” said Wolverines coach Juwan Howard, whose team pushed its winning streak to seven with an easy win over Indiana on Saturday. “Our guys have that kind of growth mindset, ‘What can we do better?’ I don’t think there’s ever such a thing as playing a perfect game, [but] one possession at a time, competing for 40 minutes, from start to finish, that’s been our mindset going into ballgames.”
Now the question is whether the Wolverines can hold onto its No. 2 spot. They have a showdown with the Illini on Tuesday night before wrapping up the regular season with a home-andhome series against Michigan State.
“No question, they deserve all of the whatever the word you want to use — accolades, praise. They deserve it all,” Hoosiers coach Archie Miller said. “They have a great spirit about them. That’s one thing you’d probably have to look at Michigan and just look at the way that they vibe and they play, both ends of the floor. They get after you, they play hard for one another, they have a great bounce to them, so you can tell they’re very together. That’s a big part of what they’re doing.”
West Virginia continued its steady climb, up four spots to No. 6 after its third consecutive win. Ohio State fell