Michigan Basketball: Takeaways from Wolverines 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis run

3. This is a top 5 team

Brian Rauf has already written about how Michigan should be the number one team in the country next week and he has very good arguments. The Michigan faithful would love for the Wolverines to be the first team ever to go from unranked to number one in the country.

You can make arguments for them being number on or not being number one, but you can’t argue that based on resume and the eye test that Michigan is not a top-five team. They are the only team with two top-ten wins so far this year and they did it in back-to-back days.

They also have two other top 40 wins in beating Iowa State and Creighton. No other team can boast that resume and to go along with it the Wolverines are undefeated.

Duke has a great win over Kansas but they lost to Stephen F. Austin at home. Kentucky has a huge win over Michigan State but they lost to Evansville. North Carolina has a big win over Oregon but they just lost to Michigan.

Louisville, the assumed number one team next week, is undefeated but hasn’t played anybody good yet this year. Of course, we get to see these two teams on Tuesday and a lot will be decided then. It could and should be a game for who will be number one the following week. Even if the Wolverines lose that game, they are still a top-five team based on who they have beat.

But it’s not just that they beat North Carolina and Gonzaga in consecutive days, it’s that they dismantled them in the second half. Neither team could stop the Wolverines as they shot over 50% in both games. And while they couldn’t stop them, Michigan was able to slow both of those teams down with a defense that is continuing to be dominant.

The only thing that has plagued the Wolverines is turnovers, but they went down through the tournament and they were still able to win handily. Rankings are silly this time of the year as there are always teams that are unranked that should be ranked and others way over ranked.

But since they do have rankings, the Wolverines should be in the top five. And they probably should get the number one votes also. It would be an unprecedented jump in the history of the polls, but one that is definitely deserved.

This Wolverines team is good and they may just be the favorite in the Big Ten right now.