NCAA Basketball: Michigan, Kentucky and Arizona leads Sunday Mailbag

1. Assuming Gonzaga and Baylor are Number 1 and 2 in the country, who would you say is Number 3? – Busting Brackets (@BustingBrackets)

Gonzaga and Baylor are the clear number 1 and 2 teams in the country. The gap between number 1 and number 2 is growing wider by the minute as well. The Bulldogs are the overwhelming favorite to win the National Championship at this point. Then there is Baylor.

The Bears do not do much better than Gonzaga, they don’t have near the offense the Zags do, but they are slightly tougher and a little better on defense. If those two teams play it will make for an instant classic. Baylor and Gonzaga have left little doubt in their games up to this point. Those two teams are blowing their opponents out every night.

Then who is number 3? The polls would tell it was Villanova even though they have not played in the calendar year. It is well known that Villanova was my preseason number one and my pick to win the National Championship. The Wildcats are still good enough to win the title and they have played well enough to warrant their number three ranking up to this point.

However, there is another team that is far more deserving of that ranking right now. Iowa is also very deserving as they are the current number five team in the country. However, the team that has done the most to deserve the role of number three The Michigan Wolverines. It is still the Wolverines even though they recently suffered a loss by 18 points in Minneapolis to Minnesota. Minnesota also has a home win over Iowa on their resume.

Michigan has impressed mightily in the second year under current head coach and Wolverine legend Juwan Howard. I will admit, I had pegged Michigan as a middle of pack Big Ten team, which still would have put them into the NCAA tournament but it likely would have warranted an 8 or 9 seed in the tournament. Right now, Michigan has put itself firmly in the mix as one of the teams who can win a National Title.

The Wolverines have accomplished a ton this year already. They have beaten their last three opponents by 19 points or more and all of them were ranked in the top 25. That is the first time that any team has ever beaten three ranked teams in a row by that big of a margin of victory. Not just the first time for Michigan, but the first time for any team. Michigan is also shooting over 50% from the field overall, and over the last couple of weeks, they have really started to blow out their opponents as well.

Michigan has one of the best freshmen in the country in big man Hunter Dickinson. The 7’1” big man is currently averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds and at this point is a lock to win the Big Ten Freshman of the year. When paired with Franz Wagner and Isaiah Livers that is arguably the best trio in the league and when all three players are going well the Wolverines are almost impossible to beat.

They can defend, protect the rim, shoot the lights out, and bury you on the glass. It is hard to find a weakness with the Wolverines right now. They are more than deserving of the number three spot in the rankings right now.