Why Dusty May believes Michigan Basketball deserves be ranked No. 1

To say that things are going well for the Michigan men’s basketball team to start the 2025-26 season would be a massive understatement.

The No. 2 Michigan Wolverines are coming off a 89-61 win over Villanova, a game in which U-M dominated, wire-to-wire, which is becoming the norm. Michigan has now won six games in a row by 25 points or more, with two of those games coming against opponents ranked in the Associated Press Poll; per Larry Lage with AP, that’s the first time a team has done that since the 1995-96 season.

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The 9-0 Wolverines are ranked No. 1 in the NET, in KenPom, in Bart Torvik, in USA Today’s Coaches Poll, and on EvanMiya.com. Michigan has a KenPom adjusted efficiency margin of +37.20; as Drew Hallett with The Wolverine pointed out after the Villanova win, that’s the fourth-highest margin in the KenPom era (since 1997), behind only 1999 Duke, 2025 Duke and 2001 Duke.

Michigan isn’t just the No. 1 team in the country in almost every metric. At this rate, the Wolverines are on pace to be one of the most efficient teams in modern college basketball history. But somehow, the Wolverines are No. 2 in the AP Poll, behind Arizona.

After the win, Michigan head coach Dusty May said that Michigan has earned the right to be ranked as the best team in the country.

“The No. 1 ranking, these guys deserve it, man,” May said. “What they’re doing now, to defend and block out all the complacency issues that can creep up on the team, it’s a testament to our work…they still want more, and they know that we have to get better if we want to beat the best night in and night out.”

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With these high rankings come the burden of expectations; the Wolverines are the talk of the college basketball town, but the coaching staff is doing its best to keep the team grounded.

But according to Elliot Cadeau — who led Michigan with 18 points in the win, his highest point total as a Wolverine — the players are making sure not to fall into the hype as…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/why-dusty-may-believes-michigan-200000871.html

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Publish date : 2025-12-10 20:00:00

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