Michigan Back In Top 25

Michigan Back In Top 25
Originally uploaded by seinspahr.

Damn....it's been a while since the Michigan Wolverines basketball team has been a success. Actually, it's been a friggin rough go, minus the odd NIT title, but no one really cares about that.

So I'm very pleased to be able to say that Michigan is actually ranked in the Top 25 again!

After a pair of victories against top 25 programs, the University of Michigan men's basketball team has been voted into the national polls for the first time in eight years. The Maize and Blue have earned national rankings of No. 21 from the Associated Press poll and No. 20 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. The last time the Wolverines were among the nation's top 25 was at the end of the 1997-98 season when the Wolverines were No. 12 in the final polls (March 10, 1998).

Michigan's 15-3 start is the best for the Wolverines since the beginning of the 1992-93 season (16-2). The Maize and Blue's 5-2 start in conference play, which puts them tied atop the Big Ten standings, is the best since 2002-03 (6-1). The 15 wins for the Maize and Blue already surpasses last year's total for wins (13) and the five conference wins eclipses last year's total of four. Earlier this week, Michigan won back-to-back games against ranked opponents for first time in 12 years. U-M defeated 11th-ranked Michigan State (72-67, Jan. 25) and 23rd-ranked Wisconsin (85-76, Jan. 28), a feat that has not been done since 1993-94.

The newly ranked Wolverines will continue their Big Ten regular season with a pair of road contests at Penn State, Wednesday (Feb. 1) followed by a road game at Iowa, Saturday (Feb. 4).

Awesome, the last time I got really excited about Michigan hoops was my senior year in college (1998) when we won the inaugural Big Ten Tournament and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Of course, we cheated a little so that banner had to come down, but it was cool. I'm hoping for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, it's been ages since I've really had my team in there with a chance to do something magical.