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The Michigan Wolverines are ranked as the No. 3 team in the country according to the latest NET rankings. They fell from their No. 1 ranking over the course of the past month while Virginia and Duke both came away with some impressive victories.
Michigan tied their best start in program history with their 16th consecutive win over Illinois on Thursday night. That marked their fifth conference victory on the season as well. The Wolverines have four wins over ranked opponents including Villanova, North Carolina, Purdue, and Indiana.
New NET Rankings!
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) January 11, 2019
1. Virginia
2. Duke
3. Michigan
4. Texas Tech
5. Tennessee
6. Gonzaga
7. Michigan State
8. North Carolina
9. Houston
10. Virginia Tech
Updated daily:
https://t.co/WcAiGNRwth pic.twitter.com/UKDdti2yC3
Two ACC teams, Duke and Virginia, hopped over Michigan in the past month based on some impressive victories for the two squads.
Virginia, the No. 1 team according to NET rankings, is the only other undefeated team in the country. The Cavaliers recently defeated (AP) No. 9 Florida State and have won three of the past four games by 27 points or more. They are currently ranked No. 4 by the AP, and No. 2 by the Coaches Poll.
Meanwhile, Duke has one of the most explosive sets of freshman in the country. Everyone is tired of hearing about how amazing Zion Williamson is, but he has an incredible amount of explosion on both sides of the ball that is second to none. The Blue Devils have three quality wins over (AP) No. 12 Texas Tech, and 20 point beat downs over Clemson and on the road against Wake Forest. Their only downfall came from a two-point loss to Gonzaga early in the season. The Blue Devils are the No. 1 overall team based on AP and Coaches Poll rankings.
The top three teams come from the two conferences that own most of the real estate in the Top-25 of the latest NET rankings. The Big Ten has seven teams in the top-25 while the ACC is responsible for six.
Virginia and Duke will square off next Saturday in a huge ACC battle at Cameron Stadium. The winner will likely take the No. 1 spot in next month’s update.
Meanwhile, Michigan will continue conference play with their next three matches coming against Northwestern, at Wisconsin, and then returning home to face Minnesota.