For the week of Monday, January 28th, the Michigan Wolverines were the #1 college basketball team in the country; while Louisville was #12. As recently as March 4th the Wolverines were still the higher of the two teams in the polls (#7 vs #8). By the final regular season rankings of the year the Cardinals had climbed all the way to #4, however Michigan was still just behind them at #6. But then the Wolverines fell to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament, and Louisville won the Big East’s. While that justifiably earned a #1 seed for the Cardinals, it didn’t really make much sense that Michigan was handed a #4. These two teams are a lot closer than those seeds indicate.
Despite going just 12-6 (and 1-1 in the tournament) and finishing 5th in a loaded Big Ten, Michigan is 31-7 overall; meaning they are undefeated (18-0) this season against all other conferences. They are also looking to become just the second #4 seed to ever win the national championship. The first was Arizona in 1997, who also finished 5th in their conference. Oddly enough the Wildcats defeated a #1 seeded Kansas squad on the way to the Final Four as well, and faced off against a Rick Pitino coached team (Kentucky) in the title game.
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