John Beilein is in his 12th season as Michigan's coach -- and in the first 10, despite all of the success, his Wolverines were never great, and rarely good, defensively. On average, they ranked 73rd nationally in defensive efficiency while never finishing better than 37th.
Then Beilein added Luke Yaklich to his staff.
His impact has been immense.
Michigan finished third nationally in defensive efficiency last season, won 33 times and played in the championship game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Now, this season, the Wolverines are ranked first nationally in defensive efficiency thanks, in part, to Wednesday's 84-67 victory over North Carolina that created a 7-7 tie in the 20th annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Preseason All-American Luke Maye missed eight of the 12 shots he took against Michigan. Projected top-five pick Nassir Little missed four of his five field-goal attempts. As a result, North Carolina -- which still ranks fourth nationally in offensive efficiency as of Thursday morning -- only shot 39.4 percent from the field while scoring 30 fewer points than the Tar Heels averaged through their first seven games of this season.
"Give Michigan credit," said UNC coach Roy Williams. "They made the tougher plays."
Obviously, the Wolverines are terrific. But so is every other team I have ahead of them in the Top 25 And 1. So that's why Michigan didn't move up, and remains No. 7, in Thursday morning's updated rankings. And, no, I'm not moving North Carolina down because of a loss on the road to a higher-ranked team -- even though Williams said afterward his Tar Heels "stink." Truth is, they're still 6-2 with both losses coming to teams (Michigan, Texas) ranked ahead of them in the Top 25 And 1. So UNC will stay put -- at least for now.
Meantime, Florida State jumped back into the Top 25 And 1 thanks to Wednesday's 73-72 win over Purdue. This development caused Iowa, Creighton, Nebraska, Arizona State, Mississippi State and Buffalo to be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own. And it pushed Houston out -- meaning Kelvin Sampson's Cougars are now No. 27.
In: Florida State | Out: Houston
Bagikan Berita Ini
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