The Injustice In The Top 25 Needs To Stop, Michigan Deserves to Be Ranked

After pulling off their second monumental upset of the season this weekend the Michigan Wolverines had to expect to finally be ranked in the AP top 25 poll. Unfortunately for Wolverines' fans across the nation it didn't happen.

With two losses already this season did many voters feel the Wolverines didn't deserve a spot in the top 25, or was it that people thought these were still the old Wolverines who haven't reached an NCAA tournament in a decade? To make that judgement lets take a look at some of the other two loss teams and compare them to Michigan.

1. No. 12 Notre Dame holds the same record as the Wolverines right now at 6-2. Their losses have been a butt whooping by North Carolina and rout at home by unranked Ohio State. The loss to North Carolina isn't that unimpressive as North Carolina could become one of the greatest teams ever, but the OSU game was at home and before this game Ohio State was unranked.

Notre Dame is the highest ranked two-loss team at the moment and biggest win was against No. 8 Texas. Notre Dame's opponent combined record is 32-28

2. No. 14 Purdue also has the same record as the Wolverines at the moment but have yet to beat a team and was obliterated by Duke at home and shut down by Oklahoma. Purdue was at least supposed to put up a challenge for Duke, but were embarrassed at home by a team Michigan would beat the following weekend. 

The Boilermakers best win so far has been against Boston College. Boilermakers opponents' combined record at the moment is 30-30

3. No. 16 UCLA has a record of 5-2 at the moment and has yet to post an impressive win. Two weeks after falling to Michigan at the Madison Square Garden the Bruins then fell to Texas.  The rest of UCLA's schedule was full of cupcakes that included Prairie-View and CS Northridge. UCLA's opponents' combined record right now is 24-24

4. No. 18 Michigan State is by far the least deserving team to be ranked as high as they are right now. After getting thrashed by 18 to an unranked Maryland on a neutral court they then proceeded to lose by 35 to North Carolina in Detroit. The Spartans have not looked great in their wins as they had to come back to beat Wichita St. and this was a team that was supposed to be Final Four bound. Opponents' record is 28-14

Now for Michigan's resume. The Wolverines have knocked off two teams that were ranked No. 4. UCLA they beat on a neutral court and Duke they handled at home. They lost to Duke the following day of the UCLA game on a neutral court and just fell short to Maryland by five on the road, a team that MSU got whipped by at a neutral site. Their opponents' record is 37-22 at this time.

If this isn't enought to convince you that they deserve to be in the top 25 then lets look at just the records of the teams they have beaten.

Michigan-(23-17) .575 winning percentage

Notre Dame-(11-28) .282 winning percentage

Michigan State-(17-16) .515 winning percentage

Purdue-(14-29) .325 winning percentage

UCLA- (12-21) .364 winning percentage

Michigan has had the hardest schedule out of these five teams and has beaten the toughest opponents so far. In fact Michigan's schedule has been rated as the fourth hardest in the nation because of the three match-ups already and a trip to Uconn later this season.

Now I don't mind these teams being ranked but you at least have to give credit when it's due. To have Purdue and Michigan State both in the top twenty and not even rank Michigan seems just a little unfair. I have no doubt that these teams will eventually get on their game and be in the top 25 at the end of the season but at the moment Michigan looks like the strongest team.