Michigan Debuts At No. 1 In The NET Rankings

The Michigan men’s basketball team was already a top-10 team in the country, but its dominant showing at the Players Era Festival left the college basketball world in awe.

Over their three games in Las Vegas, the Wolverines outscored their opponents by an unbelievable 110 points, beating No. 10 Gonzaga and San Diego State by 40 points each and taking down No. 20 Auburn by 30.

Even though it’s early in the season, Michigan’s lopsided wins helped place it at the No. 1 spot in the first edition of the NET rankings.

The NET rankings aren’t based on votes like the AP Poll — which has Michigan sitting at No. 3 — rather they’re based on a formula. In essence, teams are rewarded for winning games, obviously, but there’s an emphasis on opponent quality and non-home matchups. The NET also takes into account both offensive and defensive efficiency, normalized around points-per-possession metrics based on opponent quality.

The NET rankings also play a factor when Selection Sunday comes around, but not at face value. The rankings are used to create four ‘quadrants’ of games based on the opponent’s NET ranking and whether the game was home, away, or at a neutral site. The selection committee evaluates teams based on their performance in games within each quadrant as one factor in their decisions.

With the Wolverines debuting at No. 1 in the NET, they’ve placed themselves in a great position moving into Big Ten play. They are 3-0 in Quad 1 games — the top quadrant — which is the most Quad 1 wins by any team in the nation. 

Note, however, just because a game is classified as a Quad 1 now doesn’t mean that it will stay that way — the quadrants are fluid as teams’ rankings change. 

Despite being undefeated, Michigan had some struggles pulling out wins against the likes of Wake Forest and TCU. Its poor 3-point shooting was raising questions, and its defense looked confused at times. 

But the Wolverines shook off those cobwebs in a massive way, proving that they are the team to beat so far this season. Their defense is far and away the best in the country according to KenPom, their offense has been dominant on the interior, and when they’re hitting their 3-pointers, there’s almost no way to stop them.

Here are the top 25 teams in the NET rankings:

The NET rankings reward good wins and punish bad losses. The best way for a team to stay in a favorable position is to win the games it should win, and if it is going to lose a game, it wants to lose to a highly-ranked team.

Obviously, the Wolverines would love to go undefeated, but that’s simply unrealistic. They are bound to drop a few games this season, but they’d prefer those losses to come in Quad 1 games. A Quad 1 loss isn’t too big of a deal when it comes to NET rankings, especially since Michigan has already racked up three such wins.

For example, as it stands the Wolverines would be set to play just two Quad 4 games all season, and their next matchup against Rutgers is one of them.

Currently, the Scarlet Knights are ranked 186 in the NET, and since the game is played in Ann Arbor, it’s a Quad 4 game for Michigan. Even though it’s a conference game for the Wolverines, a loss would be a big hit for them in the NET.

As long as Michigan keeps playing as it is, however, Rutgers shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Its next big challenge will come Dec. 9 against Villanova at home. A lot can change over the course of a season, but right now, the Wolverines have placed themselves at the top of the college basketball landscape.