WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It is Tuesday night and upsets are in the air across college basketball. But how about here — No. 1 Michigan on the highway to the danger zone of Purdue’s Mackey Arena?
(This just in from Iowa City. No. 9 Nebraska goes down to Iowa’s defense 57-52, the fewest points in a Hawkeyes’ victory in 13 years).
That team in blue down there on court, rolling up a 20-point lead on the Boilermakers, it sure can be the answer to a lot of questions these days.
Who has been this season’s most relentless steamroller, winning 20 games by double digits, 13 by at least 20 points, 10 by 30 and seven by 40 — and suffering its only loss by three?
Who brings to town a 24-1 record, the best sprint through 25 games that the Big Ten has seen in 15 years?
Who is already 5-0 against ranked opponents, pounding three of them by at least 30 points?
Yep, Michigan.
(This just in from Tempe. No. 13 Texas Tech has been knocked off 72-67 by Arizona State, loser of 11 games in a row against Associated Press ranked opponents).
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Who is here playing a game as No. 1 in the AP poll for only the second week in 33 years?
Who reacts to the moment by having seven different players bury a 3-pointer before the game is 16 minutes old?
Yep, Michigan. Turbulence? No signs of that in Mackey.
(This just in from Raleigh. North Carolina State has smashed No. 16 North Carolina 82-58, the Wolfpack’s biggest rout of the Tar Heels since 1962, when North Carolina had a struggling first-year coach named Dean Smith).
Purdue is one of the most hazardous stops anywhere, with a home crowd that can sound like an active volcano. But who takes the fire and brimstone out of the place with a 16-0 run in the first half, turning Mackey Arena into a babbling brook?
Yep, Michigan. “That’s what they do to teams,” Boilermakers guard Fletcher Loyer will say later. “That’s why they win games.”
(This just in from Kingston, Rhode Island. No. 18 Saint Louis had won 18 games in a row and not lost since Nov.. 28. Rhode Island, eighth place in the Atlantic 10, stops the Billikens’ streak 81-76).
Who has taken over this night with a box score that is positively glowing? Six players score in double figures, 24 of the 30 field goals come with assists. Who shackles the Purdue offense to 39 percent shooting and has big defenders — 6-foot-9 Yaxel Lendeborg and 6-foot-9 Morez Johnson Jr. — put on a rather stunning display of guarding posts one minute and point guards the next?
Yep, Michigan. “This is the most unselfish team in America in my opinion,” Lendeborg says.
“The difference is how hard they play, how long they are, how athletic, but (also) that versatility,” Purdue coach Matt Painter says of Michigan’s big guys making life difficult for anyone on the other team intending to get to the basket. “They’re difference-makers defensively. Those guys make mistakes and they just cover their mistakes up. Where the rest of the world, we don’t. The rest of the world fouls.”
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(This just in from Dallas. After 17 lead changes and 16 ties, SMU has run away from No. 21 Louisville 95-85).
Who squeezes the last minutes out of a convincing 91-80 victory that has left the Mackey Arena thunder largely mute?
Yep, Michigan. Make that 21 wins this season by double digits for the Wolverines.
“Where’d y’all go?” Johnson chides the Boilermakers’ student section as he walks up the ramp from the court.
(This just in from Columbus. Ohio State, previously 0-6 this season against ranked opponents, has hammered No. 24 Wisconsin 86-69).
Six top-25 teams have lost to unranked foes in about four hours. A night of booby traps. But not here. Here, the team with so many answers just keeps coming up with more.
Who is at the top of the heap in virtually every metric? No. 1 in the NCAA’s NET rankings with a 10-0 record in Quad 1 games. Leading the KenPom’s ratings with the fearful combination of the No. 1 defense and No. 3 offense. Fourth in the nation in the NCAA stats in scoring offense, second in field goal percentage defense, second in scoring margin, third in assists per game, fourth in blocks, seventh in shooting, 10th in rebound margin. On and on and on.
Who has had six different players lead the team in scoring in the past seven games?
Yep, Michigan. “They have each other’s backs on both sides of the ball. On offense, on defense they cover for each other as well as any team I’ve ever been around in 25 years and they take pride in doing it,” coach Dusty May says.
It is Elliot Cadeau’s turn at Purdue with 17 points. Five others go 13-13-13-12-10. Try to stop that. “We have a lot of players that have been in situations like this and our freshmen, they act like veterans,” Cadeau says. “So we have a whole bunch of level-headed people.
“Every time we have a big game I feel like we’re all locked in. We all have an intense mindset and we’re just going to keep that.”
So who’s No. 1 without debate? Yep, Michigan.
Depends on which coach you ask Tuesday, if that’s significant.
Start with the man whose team currently owns the spot.
May: “This is great for our fans, it’s great for recruiting, it’s great for the attention it puts on our program. But as far as do we care? Absolutely not. April 7, if we’re No. 1 that’s what we’re ultimately concerned with. But in the meantime we’re trying to win a Big Ten championship, we’re trying to set ourselves up for the best seed possible, things like that.”
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Now the coach whose team was No. 1 months ago.
Painter: “You can be preseason No. 1 in the country, it means nothing. But when you’re in the middle of February, and you’re No. 1 in the country, it means a whole lot, because you earned that one.”
Now that they have moved into the AP penthouse, the Wolverines have commenced their February heavy lifting. The No. 7 and 21-4 Boilermakers here. Saturday, No. 3 and 24-2 Duke in Washington, D.C. Next week, No. 10 and 21-5 Illinois in Champaign. If Michigan still has only one loss in two weeks, consider the incandescent aura it will be carrying around.
“We’re going to treat it like a Sweet 16,” May says of the strangely placed Duke outing, smack in the middle of the Big Ten stretch run. “I’d say first round of the NCAA tournament, but we’re not going to be playing Duke in the first round.”
There won’t be much time for preparation for a good team the Wolverines don’t know. Yeah, that sounds like the tournament. “If we do it well, then it’ll be an awesome win, May says. “If we don’t, then it’ll be a great learning experience for us moving into the next month.”
As for the Big Ten season title, the Wolverines have a 2.5 game lead on the field and are up 3.5 games on preseason pick Purdue. “These dudes ain’t losing four games,” Painter says, “We’ve got four losses. They ain’t losing four games.”
May just wants to stay on task. “When you become No. 1 and you do it in a week where you have to go to Purdue and play Duke at a neutral site then you know it could be short-lived if you let it affect you at all.”
But who has shown absolutely no sign of that happening, be it their stats or their scores or their record or the hostile crowds whose hopes keep coming up empty by double digits?
This just in from West Lafayette. Yep, Michigan.
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