After defeating the country’s top team, the Duke Blue Devils rose to the top of the most recent AP Top 25 Poll. It just makes sense. Correct?
Apparently, you don’t get the respect you deserve from everyone when you upset the team that is five points ahead of you, even though you are 2.5 points behind them.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Duke doesn’t deserve to be ranked higher than the others, even after their thrilling victory over the Michigan Wolverines, who were placed first in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll.
Even though the Wolverines recently fell to the Blue Devils, Norlander told CBS Sports HQ that he still believes they are the finest team in the country and should be ranked first.
Matt Lorander loses all respect with take on Duke and Michigan
“I still favor Michigan,” Norlander declared. “I understand that Duke won the game on the neutral court just now. Even though it was an isolated incident, I still think Michigan is the nation’s greatest team overall.
He clarified that he would even rate the Wolverines higher than the Arizona Wildcats, who are presently ranked second, have a 25-2 overall record, and recently defeated the Houston Cougars, who were ranked second at the time.
To put it kindly, Norlander’s assessment of the rankings is completely out of step with these teams’ present standing.
In an attempt to support his argument that Michigan ought to be rated higher than Duke, he claimed that the Wolverines would play the Blue Devils in a seven-game series. However, Norlander had to admit that “thankfully they don’t in college basketball.”
At the very least, he is correct: since this isn’t the NBA and they don’t play seven-game series, the argument is completely pointless.
That’s it—Duke defeated Michigan. The Blue Devils are deserving of a higher ranking than both the Wolverines and the entire nation. Michigan should be at number two, where Duke used to be, and Arizona should be at number two.
