Michigan played its first game of the season without the injured Isaiah Livers on Saturday. The opponent was Ohio State. It was the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The result was a 68-67 loss to the Buckeyes that dropped the Wolverines to 6-7 over the past two seasons in games in which Livers didn't both start and finish healthy.
That's not great.
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But, yes, I still kept Michigan at No. 4 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings because nobody below the Wolverines currently deserves to be ahead of the Wolverines based on the bodies of work. And, yes, I think the No. 1 seeds in the 2021 NCAA Tournament are, at this point, pretty much locked-in.
Gonzaga will be the No. 1 overall seed.
Book it.
And then, I'm fairly certain, Illinois, Baylor and Michigan will be the three other No. 1 seeds, if only because I can't envision a scenario where the selection committee can justify anything else, which makes the final Sunday before the start of the NCAA Tournament a little anticlimactic (at least until the Selection Show starts at 6 p.m ET on CBS). Obviously, if Cincinnati becomes a bid-stealer by upsetting Houston in the American Athletic Conference Tournament title game, that'll be a big story (and additional bad news for bubble teams who got nothing but bad news Saturday because Georgetown and Oregon State both became bid-stealers). But it'll have no impact on the four projected No. 1 seeds, each of which has built an incredible resume that, again, at this point, seems unpassable regardless of what Alabama and Ohio State do Sunday, respectively, in the SEC Tournament title game and Big Ten Tournament title game.
Jonathan Coachman is joined by Mike McClure and Larry Hartstein to dish out the best bets for Sunday. Download and subscribe to The Early Edge on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Sunday's Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Gonzaga's perfect record includes double-digit victories over Iowa, Kansas, Virginia and BYU. The Zags are just the 20th team in history to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated. | -- | 25-8 |
| 2 |  | Illinois is 16-6 inside the first two quadrants with wins over Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State. The Illini are 13-1 in their past 14 games. | -- | 21-12 |
| 3 |  | Baylor dropped to 10-2 inside the first two quadrants after Friday's loss to Oklahoma State. The Bears are 5-2 since coming off of a 21-day COVID-19 pause. | -- | 19-14 |
| 4 |  | Michigan dropped to 14-4 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Ohio State. The Wolverines' resume is highlighted by wins over Iowa, Ohio State and Purdue. | -- | 25-9 |
| 5 |  | Alabama is 16-5 in the first two quadrants with one additional loss falling in Quadrant 3. The Crimson Tide will take a five-game winning streak into Sunday's SEC Tournament title game against LSU. | -- | 25-8 |
| 6 |  | Ohio State is 15-8 in the first two quadrants with wins over Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Purdue. The Buckeyes will take a three-game winning streak into Sunday's Big Ten Tournament title game against Illinois. | 2 | 17-15 |
| 7 |  | Iowa dropped to 13-8 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Illinois. The Hawkeyes' resume is highlighted by wins over Ohio State and Purdue. | 1 | 17-16 |
| 8 |  | Houston is 8-2 in the first two quadrants with one additional loss falling in Quadrant 3. The Cougars are 8-1 in their past nine games heading into Sunday's AAC Tournament title game against Cincinnati. | 1 | 30-4 |
| 9 |  | Arkansas dropped to 12-6 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to LSU. The Razorbacks' resume is highlighted by wins over Alabama and Missouri. | 2 | 20-13 |
| 10 |  | Texas is 10-7 in the first two quadrants with victories over Kansas, West Virginia and Texas Tech. Only one of the Longhorns' losses falls outside of the first quadrant. | 4 | 19-15 |
| 11 |  | Oklahoma State dropped to 12-6 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Texas. The Cowboys' resume also includes two additional losses to TCU that fall in Quadrant 3. | 1 | 16-17 |
| 12 |  | Kansas is 9-8 in the first two quadrants with all eight losses coming in Quadrant 1. The Jayhawks' resume is highlighted by wins over Baylor, Creighton and Texas Tech. | 1 | 21-12 |
| 13 |  | West Virginia dropped to 10-9 in the first two quadrants after Thursday's loss to Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers are 4-4 in their past eight games. | 1 | 19-13 |
| 14 |  | Florida State dropped to 10-5 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Georgia Tech. The Seminoles' resume also includes an additional loss to UCF that falls in Quadrant 3. | 1 | 17-15 |
| 15 |  | Loyola Chicago is 6-4 in the first two quadrants with wins over Drake and North Texas. The Ramblers are 16-1 in their past 17 games and MVC champions for the third time in the past four seasons. | -- | 22-11 |
| 16 |  | Virginia is 9-5 in the first two quadrants with one additional loss falling in Quadrant 3. The Cavaliers were removed from the ACC Tournament early Friday because of COVID-19 issues within the program. | -- | 15-17 |
| 17 |  | Purdue is 13-8 in the first two quadrants with one additional loss falling in Quadrant 3. The Boilermakers are 5-1 in their past six games with the lone loss in that stretch coming to Ohio State. | 1 | 22-11 |
| 18 |  | Villanova dropped to 9-6 in the first two quadrants after Thursday's loss to Georgetown. The Wildcats are 0-2 since losing Collin Gillespie to a knee injury. | 1 | 19-14 |
| 19 |  | Creighton dropped to 12-6 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Georgetown. The Bluejays' resume also includes two additional losses that fall in Quadrant 3. | 2 | 24-10 |
| 20 |  | BYU is 8-6 in the first two quadrants with wins over San Diego State and Utah State. The Cougars are 7-2 in their past nine games with the only losses in that stretch coming to Gonzaga. | 1 | 24-9 |
| 21 |  | UConn is 7-7 in the first two quadrants with wins over USC and Seton Hall. The Huskies are 11-2 with James Bouknight in the lineup. | 1 | 23-10 |
| 22 |  | Colorado dropped to 10-5 in the first two quadrants after Saturday's loss to Oregon State. The Buffaloes' resume also includes three additional losses that fall in Quadrant 3. | 2 | 14-20 |
| 23 |  | USC dropped to 9-7 in the first two quadrants after Friday's loss to Colorado. The Trojans are 4-4 in their past eight games. | -- | 16-17 |
| 24 |  | St. Bonaventure is 5-3 in the first two quadrants with one additional loss falling in Quadrant 3. The Bonnies are outright Atlantic 10 champions for the first time in school history. | -- | 22-12 |
| 25 |  | Missouri is 9-9 in the first two quadrants with wins over Illinois, Alabama and Arkansas. The Tigers were eliminated from the SEC Tournament by Arkansas on Friday. | -- | 22-11 |
| 26 |  | Texas Tech is 6-10 in the first two quadrants with wins over Texas and Oklahoma. All 10 of the Red Raiders' losses are to teams ranked ahead of them in the Top 25 And 1. | -- | 25-8 |
