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Nevada Moves Up In Latest Two Spots In AP Poll To No. 6
The Wolf Pack are nearing the top five
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AP poll gives the Wolf Pack respect
The Nevada Wolf Pack seem to be on a roll with four-straight double-digit wins and that was enough to have them rise up in the latest Associated Press poll from No. 8 to No. 6.
However, not too many people believe in the Wolf Pack.
https://twitter.com/NYPost_Brazille/status/1092471375883849728
The thread is pretty amazing and this New York-based writer who says to have watched a lot of Nevada. Maybe they do maybe the dont’t.
Yes, there are concerns about this Nevada team because its resume is not great and the Wolf Pack lack a really marquee win, however, the Wolf Pack have gone on the road to win games which is less that can be said compared ot traditional powers who stay at home and let its conference schedule boost up its ratings.
Maybe six is too high and we have discussed it a few times that Nevada has struggled in the first half of games and needed multiple comeback wins to sit at its record of 21-1. There is always improvement that could be made and there is also the fact that the Mountain West is down, yet again, which does not help any elite team from a non-power conference.
Another argument that writer makes is that Gonzaga has no trouble getting good teams. They are missing the point in that the Bulldogs are basically in the same stratosphere as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona and so on and can get those games because if teams lose to Gonzaga it is not a big deal.
Nevada is just in its second year under head coach Eric Musselman of being a really, really good basketball team, and it takes time to build up the credit to either play blue-bloods or to even get some type of home game with them.
Here is a very telling quote about Musselman’s thoughts on the college basketball rankings:
“It is what it is. I don’t have the stats in front of me but top 10 in the country from preseason poll until today, we’ve been in the top 10. We don’t really feel that way,” Musselman said. “We feel like everybody involved in college basketball and has been respecting us. It’s pretty fair what’s going on. We don’t like to drop when we win, but we are a mid-major and we have to fight and scrap for everything we get because that’s just who we are.”
On to this week’s AP rankings:
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee (48) | 20-1 | 1,579 | 1 |
| 2 | Duke (12) | 19-2 | 1,532 | 2 |
| 3 | Virginia (4) | 20-1 | 1,478 | 3 |
| 4 | Gonzaga | 21-2 | 1,423 | 4 |
| 5 | Kentucky | 18-3 | 1,310 | 7 |
| 6 | Nevada | 21-1 | 1,228 | 8 |
| 7 | Michigan | 20-2 | 1,217 | 5 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 17-4 | 1,167 | 9 |
| 9 | Michigan State | 18-4 | 1,051 | 6 |
| 10 | Marquette | 19-3 | 1,029 | 10 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech | 18-3 | 948 | 12 |
| 12 | Houston | 21-1 | 838 | 13 |
| 13 | Kansas | 17-5 | 809 | 11 |
| 14 | Villanova | 18-4 | 801 | 14 |
| 15 | Purdue | 16-6 | 697 | 17 |
| 16 | Louisville | 16-6 | 561 | 15 |
| 17 | Iowa State | 17-5 | 545 | 20 |
| 18 | Texas Tech | 17-5 | 482 | 16 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 16-6 | 462 | 24 |
| 20 | Iowa | 17-5 | 242 | NR |
| 21 | LSU | 17-4 | 205 | 19 |
| 22 | Florida State | 16-5 | 180 | 25 |
| 23 | Buffalo | 19-3 | 153 | 18 |
| 24 | Maryland | 17-6 | 144 | 21 |
| 25 | Cincinnati | 19-3 | 142 | NR |
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