Michigan Basketball is a top-5 team according to new NET rankings

College basketball has a new ranking system that will be used by the NCAA selection committee and in the first release, Michigan basketball is at No. 4.

While it was a tough weekend for the Michigan football team, the Michigan basketball program kept rolling with a win over Chattanooga and now the Wolverines find themselves ranked even higher in the new batch of polls released this week.

In the AP poll, Michigan basketball jumped up two spots and moved up to the seventh-ranked team in the country following the Wolverines 6-0 start. UM also climbed to No. 5 in the coaches poll. North Carolina, who will pay a visit to Ann Arbor Wednesday, ranks 11th and 13th.

Yet, in addition to the coaches and AP polls, another college basketball poll came out Monday and it’s probably the only poll that really matters, at least as far as the selection committee is concerned.

The new rankings or NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) were approved by the NCAA last summer and are now going to be used in place of the old RPI. Quadrants will still be used like they were last season, but from now on, the quadrants will be determined by the NET rankings. The RPI is no more.

Here is a detailed explanation of the rankings according to the NCAA website: 

"The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. The resulting model is the one that will be used as the NET going forward."

According to these rankings, which will be updated daily after their initial release Monday, Michigan basketball is the fourth-ranked team in the country. Ohio State is No. 1, followed by Virginia and Texas Tech. UM is up next and is followed by Duke and Gonzaga. North Carolina is ranked 21st according to the NET rankings, however, don’t be fooled the Tar Heels are fourth according to the Kenpom rankings.

So what exactly do these rankings mean? Well, it’s hard to feel because the season is only a few weeks old, but here is what it means for Michigan’s best wins so far.

Villanova, a team that Michigan beat soundly a couple of weeks back, ranks 38th. That means it would qualify as a quadrant 1 win because it was on the road. Another win that looked good for Michigan basketball was Providence. That was on a neutral floor but since the Friars start these rankings out at 115, it is right now a quadrant 3 win but is subject to change.

Of course, all that will come into play later on in the season. But at this point, whether it comes from the traditional polls or the analytics, Michigan basketball is one of the best teams in the country and it will get a chance to prove that Wednesday night against North Carolina.