With March fast approaching, the Michigan Wolverines are trending in the right direction in the eyes of the experts. Here are the up-to-date NCAA Tournament bracketology predictions for Dusty May and company:
Things are coming down to the wire for many college basketball programs as there are less than two weeks to go before the end of the regular season. Luckily for the Michigan Wolverines, they are already a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
Despite losing to Michigan State last Friday and an ugly win at Nebraska on Monday night, Michigan’s seeding predictions are still better than the last installment of this series. The Wolverines are sitting comfortably at the top of many expert’s brackets.
Here’s a look at the latest predictions as of Wednesday, Feb. 26.
- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi – East Region: No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 13 Lipscomb
- On3’s James Fletcher – SouthRegion: No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 McNeese
- CBS Sport’s Jerry Palm – East Region: No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 14 Towson
- Fox Sport’s Mike Decourcy – East Region: No. 4 Michigan vs No. 13 Akron
- SBNation’s Chris Dobbertean – South Region: No. 4 Michigan vs No. 13 Akron
The focus is on how high Michigan can go in this final stretch before the NCAA Tournament. Much of that will likely depend on how the Wolverines fair in their final two games against Maryland and Michigan State. With that, and a run in the Big Ten Tournament, a No. 2 seed — and perhaps even more — is not entirely out of the question.
Heck, that’s right where Jerry Palm and Mike Decourcy have the Spartans right now after their impressive three-game winning streak against Quad 1 opponents. Who’s to say Michigan can’t flip the script with a similar winning streak of its own?
The Big Ten teams that most experts view as firmly in the tournament right now are Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Maryland, UCLA and Oregon. Teams on the bubble or close to it are Illinois, Nebraska, Indiana and Ohio State .
Analytics, however, favor a lower seeding for the Wolverines, gauging the 3-5 range the experts currently predict. In fact, many have seen Michigan fall in the last few weeks.
- NET Rankings: No. 21 (Previously: No. 17)
- KenPom: No. 22 (Previously: No. 20)
- ESPN’s BPI: No. 27 (Previously: No. 25)
- EvanMiya: No. 25 (Previously: No. 21)
To be fair, this is the deepest college basketball has been in decades, per KenPom, so there is a decent amount of daily jostling. Currently, there are 31 teams with a 20-point KenPom score or higher — last season there were 17, and 14 the year before. It’s quite astounding how talented the scope of college basketball looks this season compared to the past.
Michigan still has three Quad 1 games remaining — vs. Illinois, vs. Maryland, at MSU. A strong performance to round out the season could mean not only better seeding in the NCAA Tournament, but also a conference championship and the easiest path to a Big Ten Tournament championship.