With the Big Ten conference tournament roughly a month away, and the highly anticipated 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament soon after, it’s time to start looking at where Michigan fits in.
As you might expect, very nicely.
The Wolverines are a consensus No. 1 seed as of Feb. 13, a reflection of the team’s program-best 23-1 start. Dusty May’s team occupies the top spot in the Big Ten, is ranked No. 2 in the latest Associated Press Top-25 poll, and is No. 1 in the NCAA’s NET rankings that determine quality of wins.
Factoring all of that in, Michigan is in the driver’s seat for a No. 1 seed come March.
Michigan -16.5 point spread is sitting at -110 on DraftKings for Saturday’s contest versus UCLA. Our DraftKings Sportsbook review provides a complete guide on how to navigate through their platform.
Here’s the latest “bracketology” update, and where some national outlets have the Wolverines:
• ESPN — No. 1 seed in Midwest region, vs. No. 16 NJIT in Buffalo (Joe Lunardi)
• NCAA — No. 1 overall seed (Andy Katz)
• CBS Sports — No. 1 seed in Midwest region, vs. No. 16 LIU
• Fox Sports — No. 1 seed in Midwest region, vs. Merrimack/Bethune Cookman play-in winner (Mike DeCourcy)
Michigan, winners of nine straight games, hosts unranked UCLA on Saturday at Crisler Center (12:45 p.m., CBS). After that, the schedule strengthens dramatically — the Wolverines play at No. 13 Purdue next Tuesday and No. 4 Duke next Saturday in Washington, D.C., with a road game at ranked Illinois and rematch with in-state rival Michigan State to close out the regular season.
The selection show for this year’s NCAA Tournament is March 15, with first-round games set for March 19-20.
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