Michigan Basketball gets No. 8 seed in preseason bracketology
Michigan basketball got an eight seed in Joe Lunardi’s preseason bracketology. But does that do the Wolverines justice?
While most Wolverine fans are probably focused on football, the Michigan basketball team gets its season underway Saturday against North Florida.
Related Story: Charles Matthews excels in exhibition opener
Michigan basketball has played one exhibition game and so far, there is a lot to be excited about. Moritz Wagner is back, which is a huge plus. With his ability to score in the post and on the perimeter, he has legit first-round potential in the NBA and earned preseason All-Big Ten honors.
The return of Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman gives Michigan three returning starters. Xavier Simpson, who played significant minutes, along with Ibi Watson and Jon Teske, also return.
Michigan has a solid recruiting class coming in, but the biggest difference makers will be incoming transfers Charles Mattews and Jaaron Simmons. Matthews, a former highly-touted recruit, transferred from Kentucky in 2016.
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The former Wildcat sat out last season, but is ready to standout. He will be counted on to replace Zak Irvin’s production and scored 23 points last week against Grand Valley State in 29 minutes. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come. Simmons, who was brought in to help replace Derrick Walton Jr., came off the bench. He is locked a tight battle with Simpson to be the starting point guard.
With the season starting in just days, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his first edition of bracketology and not surprisingly, Michigan basketball is in the field of 68. Lundari projects the Wolverines in as an eight seed.
ESPN has Michigan taking on Rhode Island in Charlotte, joining six other Big Ten teams. The others are Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota and Maryland. Only the ACC (8) is projected to have more.
Hey Rhody, I'd enjoy seeing you in March. I'm not sure how you feel about the Rams, but we certainly feel Michigan can do much better than an 8 seed.
— GBM Wolverine (@GBM_Wolverine) November 8, 2017
Non-conference opponents North Carolina, Texas, UCLA and Notre Dame (possibly) are also in the field. Michigan basketball will be playing in the Maui Jim Invitational, opening with LSU. But if the Wolverines win, they will play Notre Dame in the second round, putting a total of 10 projected tournament teams and 13 games on the schedule, showing how difficult it can be.
That projection is reasonable. However, the Wolverines could easily surpass it. With Wagner, Matthews, Simmons, MAAR, Robinson and Simpson, Michigan has a good rotation. Eli Brooks, Waton, Teske and Austin Davis also add depth.
John Beilein is proven when it comes to player development. So you can expect many of these same players to be better than they were a season ago. Simpson, Watson, Davis and Teske in particular, should make a big second-year leap.
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If that proves to be true, Michigan could easily be a top-25 team, with the potential of earning a fairly high seed in the NCAA tournament.