Michigan Basketball: 5 keys to Wolverines winning Big Ten championship

Michigan basketball has won the Big Ten tournament championship back-to-back years and here are five keys to the Wolverines doing it again.

The Big Ten basketball tournament is back this week and started Wednesday, which should bring back fond memories for Michigan basketball fans, who have seen their team win the last two championships.

The first one came in Washington, D.C. after the plane that was carrying the Michigan basketball team slide off the runway. That forced the Wolverines to play the first game in their practice jerseys against Illinois.

They still won. Throughout that week, they kept winning until Michigan won its first Big Ten tournament title since 1998. Then, last season, the Big Ten moved its tournament to New York City and Madison Square Garden.

It proved to be an electric atmosphere and after barely getting out of the second round game against Iowa, Michigan basketball won four games in four days for the second year in a row, beating Michigan State in the semifinals and Purdue in the championship to repeat.

That led to the Wolverines getting a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and from there, they eventually made it all the way to the national championship game before losing to Villanova.

In terms of the 2018-19 season, it has been another strong year for Michigan basketball. The Wolverines are 26-5 and should be guaranteed at least a top-three seed heading into the Big Dance.

That’s great but more than that, the Wolverines would love to three-peat as Big Ten champs and for that to happen, here are five keys.