Michigan Basketball: 3 predictions for the Wolverines against Louisville

Michigan basketball will play its third straight game against a top-10 team Tuesday night as the Wolverines pay a visit to No. 1 Louisville.

The run that the Michigan basketball team was able to go on at the Battle 4 Atlantis was pretty special. It’s not all the time that a program wins back-to-back games over top-10 teams.

It felt like one of the runs that we saw the Wolverines go on under former head coach John Beilein. He led Michigan basketball to two Big Ten tournament titles, two national title games and five Sweet 16 appearances.

But it certainly had the feel of one of his teams catching fire, only the difference is that Juwan Howard is now the head coach and so far, he’s off to an ideal start at 7-0.

While all the winning is great, the real benefit is the strength of the Wolverines NCAA tournament resume. It’s nice to be the No. 4 team in the country, but getting four solid wins this early in the season is essential and it means if U-M can be solid in the Big Ten, it will be in good shape in March.

Some might think Michigan should be ranked higher than No. 4, after all, no one has beaten the quality teams it has and Louisville, the No. 1 team has yet to beat anyone in the top 100.

But, the good news is that we will find out tonight at the KFC Yum! Center how deserving both teams are of their status. If the Wolverines upset No. 1 on the road and beat Iowa Friday in the Big Ten opener, it won’t have to worry about where its ranked next week.

There would be no debate. However, knocking off Louisville will be a tall task and here are three predictions.