Michigan Basketball: Wolverines are six seed in ESPN, CBS bracketology

Michigan basketball rolled to a victory against Nebraska Thursday night and with one game left, let’s take a look at where the U-M stands in bracketology.

Following back-to-back losses last week to Ohio State and Wisconsin, Michigan basketball needed a bounce-back win against Nebraska and they got it Thursday night in Ann Arbor.

The win was significant for a couple of reasons. For one, it put an end to a two-game losing streak, it also ensured that Michigan basketball wouldn’t have a bad loss on its resume, at least during the regular season, because going down to Nebraska at home would have been ugly.

The game was probably a little close for comfort during the first half, but eventually, the Wolverines pulled away and guaranteed themselves at least a 10-10 record in Big Ten play.

That along with impressive non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Creighton and a slew of wins away from home against the Zags, twice against Rutgers and Purdue, has given Michigan basketball a really solid resume.

A loss Thursday could have dropped Michigan a spot or on the seed line, but instead, both ESPN and CBS have the Wolverines moving up to a No. 6 seed in each of their latest bracketology projections.

ESPN kept Michigan as a six seed following its losses last week and Joe Lunardi stuck with the same spot in his newest bracket released this morning. The long-time bracket expert and first-known bracketologist also has U-M going to St. Louis to play Arizona State/Cincinnati.

If that’s correct, Michigan would play the winner of an 11-seed play-in game, which is worrisome. There always seems to be at least one play-in team that finds a way to win in the second round and getting the first win at a tournament is always the toughest, which makes beating a team with a win under its belt a little more challenging.

And it may be a real possibility because Jerry Palm of CBS also has Michigan as a six seed in St. Louis, awaiting the winner of a play-in game.

Getting a six seed would still be nothing to scoff at, especially since Michigan was 2-6 in the Big Ten at one point. However, with a road game at Maryland Sunday, followed by the Big Ten tournament, Michigan basketball still has a chance to make some waves and improve its position even more for the NCAA tournament.