Michigan Basketball: Bracketology update after Wisconsin win

When it comes to the bracketology projections, Michigan basketball has been incredibly stable. The Wolverines have been a No. 1 seed for over a month now and even though they were forced to pause for three weeks, they never fell below the No. 1 line.

The only real difference was that shortly before the win against Wisconsin last Sunday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Ohio State listed as the No. 3 overall seed over Michigan.

That was following a 19-point win for Ohio State over Indiana. Yet, the two teams were flipped again by Lunardi after Michigan’s huge road win over Wisconsin.

Of course, it doesn’t matter all that much because both of the Wolverines and Buckeyes are being projected as No. 1 seeds by Lunardi and a number of other brackets.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is also projecting both Michigan basketball and Ohio State as No. 1 seeds in next month’s NCAA tournament. Andy Katz is doing the same.

Michigan is also ranked third in the AP poll, with the Buckeyes trailing them at No. 4 and as luck would have it, the Buckeyes and Wolverines will renew their rivalry this Sunday in Columbus.

Ohio State beat the Wolverines twice in Juwan Howard’s first season as head coach and Sunday will be the first meeting of this season.

While Michigan was on pause, Ohio State was surging. The Buckeyes are 11-4 in the Big Ten and have won nine of their last 10 games.

It’s not likely Michigan will play all 20 games on its Big Ten schedule so the regular-season title is going to come down to winning percentage and a win Sunday would be huge for U-M.

The Wolverines also host Rutgers on Thursday. Ohio State will play Penn State the same day.

Michigan’s impressive resume

Another thing that’s interesting is that six of Michigan’s 14 wins right now have come against teams that Lunardi has in his field of 68.

The two wins over Wisconsin are probably the most impressive at this point. Beating Purdue at Purdue was another one, but there would be no feather in the cap quite like beating Ohio State.

Beyond taking another step in the Big Ten title race, it would really solidify Michigan’s resume. The Wolverines don’t have a win over any teams seeded in the top 16 of Lundari’s bracket, so this will be a challenge but a win could also give U-M the country’s best resume.