Michigan Basketball: Breaking down Wolverines schedule changes

Michigan basketball finally knows what its schedule will look like down the stretch as it added two games during the last two weeks. 

At some point, you knew that the Big Ten conference was going to add games to the Michigan basketball schedule and on Friday, we finally figured out what the closing stretch will look like.

After missing over three weeks due to a pause within all athletic departments at Michigan, the hoops team just wasn’t going to reach 20 games, which is the full Big Ten schedule.

That means that the Big Ten regular-season champion will be determined by winning percentage, not overall record. Michigan is 10-1 right now, but that doesn’t mean the title is wrapped up, especially looking at the closing schedule.

The stretch begins on Sunday at Ohio State and nothing has changed there. The difference is that Michigan has added a game in each of the last two weeks of the season.

U-M was supposed to play Iowa on March 4 and now that game will take place on Thursday, February 21. Then, the Wolverines, after hosting Iowa, will travel to Indiana Feb. 27.

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That’s going to be a quick turnaround with only one day’s rest between the Iowa and Indiana game, but that’s just the way it is right now.

Then, the final week of the season will also be busy. Michigan lost its games against Illinois but that game has been rescheduled for March 2 (at home). The Wolverines will then play two days later at home against Michigan State, before playing the Spartans again three days later.

Obviously, the games against Ohio State and Illinois will have a huge impact on the Big Ten race. While Michigan can still win the league probably without winning either of those games, a victory for the Wolverines in those games would just about lock up the first Big Ten crown since 2014.

When it’s all said and done, Michigan will play 17 conference games. Six games in two weeks does sound like a lot but it could have been worse and even though it’s a difficult stretch, it’s still a manageable one for the Wolverines.