Michigan Basketball is the Big Ten champ; Illinois’ claim is pathetic

Illinois beat Michigan basketball. There’s no denying that. But any attempt by Illinois and Brad Underwood to claim the Big Ten title is beyond pathetic. It also ignores basic math.

You might not have noticed, but even though Michigan basketball is the undisputed Big Ten champion, Illinois is trying to be cute saying its actually the Big Ten champ.

Their argument is that they won more games (16-14). The problem is that Michigan played three fewer games and the other games would have been against Indiana, Northwestern, and Penn State. U-M likely wins all three of those, just as it did the first time.

So that’s where the Illinois argument falls apart. The Illini argue they are champs because they beat Michigan and played more games, completely ignoring the VERY likely possibility Michigan would have won all three games.

Forget the fact that they lost more times than Michigan (even during 17 games) and didn’t have as good a winning percentage, which is the reason U-M will hoist the ACTUAL banner in its rafters, not pathetically celebrate some mythical championship like Illinois.

Illinois argument makes zero sense

And this argument from Brad Underwood about the schedule is hogwash. It’s sour grapes and it’s beyond pathetic.

The fact is, it would have taken the biggest upset of the season in the Big Ten for Michigan to lose any of the three games it missed. It is possible? Sure. It’s also more likely that it wins every game knowing what it means, especially since Penn State, Northwestern and Indiana have all been terrible.

But even if Michigan did lose two of those three games, it would have still been co-champs. And, if the schedule wasn’t so weird, U-M wouldn’t have had to play six games in less than two weeks, including two in three days against Michigan State.

Furthermore, if Michigan knew it needed a win in the regular-season finale, it wouldn’t have come out so flat.

The Wolverines deserved to lose because of their disinterested effort at the start, but in their defense, the game meant nothing other than pride, because they had already celebrated the Big Ten championship on Thursday night.

So if anyone is out there celebrating an Illinois Big Ten championship, players, fans, coaches, or otherwise — here’s some hard truth — Michigan is the Big Ten champ and no fictional banner or flawed argument will ever change that.