Michigan Basketball: Preview, predictions for Big Ten tournament

Michigan Basketball: Big Ten preview

First Round

#13 Minnesota vs #12 Northwestern

#14 Nebraska vs #11 Penn State

Minnesota has been playing some of the worst basketball in the conference right now, but they still have Marcus Carr and that is enough to beat Northwestern. Penn State is a pesky team and Nebraska is not good. The Nittany Lions win this one easily

Second Round

#9 Michigan State vs #8 Maryland

#13 Minnesota vs #5 Ohio State

#10 Indiana vs #7 Rutgers

#11 Penn State vs #6 Wisconsin

Almost chalk in the second round, but Michigan State is the more desperate team, plus we kind of want to see Michigan and Michigan State part three.

Ohio State is too tough for Minnesota and Rutgers will slip by Indiana. We really wanted to pick Penn State and think they could upset Wisconsin but think the Badgers will find a way.

Quarterfinals

#9 MIchigan State vs #1 Michigan

#5 Ohio State vs #4 Purdue

#7 Rutgers vs #2 Illinois

#6 Wisconsin vs #3 Iowa

Michigan basketball will be refocused for the tournament and won’t repeat their last performance against the Spartans and pull out the victory. Their rival Ohio State will snap out of their four-game losing streak and beat the Boilermakers to set up a great semi-final.

Illinois and Iowa are too good right now for Rutgers and Wisconsin and we would be shocked if either one of them lost this game. They both roll to set up a heavyweight fight.

Semifinals

#5 Ohio State vs #1 Michigan

#3 Iowa vs #2 Illinois

Michigan and Ohio State was maybe the best game of the year in all of college basketball and this should be the same. Juwan Howard will have Michigan focused on the tournament after their poor performance to end the year and they take care of the Buckeyes.

Illinois, after seeing Michigan win will be fired up and take care of Iowa setting up the championship game everyone wants to see.

Championship

#2 Illinois vs #1 Michigan

Fans of upsets will not like the one against two in the championship but this is exactly what both fan bases want. The Illini faithful want to show that they are the best and should have won the Big Ten, while the Wolverine faithful want to show that even with their regular-season loss they are better.

Illinois shut down the Wolverines offense in the first game and they did it without Dosunmu, but Michigan will be ready and when they have had their backs against the wall they have come through. The Wolverines pull out an epic championship win and get their third Big Ten tournament title in the last four.