Michigan Basketball: 5 Bold predictions for Wolverines in March Madness

Michigan basketball doesn’t start the NCAA Tournament until Saturday, but here are five bold predictions for the Wolverines as they start March Madness. 

The Michigan basketball team heads into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the first time since 1993 and just like that season, the Wolverines have Juwan Howard on their side.

This time, he will be coaching and not playing, but still, it’s an impressive achievement, and hard to believe it took that long for Michigan to reach that level again.

Of course, John Beilein worked plenty of magic in the big dance and this is actually the Wolverines first trip without him as head coach since 1998, as hard as that is to believe.

Howard coached Michigan to the NCAA Tournament last season but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, the Wolverines will get their chance but they are still aren’t going to be 100 percent. Isaiah Livers is out indefinitely and while some are holding out hope that he will make it back, it’s hard to count on that right now.

Without Livers, Michigan is a different team, with a different ceiling. If everything goes right, a Final Four trip could still be in the cards, and in March, you never really know what will happen.

Franz Wagner and Hunter Dickinson could explode, while Mike Smith and Chaundee Brown could take advantage of their first postseason opportunities too.

And hell, ya never know, Brandon Johns could have a breakout tournament. The talent for a deep run is there, it’s just about putting it all together and finding a new rotation that works.

Can Howard and the Wolverines do that? We’ll find out soon enough but here are five bold predictions for Michigan in March Madness.