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Breaking down Michigan Basketball’s latest bracketology projections

By Chris Peterson

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines talks with Frankie Collins #10 during the championship game of the Roman Main Event basketball tournament against the Arizona Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena on November 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats defeated the Wolverines 80-62. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines talks with Frankie Collins #10 during the championship game of the Roman Main Event basketball tournament against the Arizona Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena on November 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats defeated the Wolverines 80-62. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Michigan basketball has another big game on tap this week against UCF and before we look ahead, we break down where the Wolverines sit in bracketology. 

While the start of the season didn’t exactly go as we expected for Michigan basketball, which started the season ranked in the top 10, the Wolverines are far from finished.

They are sitting at 1-1 in the Big Ten conference and while defending their Big Ten championship is going to be very difficult — much more than we thought — that’s still out there and Michigan basketball is projected as an NCAA Tournament team right now.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN updated his bracketology projections on Christmas Eve and the Wolverines were projected in the field as a No. 8 seed. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports wasn’t quite as high on Michigan basketball when he did his projection on Dec. 11.

Palm did have the Wolverines in the field but as a No. 11 seed. That was following its win over San Diego State. Michigan lost to Minnesota at home since then, but also knocked off Nebraska on the road, as well as Southern Utah at home.

Michigan was supposed to play Purdue Fort Wayne last week but the game was canceled due to COVID-19. However, that wouldn’t have helped the Wolverines resume anyway.

Michigan basketball can improve resume vs UCF

It will be interesting to see the next projection from Palm but Michigan basketball will have a chance to impress both bracket experts Thursday when it travels to UCF.

Lunardi has the Knights in his bracket as an automatic qualifier, plus UCF is ranked as the No. 53 team according to the NET rankings. Since the Knights are ranked in the top 75 and it’s a road game, it would count as a Quad 1 game for Michigan basketball.

The Wolverines are currently 36th in the NET rankings. They are 0-3 in Quad 1 games this season but are 1-1 in Quad 2 thanks to the win over SDSU. Michigan also doesn’t have a bad loss this season which is also helping its resume.

But this is the last chance to score an impressive win before Big Ten play opens up again (with a road game at Rutgers on Tuesday) so the Wolverines need to take advantage.

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Otherwise, they will find themselves squarely on the bubble heading into the heart of the Big Ten slate.

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