3 keys for Michigan Basketball and a prediction vs Indiana

Backcourt needs to shine

The Michigan basketball defense will need to play well in order to win the game, but as I have said numerous times in the last month, you need good guard play to win these kinds of games.

That’s what Michigan is going to need on Sunday against Indiana. Dug McDaniel has grown by leaps and bounds down the stretch. Bufkin has probably grown just as much or more. At the start of the season, nobody was talking about him as a first-round pick.

Now, he’s looking like a lottery selection. It makes the late-game defeats all the more heartbreaking because Michigan could have two first-round picks (Jett Howard and Bufkin) and not even make the NCAA tournament.

Michigan has also played like a top-25 team most of the season, it just hasn’t been able to finish key games and that’s the difference between being on the bubble and solidly in the field.

Dickinson is the constant but when Bufkin and McDaniel are playing well, this looks like a team that could make another Sweet 16.

If that tandem plays well on Sunday, an upset goes from possible, to likely.

Michigan basketball vs Indiana prediction

This Michigan team has been hard to figure out. But when their backs are against the wall, the Wolverines have played some of their best basketball.

Michigan battled its way to a win at Rutgers and did the same at Northwestern after hitting rock bottom. The defeat at Illinois was brutal. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team bounce back with one of its best performances. It could also lose by double-digits — you just don’t know.

Yet, my gut tells me that Michigan finds a way and improves its NCAA tournament position as it’s heading into the Big Ten Tournament.