Michigan basketball isn't ready to win the Big Ten
It's not time to panic or anything but Michigan has had three duds in a row. The Wolverines were able to grind out an ugly win over Northwestern, which was important, but losing at Minnesota was inexcusable.
However, the last two road games have shown this team was maybe a little overhyped. It's probably overrated by the computers and it's just hard to look at the squad we have seen over the past week and a half and expect it to compete with Purdue and Michigan State for the Big Ten title.
Big Ten basketball is grueling and teams have figured out that they can have success pushing Michigan around a little bit. We have seen it in three straight games and Penn State is sure to employ the same strategy on Monday. The Nittany Lions also force a lot of turnovers.
It's gut-check time. Getting a top-four seed in the Big Ten tournament is important and the Wolverines aren't out of title contention yet, but they have a lot to prove and truly for the first time all season, they are facing some adversity.
We'll see how they respond.