John Beilein believes Michigan basketball could reach the Final Four

Michigan basketball has a monster game against Michigan State on Friday night. The Wolverines will take on Michgan State with first place in the Big Ten on the line.

For Michigan basketball fans, this is a dream scenario. I was confident that the Wolverines could be an NCAA tournament team at the start of the season but they have surpassed my expectations.

Michigan is 12-2 in the Big Ten and 20-5 overall. The Wolverines lead the Big Ten by 0.5 games but that lead would increase with a win tonight.

Former head coach John Beilein, a studio analyst for the Big Ten Network, has been impressed with the Wolverines in the first season under Dusty May. He's praised the new coach and this team numerous times this season, but in a recent radio interview, Beilein took that praise even further saying Michigan basketball might be able to reach the Final Four.

"I think right now this is such a special team, because of the talent level. ... They can win the Big Ten championship, obviously. They can win the tournament. They might be able to be a Final Four team. They gotta get lucky, but they can do that," Beilein said on The Huge Show earlier this week.

Tonight's game against Michigan State will be a big test. The Wolverines have beaten Purdue and have won their last six games including a win over Ohio State last Sunday. Tom Izzo has been in plenty of these situations.

However, Dusty May just coached a team to the Final Four two seasons ago and won a massive game against Purdue a little over a week ago.

Reaching the Final Four takes some good fortune but with a unique talent like Danny Wolf, a dominant big like Vlad Goldin, and a point guard like Tre Donaldson, it's possible, just like Beilein said.

What a story that would be.

First things first, though, is winning the Big Ten, which means beating Michigan State.