Fear and panic is in the air! It is that time of the season where every little thing will be examined and mulled over multiple times over. Relax... The Michigan Wolverines got this! Dusty May is a fabulous head coach. His team rarely loses. Yaxel Lendeborg's injured ankle seems to be in good shape. Michigan is going to cake walk to the Round of 32 anyway, so why are fans starting to panic a bit?
Here are the latest national championship odds from FanDuel Sportsbook. So where is Michigan at?
- Arizona Wildcats: +380
- Michigan Wolverines: +380
- Duke Blue Devils: +390
- Florida Gators: +850
- Houston Cougars: +1100
- Iowa State Cyclones: +1400
- Illinois Fighting Illini: +2000
- Purdue Boilermakers: +2200
- UConn Huskies: +3000
- Gonzaga Bulldogs: +4500
As of early Wednesday morning, Michigan is tied with the Arizona Wildcats for the best odds to win this year's NCAA Tournament at +380. The Duke Blue Devis are right on their trail at +390. The Florida Gators are the only other team with better than +1000 odds to win the whole thing at +850. The Houston Cougars round out the top five with +1100 odds. So what if Michigan's odds took a little hit?
Michigan has a manageable Midwest Region to navigate. They are a gargantuan 31.5-point favorite over No. 16 Howard in their first-round game. Whoever they face in the Round of 32 between No. 8 Georgia and No. 9 Saint Louis could be exhausted from their Round of 64 game. Potentially awaiting Michigan in the Sweet 16 are No. 4 Alabama or No. 5 Texas Tech. Both of whom may be without stars.
To be totally honest, Michigan's first real test might not come until No. 2 Iowa State in the Elite Eight.
Michigan fans do not need to panic about the team's shrinking title odds
Because the Wolverines did not win the Big Ten Tournament, this likely cost them the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. That went to Duke, who just so happens to be one of the three teams who handed Michigan a defeat this season. The other two were Wisconsin at home during league play and Purdue in the Big Ten title bout on a neutral floor. The Duke loss was also on a neutral site...
So while Michigan has shown a tendency to lose games when the split of the crowd is in question, at least they do not have to navigate the juggernaut of an East Region like Jon Scheyer's team will have to... There are four hall-of-fame-level coaches in Duke's region. Duke might only have to face two of them, but the point remains that Michigan's path to the Final Four is much easier than Duke's is now.
Right now, Michigan fans have to put their trust and faith into May. The guy took Florida Atlantic out of The American to the Fina Four three seasons ago. In due time, we may fully come to grips with how improbable that was. Yes, that was the greatest team in Owls history, but he is at Michigan now, and is absolutely thriving! May may have a surname for the fifth month of the year, but he is built for March...
At this time, let's not worry about the betting odds so much and focus on watching good basketball.