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Big Ten Basketball: Conference tournament preview and predictions

By Bryce Bennett

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Feb 10, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein in the second half against the Minnesota Gophers at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein in the second half against the Minnesota Gophers at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

8. Michigan Wolverines

Now we get to the Big Ten’s first bubble team. The Wolverines finished the season at 20-11 overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten. Their best victories were home triumphs over then No. 3 Maryland and No. 18 Purdue.

Still, they are likely out of the tournament because of an RPI of 68, a KenPom ranking of 54, a Sagarin ranking of 37 and a BPI ranking of 56. Bracketmatrix.com, a site that collects and averages mock brackets from around the internet, had the Wolverines in only 17 out of 95 brackets on the site. Point being, Michigan has some work to do.

The key question will be: does a victory over Northwestern get Michigan in? The answer to that is probably not. Michigan is going to need to beat Northwestern and likely red-hot Indiana to solidify an NCAA tournament bid. What has kept the Wolverines from likely tasting NCAA tournament success? Here are a list of reasons.

Caris LeVert’s Injury

The talented, but often-injured senior guard/forward missed sixteen games with a leg injury. LeVert’s versatility, shooting and scoring was a key cog in the Michigan machine this year and not having him really hurt the Wolverines. It is sad to think the potential of some of these Michigan teams had LeVert been healthier.

Frontline Play

John Beilein’s system usually doesn’t feature traditional big lineups, but this year’s squad leaned on a more extreme version of that. The traditional bigs for Michigan, junior Mark Donnal and sophomore Ricky Doyle, offered a thin front line against bigger, more traditional bigs.

This resulted in Michigan struggling with rebounding, overall defense and scoring because of the lack of opportunities around the basket. While Beilein will never be “traditional” in his approach, his system still works better with more of a sense of balance. Michigan lacked that this season.

Big Wins

Michigan was only 3-11 against teams in the top 100 this season. Their resume lacks embarrassing losses, but the Wolverines needed to win more of their top match-ups this season. Some of their losses to top teams were not even close. They lost to Xavier 76-60 at home, lost at SMU 82-58, at Purdue 87-70 (did get them at home though), and had crushing home defeats against Indiana and Michigan State. A few more home wins against top opponents and Michigan is likely dancing

Next: 7. Ohio State Buckeyes

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