Bracketology 2020: Michigan, NC State and DePaul going the wrong way

Michigan (11-8, 2-6 Big Ten)

It wasn’t all that long ago that some outlets, including our own, were touting Juwan Howard’s club as a bona fide contender to cut down the nets in Atlanta.

And now, two months later? Forget the Final Four—this team might not make it to the First Four.

That’s probably an overreaction, but Michigan has done next to nothing in their recent run of play to suggest that they should be duking out with the nation’s best as one of the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament. On the other hand, it’s not as though they have been losing to cupcakes.

Entering Monday, the Wolverines had a Top 30 overall strength of schedule, buoyed by the impressive quality up and down the Big Ten leaderboard. In six games since New Year’s Day, the worst team that Michigan has faced, according to the most recent NET rankings, is #43 Minnesota.

The Wolverines currently sit at 2-6 in league play—but with the Big Ten as deep as it is, the selection committee may see little choice but to grant clemency to a few teams that fall below .500 in conference play. Conversely, the committee could also theoretically put their collective foot down and limit the amount of teams coming from the B1G.

There are things to like about this resume. For starters, Michigan beat Gonzaga. That’s a huge win, no matter how you slice it. Their early wins over Iowa and Creighton seem to get better all the time, too. Perhaps best of all, there are zero bad losses. Their only loss outside of Q1 came at home against Illinois on Saturday—but the Illini could very easily end the season in the NET’s top 30.

Bad losses aren’t the only thing missing from this tournament profile.

Michigan has yet to win a true road game on the season, failing in all five of its previous attempts. That is the kind of sore thumb that the Wolverines don’t need sticking out on their resume.

What’s worse—now the losses are coming at home, too.

Just this past week, the Crisler Center was the scene of two disappointments from the maize and blue. The aforementioned loss to Illinois followed a midweek defeat at the hands of the Nittany Lions. Both of those losses could come back to haunt this team in mid-March.

It feels strange that Michigan should be anywhere close to sweating the bubble, considering their meteoric rise into the Top 5 of the national polls after Thanskgiving. But things have fallen apart quickly in Ann Arbor, and unlikely foes such as Rutgers and Penn State have easily passed by them in the rankings.

Perhaps the only silver lining right now for Michigan fans is that the Buckeyes are suffering through the same kind of cold spell after a hot start.