2. Michigan (28-2)
We’ve spent the better part of four months having Michigan prove why they’re among the best teams in the land. They wrecked a ton of great programs earlier in the year and have held their own in the Big Ten, with the lone loss on a hot-shooting night for Wisconsin. While the Wolverines did lose that game to Duke a few weeks ago, they’ve more than bounced back since that effort.
Michigan was back in action this week on Thursday night, fresh off that impressive win at Illinois last week. This time around they concluded a perfect road record with a 71-68 win at Iowa. The Wolverines did just enough to take care of business, shooting 50% from long-range in limited chances. Both Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg came up big, with twin 16-point, 8-rebound performances in another excellent victory.
Sitting pretty at 18-1 in the Big Ten, the Wolverines are unequivocally the team to beat in the Big Ten. They’ll have a big target on their back when March Madness rolls around but they’ve made quite the bait out of beating up on teams no matter the target. Before the Big Ten Tournament starts next week, Michigan has one last tune-up and it’s no small contest, as they’ll host rival Michigan State on Sunday.