Michigan Wolverines; Final Record: 19-12 (9-9); #4 Seed in Big Ten
The Wolverines were recently the quintessential bubble team in the country. That is until they ousted the Michigan St. Spartans in the regular season finale. Adding that final quality win appears to have been the finishing touch to their tournament resumé. Not many people would have picked Michigan to be one of the teams representing the Big Ten conference in March Madness at the beginning of the season, but the Wolverines have certainly earned the opportunity.
Incredibly narrow losses to some giants, including Kansas, Ohio St., and Syracuse and a series sweep of MSU to go along with a solid overall record seems to be enough to push Michigan into the Big Dance. They are still not guaranteed to miss one of the four play-in games in Dayton, but have the ability to change that if able to string a few wins together in the conference tourney.
Sophomore, Darius Morris leads the Wolverines with 15.1 points per game and a remarkable 6.8 assists per game. The Wolverines take on the Illinois Fighting Illini in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 11th at 2:00 PM ET. Michigan was dubbed a darkhouse to win the Big Ten tournament by ESPN's Pat Forde in his Championship Week Preview.