Just minutes after losing by five in the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday, the Michigan men’s basketball team discovered its fate for the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolverines will be headed to Des Moines, Iowa, as the No. 2 seed in the West Region, where they will face Montana on Thursday.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Michigan faced the Grizzlies last year in the first round as well. That time, the Wolverines won, 61-47, in an ugly game that ultimately yielded an unsurprising result. The win propelled Michigan to a matchup with Houston. We all know how that went, as the Wolverines leap-frogged from there all the way to the NCAA Tournament.
This year, if Michigan takes down Montana again, it will play the winner Nevada and Florida on Saturday.
The other top seeds in the Wolverines’ region are No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 4 Florida State. So, if the Wolverines make it out of Des Moines, it is likely they will see at least one of those teams in Anaheim for the Sweet Sixteen.