Basketball: Another must-win game for Michigan against Wisconsin

The Wolverines men's basketball team has been fighting an uphill battle to earn a potential tournament bid essentially since Big Ten play began.

Close losses to Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina kept crucial quad 1 wins off their resume. Michigan finished 2022 with a loss to Central Michigan. The Chips are 10-19 in the MAC and a giant stain on Michigan's tournament resume.

The Wolverines began the march to March with an 81-46 blowout win over Maryland to kick off 2023, giving them their first quad 1 win of the season. Michigan would return to their trend of almost winning but losing close quad 1 game after that. The Wolverines had single-digit losses in winnable games against Michigan State, Iowa, Maryland, and Purdue.

The roller coaster of tournament hopes continued, with the Wolverines' hopes raised after a dominating 68-51 over Northwestern, giving Michigan another quad 1 win. Michigan faced what many were calling a must-win game against Indiana, a game they would lead for 34 minutes before not scoring in the last 5 minutes of the game, suffering a 62-61 loss. Then Wisconsin, Michigan would hold the Badgers without a field goal for the last 10 minutes but still lose 64-59.

With tournament hopes again dashed, Michigan took on Rutgers at the RAC, one of the more difficult arenas to win. Michigan played its most dominant defensive game of the season and beat Rutgers 58-45, giving Michigan its third quad 1 win.

So the ride continues, and Michigan once again faces a must-win against Wisconsin, this time in Ann Arbor. The weight of this game can not be understated.

In an appearance on ESPN, Joe Lunardi said Michigan needs to win today's game and then split their final two road games to get into the tournament. Torvik projects a win today and the Wolverines become the 3rd of the last 4 teams in, a loss and Michigan falls to the 10th team out of the tournament. Meaning anything short of a Big Ten Tournament championship would likely keep Michigan out.

We've been on this ride for a couple of months, so it is hard to say definitively whether Michigan will or will not get into the tournament based on the outcome of today's game against Wisconsin. There is still lots of basketball to play. Yesterday saw historic comebacks and multiple half-court buzzer-beating winners, anything can happen. However, it is easy to see how drastically Michigan's path changes with a win today.

Two upcoming quad 1 road games remain after the Wolverines play the Badgers. A win against Wisconsin and those games become potential resume builders, a win in either game can clinch a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament and a place in the National Tournament. A loss against Wisconsin and those difficult games now become have to be won for Michigan to even be in the conversation as a bubble team.

There's no need to look ahead, Michigan can change the trajectory of their entire season today. Their outlook and path all become easier. The narrative and mood around the team changes. Yeah, today is a must-win game.

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