Michigan basketball (18-1, 13-1 Big Ten) has a big week ahead, one in which it can win the regular-season Big Ten title, as well as knock off rival Michigan State twice.
Here are three key questions about the Wolverines this week, including on Michigan's final three regular-season games against Illinois and Michigan State (back-to-back to end the year) and if the Wolverines are worthy of passing Gonzaga in the rankings and seeding.
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1. When will Michigan clinch the Big Ten championship?
It's a matter of if, not when, at this point when it comes to Michigan locking up the regular-season title.
The magic number is one, with the Wolverines only needing one final victory or an Illinois loss to push things over the top — assuming the Big Ten chooses to decide the champion based on win percentage, since not every team will have played the same amount of games.
For convenience's sake, Michigan can put the finishing touches on a championship by grabbing a win and making sure Illinois loses all at once, with the top two teams in the league set to square off Tuesday night in Ann Arbor.
Michigan is favored by seven points (78-71) on Kenpom, with the service giving the Wolverines a 73 percent chance to come out victorious. The Illini could well be without star junior guard Ayo Dosunmu, a lock for a first-team All-Big Ten nod when awards are handed out next week, after he broke his nose taking a flagrant hit against Michigan State last Tuesday.
“We’re not going to do anything to jeopardize that young man’s career,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said last week, making it clear he won't be rushed back into action.
"We’ll do everything we can to expedite that process, but we will never jeopardize his health and well-being. There’s some other issues that have to be dealt with that we’ll continue to keep private.”
The short answer: We may not know until close to tip-off if Dosunmu is going to give it a go.
Either way, Michigan is favored, but the Wolverines will have even more of a considerable advantage if he's not able to play.
If Michigan does fall to the Illinois, it would have to win one of the next two games, both against Michigan State, to finish with the best winning percentage in the conference.
