Michigan
Where Michigan State, Michigan sit in updated NCAA Tournament bracketology
The Michigan State men’s basketball team owns a slim lead atop the Big Ten, leading both Purdue and Michigan by just one league loss in the standings entering Tuesday night’s games.
Needless to say, both the Spartans and Wolverines are firmly entrenched as NCAA Tournament teams, with nearly six weeks still remaining before the field of 68 is unveiled.
Michigan State (18-3, 9-1 Big Ten) is a No. 3 seed in Jerry Palm’s most recent bracket projection for CBS Sports, updated Monday, and a No. 4 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket projection for ESPN, released Tuesday. Michigan (16-5, 8-2), meanwhile, is a No. 6 seed in Palm’s bracketology, and No. 7 in Lunardi’s projection.
Palm has Michigan State, which saw its 13-game winning streak snapped with a 70-64 loss at USC on Saturday, opening against Jacksonville State (15-7) in an East Region game in Milwaukee. Lunardi also is slotting the Spartans in the East, as the Big Ten champion (and automatic qualifier). He has Michigan State squaring off against No. 13 seed Akron (16-5), his projected Mid-American Conference automatic qualifier.
Michigan State, ranked No. 9 is the Associated Press Top 25, is at UCLA on Tuesday night.
Michigan has strung together back-to-back victories over Penn State and Rutgers, and is trending up in Lunardi’s projection, where he has the Wolverines in the East Region, facing his Mountain West automatic qualifier and No. 10 seed New Mexico (18-4) in Cleveland. Palm has Michigan opening against No. 11 seed UC Irvine (20-3) in a Midwest Region game in Denver.
Michigan, which returned this week to the AP Top 25 at No. 24, plays host to Oregon on Wednesday at Crisler Center. The Ducks (16-6) also appear squarely in the NCAA Tournament picture, as a No. 5 seed from Palm, and a No. 6 seed according to Lunardi. Oregon, however, has lost four of its last five games.
Michigan State plays host to Oregon on Saturday.