Remaining MBB Games: The Path to 30

Remaining Games Chart:

Rank	Opponent	Difficulty	KenPom	RPI	Result
-	MICHIGAN	3	4	3	-
1	@Indiana	6	2	12	73-81
2	Indiana	7	2	12
3	@Minnesota	9	11	10	83-75
4	@Ohio	11	8	17	53-56
5	@MSU	11	15	11
6	Ohio	13	8	17	76-74
7	MSU	13	15	11
8	#Pittsburgh	19	6	34	67-62
9	@Wisconsin	23	14	41
10	N.C. State	24	29	19	79-72
11	#Kansas St.	26	32	24	71-57
12	@Illinois	34	50	30	74-60
13	Illinois	40	50	30
14	Iowa	63	33	92	95-67
15	@NW	70	82	83	94-66
16	Arkansas	71	62	79	80-67
17	NW	83	82	83	68-46
18	@Purdue	87	84	120
19	#WVU	89	99	93	81-66
20	WMU	96	111	81	73-41
21	Purdue	102	84	120	68-53
22	Nebraska	117	146	87	62-47
23	@Bradley	136	164	157	74-66
24	@Penn St.	163	199	184
25	Penn St.	192	199	184
26	Cleveland St.	209	237	180	77-47
27	EMU	223	224	222	93-54
28	CMU	238	239	236	88-73
29	IUPUI	308	313	302	91-54
30	Binghampton	339	344	334	67-39
31	Slippery Rock	NR	NR	NR	100-62

Notes:

• MSU and Ohio are teams of indistinguishable difficulty albeit different playstyles. B1G is just brutal this year.
• Worst major conference record of a team that still made the NCAA tournament was 7-9. Illinois (3-7) has a good shot at breaking that record.
• Still have no clue what to make of upcoming series against MSU, hope for a split I think.
• Pitt and Arkansas both had big wins that don't so much help Michigan's SoS as it does help Michigan by keeping the 1-seed line a little bit more accessible.
• Michigan has 4 "tough" and 4 "winnable" games remaining.
• Upcoming Penn State games will be a welcome breather, should be able to get the team well rested for a strong homestand finish against MSU and Indiana.
• Michigan has the "best" losses among all of the top-10 teams in the country.

Path to B1G Conference Title:

• Beat Wisconsin.
• It's tough to envision a scenario given road game difficulty that doesn't land Indiana, MSU and Ohio all at 4 losses a piece.
• A big key will be getting Morgan healthy and back into game speed over the Penn State stretch.
• My earlier prediction was any team finishing 15-3 wins outright, 14-4 gives a shot at a split. This still looks to be precisely the case past the halfway mark in conference play.
• All of the top five teams in the conference are in the conference title race, it's any of those teams' to win.
• Beat Wisconsin. It will effectively knock them out of contention.

Special Feature - Path To The Most Wins In Michigan BB History:

In 1989 Michigan won 30 games en route to a National Title. In 1993 Michigan won 31 games (but later vacated the season).

Michigan sits at 21 victories with 8 regular season games remaining, a conference tournament that didn't exist twenty years ago, and a shot at a favorable seed for a deep NCAA run.

I'll let someone else run the win probabilities but eyeballing from the chart above Michigan can safely assume a worst case of 4-4 to end the year. They would then need to reach the BTT finals and the Elite 8 to tie for their best (non-vacated) win total in history. This is remarkably within reach.

If we assume a bit more optimism that Michigan will go .500 in their "tough" games and they finish out the season 6-2 they'll reach 27-4 and a shot at Michigan Basketball History will be well within reach.

The thing to take away from this Michigan team, about to face two more Big Ten contenders on the road, is that Michigan's only losses have come from the absolute best games from Top-10 rival teams on the road. And they kept it close both games despite absorbing (or allowing depending on your opinion) ridiculous runs to start each game.

Does Wisconsin (yielded 1.2ppp against Creighton and Florida) have an elite defender like Craft or Oladipo that can force Burke into an inefficient day? I personally don't think so.

I think Michigan wins for the first time in fourteen years up in Madison and carries the #1 ranking up into East Lansing playing with house money for the B1G Conference Title and a shot at their best season ever.