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Aside from his work with the Big Ten Network, the NCAA’s Andy Katz knows a little something about both college basketball and Michigan, in particular.
Katz, who was the color commentator for the Wolverines last game, a neutral site win over Rutgers at Madison Square Garden, is responsible for keeping up the NCAA’s NET rankings, which helps determine the seeding ultimately for the NCAA Tournament come March. And if the season were to end today, Katz sees the maize and blue in. At least, that’s what he’s forecasting with 10 regular season games left on the line.
In his first bracket prediction reveal, Katz has Michigan in the Midwest region as a 7-seed, joining fellow Big Ten clubs Wisconsin and Rutgers and independent BYU in that rank. Michigan would play 10-seed Cincinnati in Cleveland, and should it progress, would then take on the winner of 2-seed Dayton and 15-seed Colgate.
Other notable schools in his bracket forecast in the Midwest include rival MSU, the 4-seed, 5-seed LSU and 1-seed San Diego State.
Given Michigan’s struggles as of late, fans would certainly take it. It would likely mean that the Wolverines were able to win many of the remaining 10 regular season games, which includes two games against Ohio State, a home affair against MSU and a road game at Maryland.