In the NCAA Tournament, Michigan won’t have to worry about playing on back-to-back days. And they have the talent to keep up with just about anyone in the country, evidence by their 68-62 loss to open the regular season against the consensus No. 1 South Carolina.

With a win over Wisconsin on Sunday in Indianapolis, the Wolverines captured the Big Ten’s men’s basketball tournament for the first time since 2018.

Yet, Michigan basketball took the Big Ten conference tournament title and earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament beginning this week. On Thursday they get to play UC San Diego (30-4), which was one of the hottest-shooting teams in the country from the Big West Conference.