The schedule is officially complete, and we now know who the Michigan men’s basketball teams will be playing in Big Ten play.
We knew that Michigan would be playing the following teams twice: Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State. Michigan faces every other team in the conference once.
Here is the full Big Ten schedule:
-Saturday, Dec. 6: vs Rutgers
-Saturday, Dec. 13: at Maryland
-Friday, Jan. 2: USC
-Tuesday, Jan. 6: at Penn State
-Saturday, Jan. 10: vs Wisconsin
-Wednesday, Jan. 14: at Washington
-Saturday, Jan. 17: at Oregon
-Tuesday, Jan. 20: vs Indiana
-Friday, Jan. 23: vs Ohio State
-Tuesday, Jan. 27: vs Nebraska
-Friday, Jan. 30: at Michigan State
-Thursday, Feb. 5: vs Penn State
-Sunday, Feb. 8: at Ohio State
-Wednesday, Feb. 11: at Northwestern
-Sunday, Feb. 14: UCLA
-Wednesday, Feb. 17: at Purdue
-Wednesday, Feb. 24: vs Minnesota
-Saturday, Feb. 27: at Illinois
-Thursday, March 5: at Iowa
-Sunday, March 8: vs Michigan State
One other note: every team will now take part in the Big Ten Tournament, which is the way it should be: everyone should get a chance to improve their tournament resumes, and conference tournaments are an integral part of the sport.
I’m not going to make any predictions — a futile exercise, considering how much can change between now and November — but here are my instant takeaways on this schedule:
-Ending the year at Illinois and hosting Michigan State — two teams that could very well be the two best teams in the conference — is a tough draw. Not to mention, having an Iowa team sandwiched in there coached by a bonafide winner in Ben McCollum is a bit scary. Would love to see Michigan win at least two of those three games to have momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament and March Madness
-Michigan doesn’t have to travel to California — a huge advantage — but it does have to travel to Washington and Oregon, and this year, the trip doesn’t happen during winter break. Should be interesting to see how Michigan handles that travel.
-If the toughest part of the schedule isn’t the end of it, it’s probably that six-game stretch that starts at Washington and finishes at Michigan State in the span of 16 days. At least half those teams feel like locks to make the NCAA tournament, so that could be a huge stretch for Michigan’s resume
-Purdue will likely be one of the top ranked teams in the country in the preseason, and Michigan’s lone game against the Boilermakers is sadly on the road, late in the season. That’s a bit of a disadvantage on paper, but I like that Michigan doesn’t have another game for seven more days after that.
-There’s a lot more Saturday games on the schedule this season, whereas last season, it felt like almost every big game was on a Sunday. It may mean bigger crowds and more primetime matchups, and I like that there’s at least some semblance for this team to get a rhythm, playing on Wednesdays and Saturdays most of the season.
To go along with this Big Ten schedule, here is Michigan’s non-conference schedule. I shared my full thoughts on it last month, but much like Tom Izzo and Michigan State, I like how the Wolverines are challenging themselves in the non-conference to prepare for NCAA tournament play.
• Monday, Nov. 3: Oakland (Crisler Center)
• Tuesday, Nov. 11: vs. Wake Forest (Detroit, Mich.)
• Friday, Nov. 14: at TCU (Fort Worth, Texas)
• Wednesday, Nov. 19: Middle Tennessee (Crisler Center)
• Monday, Nov. 24: vs. San Diego State (Las Vegas, Nev.)
• Tuesday, Nov. 25: vs. Auburn (Las Vegas, Nev.)
• Wednesday or Thursday, Nov. 26 or 27: vs. TBD (Las Vegas, Nev.)
• Tuesday, Dec. 9: Villanova (Crisler Center)
• Sunday, Dec. 21: LaSalle (Crisler Center)
• Monday, Dec. 29: McNeese (Crisler Center)
• Saturday, Feb. 21: vs. Duke (Washington, D.C.)
What are your thoughts on this schedule, now that it’s fully out? Which games are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
