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Michigan, MSU staking claims as Big Ten's best, but who's really the favorite to win the conference?

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•about 9 hours•

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Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May has led a fantastic turnaround this year. (Photo by Lon Horwedel / TheWolverine.com)
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May has led a fantastic turnaround this year. (Photo by Lon Horwedel / TheWolverine.com)

Michigan basketball will face Minnesota tonight in another Big Ten road contest, a heavy favorite to improve to 6-0 in league play. The Wolverines already have three conference wins away from home in tougher venues — at Wisconsin, at USC, and at UCLA — and while ‘The Barn’ can be a tough place to play, this Golden Gophers team is 0-5 for a reason. 

These are the games the Wolverines have to win if they’re going to capture a Big Ten title, and make no mistake — that’s the goal now. Head coach Dusty May told reporters before the season he would concede nothing in year one, and then he assembled a roster that rivals some of the best in the country. As such, U-M now has the best odds to win the Big Ten regular season championship, per FanDuel. 

Michigan is coming of a choppy, 91-75 win over Washington Sunday, another Crisler Center sellout. May had a message for his team in the locker room after his team moved up to No. 10 in the NET rankings with the win (U-M is second to Illinois, which checks in at No. 7, and ahead of No. 3 Michigan State (17).

“We have a road trip on Thursday,” May told his team. “Now, we’ve proven we’re better even on the road than we are at home, to be honest. We’ve got to do it again. 

“Guys, let’s not look at the records … let’s not look at anything else. Let’s continue to get better. I’m telling you, if we focus on our process, we’re going to look up in a couple weeks and say, ‘damn! I like where we are!’ And in a month, and six weeks. But we can’t get caught up in all the other stuff. We’re going to be told how great we are, but just know all that stuff is distracting for what we need to do.”

And that’s get better and prepare to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, which looks more likely by the day. Winning away from home is tough in the Big Ten, especially when you’re traveling a long way, but the Wolverines made it look relatively easy in the wins over USC and UCLA.

As of now, MSU looks like the Wolverines’ biggest competition for a conference title. Illinois might be the Big Ten’s most talented team but is coming off a bad home loss to USC and is 5-2. The Spartans improved to 6-0 with a tougher than expected home win over Penn State, but they’ve had an easier start to the conference schedule. 

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo insisted he put no stock in the current national rankings, even with his team climbing at No. 12. He was disappointed in the defensive effort vs. PSU.

“I said this at the beginning of the year, I said it in the middle of the year, and I’ll say it again: zero,” he said. “I don’t think anybody knows how good anybody is still. We’re seeing some of the most bizarre games and bizarre turnarounds. Illinois goes into Indiana and [gives them] maybe the worst loss in the history of the arena. I’m telling you, that’s the way it is.

“I’m not resting on anything. I’m not sleeping good on anything. I love my team; I love my guys. Tonight, they did not play as good as they can play. And definitely tonight, we didn’t coach as well as we can coach. So, we’re going to do both those things better in the next three days and see if we can get ready for Illinois, because they are good.”

Which, of course, flies in the face of “I don’t think anybody knows how good anybody is still.” You kind of do at this point of the season, and right now it’s Michigan, MSU, Illinois, and Purdue that seem to have legit shots at a title. 

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