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Michigan basketball a No. 4 seed in NCAA Tournament selection committee's top-16 reveal

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•02/15/25•

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Dusty May
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May saw his team score eight non-conference wins to begin 2024-25. (Photo by Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images)

The NCAA Tournament selection committee released their top 16 teams, making up the Nos. 1-4 seeds, on Saturday. Michigan checked in as the No. 14 overall team, a No. 4 seed in the West Region.

The rankings provide a snapshot of what the top-four seeds would look like if the tournament started today.

Michigan, which is 19-5 overall and 11-2 in Big Ten play, ranks No. 18 in the NET, No. 22 on Kenpom and No. 25 in the Basketball Power Index. The Wolverines are 6-3 in Quad 1 games, 5-2 in Quad 2, 6-0 in Quad 3 and 2-0 in Quad 4.

The other Big Ten teams to make the top 16 are Purdue (No. 7 overall, No. 2 seed) and Wisconsin (No. 11 overall, No. 3 seed). Michigan has split with Purdue and beat Wisconsin in Madison.

Here are the committee’s seeds at this moment in time, in order by overall ranking
No. 1 seeds: Auburn (1), Alabama (2), Duke (3), Florida (4)
No. 2 seeds: Tennessee (5), Texas A&M (6), Purdue (7), Florida (8)
No. 3 seeds: Iowa State (9), Kentucky (10), Wisconsin (11), Arizona (12)
No. 4 seeds: Texas Tech (13), Michigan (14), Kansas (15), St. John’s (16)

Here are the seeds by region:
South Region (Atlanta, Ga.): No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Texas Tech
Midwest Region (Indianapolis, Ind.): No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Purdue, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 4 Kansas
West Region (San Francisco, Calif.): No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Michigan
East Region (Newark, Nj.): No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Arizona, No. 4 St. John’s

This is the only reveal by the committee before Selection Sunday, which is March 16.

Michigan has several opportunities to bolster its resumé moving forward. The Wolverines have six Quad 1 opportunities in their last seven regular-season games, before the Big Ten Tournament.

The Wolverines missed the NCAA Tournament two-straight seasons from 2023-24. Prior to that, they reached the Sweet 16 in five-consecutive tournaments.

Head coach Dusty May has led an incredible turnaround in his first season at the helm, but he and the Wolverines are focused on their day to day responsibilities. After Michigan notched May’s first top-10 win in Ann Arbor, beating Purdue 75-73 Tuesday night, the head coach explained his thought process of where his team is at.

“I’m proud of the way our guys are battling and staying the course,” May said. “And it looks like they’re still enjoying each other. They’re enjoying this, this process of competing and not knowing what’s in front of us, but just putting one foot in front of the other.

“As far as our record, where we are — they’re not giving out championship trophies February 12th or whatever it is tomorrow. So, no. But I’m proud that our guys are still improving collectively and individually.”

Michigan will take on Ohio State Sunday afternoon in Columbus, before taking on Michigan State Friday at Crisler Center. The Wolverines are 12-0 on their own home floor, the only Big Ten team that hasn’t lost a home game this season.

The Wolverines lost by 27 points at Purdue in late-January but have rattled off five-straight wins since then. Michigan used that game as a lesson.

“I thought we had great personal accountability and we just kept fighting and battling,” May said. “Purdue had the same thing happen. Auburn gave it to them early in the year, and they responded. And then Penn State in early December did the same thing, and they responded. “So hopefully we’re trending like those programs where when you get knocked down, you bounce back up, dust yourself off and keep, keep fighting.”

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