Michigan basketball rooting guide: Who Wolverines' fans should root for and against this week

Michigan Wolverines basketball (17-14, 11-9 Big Ten) enters the Big Ten Tournament with plenty of work to do in order to make a seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, starting with a matchup against Rutgers Thursday at noon. The Maize and Blue also need some other things to break their way when it comes to the bubble, which we’ll break down here.

Here is your Michigan basketball rooting guide for conference championship week:

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• Big Ten Tournament bracket: Michigan to play Rutgers

Big Ten bubble

There are seven Big Ten teams firmly in the tournament: Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Iowa, Maryland and Illinois. The league is expected to receive at least eight bids, and there are four teams fighting for the last one or two spots — Rutgers, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan (in order of likelihood to make the NCAA Tournament).

Michigan vs. Rutgers Thursday is essentially a loser-leaves-town game. The winner still has work to do, and a perfect — yet extremely challenging — opportunity in front of it with a Friday matchup against top-seeded Purdue. But whoever falls short is, in all likelihood, NIT bound.

In addition to pulling for the Maize and Blue, Michigan fans should be rooting for No. 7 seed Illinois to beat No. 10 seed Penn State, No. 13 seed Ohio State over No. 12 seed Wisconsin (and No. 5 seed Iowa over the Badgers if they beat the Buckeyes).

Beware of bid stealers

Michigan wants a whole lot of chalk this week, other than with its own potential run in Chicago. The Wolverines could use teams that are locks to make the NCAA Tournament as at-large bids to win their conference tournaments, so that “bid stealers” don’t, well, steal bids.

Georgetown, for example, came out of nowhere to win the Big East Tournament two seasons ago; the Wolverines don’t want something like that to happen.

Here’s what to watch for out of the major conference tournaments this weekend. The teams Michigan is rooting for are firmly expected to make the Big Dance, and the teams the Wolverines are rooting against are bubble squads. It’s important to note, too, that the Wolverines should root against “everybody else” — non-bubble teams (like 2021 Georgetown) who could only get in by winning their conference tournament. We’ve linked to the brackets for each conference, as well.

• ACC

Root for: Virginia, Miami (Fla.), Duke

Root against: N.C. State, Pittsburgh*, Clemson, North Carolina

*We’ll talk more about Pittsburgh below

RELATED: ACC Tournament bracket

• Big 12

Root for: Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Iowa State, West Virginia

Root against: Oklahoma State

RELATED: Big 12 Tournament bracket

• Big East

Root for: Marquette, Connecticut, Xavier, Creighton

Root against: Providence

RELATED: Big East Tournament bracket

• Pac-12

Root for: UCLA, Arizona, USC

Root against: Arizona State

RELATED: Pac-12 Tournament bracket

• SEC

Root for: Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Missouri, Arkansas, Auburn

Root against: Mississippi State

RELATED: SEC Tournament bracket

Here’s what to watch for in the rest of the notable conference tournaments set for this week.

• American Athletic Conference

Root for: Houston, Memphis

Root against: Everybody else

RELATED: American Athletic Conference Tournament bracket

• Conference USA

Root for: Florida Atlantic

Root against: UAB, everybody else

RELATED: Conference USA Tournament bracket

• Mountain West

Root for: San Diego State, Boise State

Root against: Utah State, Nevada, everybody else

RELATED: Mountain West Tournament bracket

• West Coast Conference

Root for: Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s

Root against: Everybody else

RELATED: West Coast Conference Tournament bracket

Keep an eye on Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Maryland

We put an asterisk next to Pittsburgh’s name above because there are some conflicting interests at play. The Panthers are a projected No. 11 seed, but aren’t right on that cut line (Bracket Matrix has them as the sixth to last team in).

Michigan beat Pittsburgh handily, 91-60, Nov. 16 on a neutral floor in Brooklyn. The Panthers are No. 58 in the NET rankings right now, and could move up to 50 or better (making it a Quad 1 victory for Michigan) if they string together some wins in the ACC Tournament. They play the winner of Florida State-Georgia Tech Wednesday and will be heavily favored in that game, before potentially facing Duke Thursday. A win over the Blue Devils could push them into the top 50 in the NET.

Michigan doesn’t necessarily have to root for in-state rival Michigan State, but if it makes it to the semifinals, it could face the Spartans. Win that one, and the Maize and Blue are a near-lock to go dancing. Lose it, and the Spartans likely move from their current position of No. 31 in the NET to top-30 — making the 84-72 win over the Spartans Feb. 18 Quad 1. To get to that point, Michigan would have to boost its résumé with wins over Rutgers and Purdue (both Quad 1).

Maryland is another to keep tabs on. The Terrapins currently check in 26th in the NET, but a loss to one of Minnesota or Nebraska Thursday could drop them lower than 30, which would make the Wolverines’ 81-46 beatdown of the Terrapins Jan. 1 a Quad 2 win instead of Quad 1.

If these three things go according to plan, and Michigan wins at least two games, the Wolverines could enter the selection show with at least 7 Quad 1 wins.