INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The best time of year in the college basketball calendar is upon us, and after tonight's selection show, we now know where Michigan and Michigan State fall on the men's bracket in the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan State is a 2 -seed, and will head to Cleveland, Ohio, to face No. 15 Bryant. The Spartans are in a quadrant with No. 7 Marquette and No. 10 New Mexico, with Auburn being the No. 1 seed in their region.
Michigan is a 5 seed in that South region, and will head to Denver, Colorado, to face 12-seed University of California San Diego. The Wolverines are in a quadrant with 4-seed Texas A&M and 13-seed Yale.
The Spartans (27-6, 17-3) finished the season as Big Ten regular season champions, defeating Michigan by double digits in both match-ups against their rival this season. For his efforts in his 30th season at the helm, Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo, the winningest coach in Big Ten games in the conference's history,took home Coach of the Year honors last week. In the Big Ten Tournament, the 1-seed Spartans were knocked out by the 5-seed Wisconsin Badgers in the semi-final on Saturday (March 15).
The Wolverines (25-9, 14-6 ) finished the season third in the Big Ten in Dusty May's first season at the helm. While the Wolverines started off March on a three-game losing streak — capped off by a 79-62 loss to the Spartans in East Lansing — Michigan improved it's tournament résumé with wins over Purdue, Maryland and Wisconsin — all NCAA tournament teams — to win the Big Ten Tournament title. It's Michigan's first conference tournament title since 2018, and the first time that a first-year Big Ten coach won the Big Ten Tournament.
Both Michigan and Michigan State will play at 10 p.m. EST later this week, with Michigan playing on Thursday, March 20 and MSU playing a day later. Both games will be broadcast on TBS.
