Notable results since the last post (home team listed second):

• OSU 67, PSU 69
• Rutgers 63, MSU 53
• Maryland 88, Purdue 59
• Michigan 67, Iowa 89
• Indiana 87, OSU 75
• Maryland 62, Northwestern 50
• PSU 56, Rutgers 74
• Iowa 80, Indiana 89
• Maryland 88, Michigan 63
• OSU 63, Rutgers 71
• PSU 61, Maryland 88
• Purdue 59, Indiana 74
• Northwestern 58, Michigan 63
• Nebraska 75, Iowa 83

After a rough couple games against Iowa and Northwestern, Michigan bounced back with a Senior Day victory over Northwestern to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines were also supposed to visit Minnesota last weekend but that game was canceled due to a COVID issue in the Gophers program.

Maryland, Indiana, and Rutgers all closed strong down the stretch to earn the top three seeds in the BTT. Ohio State, on the other hand, faded hard, perhaps because their postseason ban deprived them of motivation once the regular season title was out of reach.

The Final Regular Season Standings

Per-100-possession efficiency numbers, which I've limited to Big Ten games, are pulled from Her Hoop Stats. I've added records for games against Q1 teams in the NET rankings and HHS's adjusted team rankings.

*The coaches poll isn't updated until tomorrow, so those rankings are a week behind. Expect Rutgers to move up and Northwestern to drop. Michigan will probably slide at least a spot, as well.

Michigan's Big Ten efficiency margin essentially got cut in half over the last couple weeks. Even though they only won the conference by one game, the Terps pulled away as the class of the conference; their only loss in the B1G came by two on the road at Ohio State in late January, when the Buckeyes were playing like a top-15 team.

Indiana could be close, though. Other than a four-point road loss at Maryland, they have the same blemish—a loss in Columbus. The Hoosiers haven't been quite as dominant but they've moved into the top ten nationally.

[Hit THE JUMP for the BTT bracket, a look back at M's last few games, and updated tiers.]

The Big Ten Tournament Bracket

Click for big.

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The bracket looks funky because of the aforementioned Ohio State postseason ban, which reduces the field to 13 teams. Michigan will face the winner of Northwestern and tomorrow's 12/13 game (so, Northwestern, barring a huge upset) on Thursday in the second game of the early session, which should tip off around 1:15-1:30 on FS2.

The Wolverines won't mind drawing the Wildcats. In addition to yesterday's win, they handed Northwestern their biggest loss of the season, 84-63 in Evanston, in early January. If Michigan gets a win there, they all but certain to face Maryland, which will be a tall challenge.

The Last Two Weeks

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outsized, outskilled, outplayed [Scott]

While this is still one of the better years in program history, Michigan would like to have closed the regular season stronger than they did. Matty Blue has a detailed recap of the blowout at Iowa, which was a debacle from well before tipoff. After Michigan left for Iowa City at 7:30 am on game day, a COVID scare caused a five hour delay of tipoff. Led by soon-to-be Big Ten Freshman of the Year and current Wooden Semifinalist snub Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes came out scoring and cruised to a win.

As usual in Michigan losses, Naz Hillmon played an effective game and didn't get enough help. That carried over to the Maryland loss, in which the Wolverines looked thoroughly overwhelmed in every matchup that didn't involve Hillmon. The 88-63 loss at Crisler showed the gap between this program and the country's elite. Maryland was more athletic, more skilled, and deeper; they got to the basket at will and sniped 7/10 threes when not taking shots from in close.

Again, Michigan got 19 points and 11 boards from Hillmon and little other help. The team tallied 11 assists and 21 turnovers while shooting 3/16 from beyond the arc. 

Akienreh Johnson refused to let Northwestern ruin Senior Day [Scott]

Michigan didn't exactly solve all their problems in the bounceback win over Northwestern on Saturday. Hillmon had 19 points and 13 rebounds but also six of the team's 19 turnovers. Akienreh Johnson tied the team lead with 19 points but shot only 2/10 from the field. In fact, nobody other than Hillmon (7/12) made over half their field goal attempts.

For the second straight matchup against the Wildcats, however, the defense put the clamps on Lindsay Pulliam, harassing her into a 4/17 outing. The Wildcats went 22/64 from the field with a lot of their shots in the contested midrange category. When they made a late push, Johnson kept them at bay at the free throw line, where the sixth-year senior finished a remarkable 13/14 in the her last home game.

That gave Michigan three straight wins over Northwestern dating back to last year's Big Ten Tournament. We'll see whether "momentum" or "it's hard to beat a team three times in one year" is the trope that wins out.

Updated Tiers

Last week's:

Tier I (cream of the crop): Maryland, Michigan, Indiana
Tier II (fringe contenders): Rutgers, Ohio State, Northwestern, Iowa
Tier III (soft middle): Michigan State, Nebraska
Tier IV (pretty bad): Penn State, Minnesota, Purdue
Tier V (auto-win): Illinois, Wisconsin

This week's added another tier, anyone who watched the Maryland game understands:

Tier I (best of the best): Maryland
Tier II (nearing elite): Indiana, Rutgers
Tier III (solid tourney teams, if eligible): Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State
Tier IV (soft middle): Michigan State, Nebraska
Tier V (pretty bad): Penn State, Minnesota, Purdue
Tier VI (auto-win): Illinois, Wisconsin