If Michigan wants to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament, it is going to have to do some work in the next few weeks. The Wolverines have a game at Wisconsin and have Iowa at home on the docket, two games that will be difficult to get upset wins for last-minute resume building.
Those games won’t matter as much if Michigan can’t put away the Northwestern Wildcats first. This game isn’t going to make Michigan’s tournament plans happen, but it could very well break them.
If the Wolverines lose this game, they may need to rely on a good Big Ten Tournament run to secure a chance, and even then they may still be outside the bubble.