U-M Earns No. 3 Seed, Draws Montana for NCAA Tournament Opener
3/11/2018 6:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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INDIANAPOLIS -- The Big Ten Tournament champion University of Michigan men's basketball team earned its second straight automatic berth and eighth NCAA Tournament bid overall under head coach John Beilein today (Sunday, March 11).
The Wolverines will be the No. 3 seed in the West Region and will face No. 14 seed Montana in the first round on Thursday (March 15) at approximately 8:50 p.m. CT at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
The Michigan-Montana winner will advance to the second round to face the winner of No. 6-seeded Houston and No. 11-seeded San Diego State on Saturday (March 17) for a spot in the West Region semifinal at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
U-M makes its 28th overall NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and carries a 54-26 (47-22 after sanctions) all-time record, including winning the 1989 national title. The Maize and Blue will appear in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
The Wolverines enter the NCAA Tournament with a 28-7 overall record, which includes a 13-5 mark in Big Ten play. U-M has reached the 20-win mark for the 28th time in program history and the eighth time during Beilein's tenure.
U-M, seeded fifth, successfully defended its the Big Ten Tournament title when it defeated No. 3 seed Purdue, 75-66, in the championship game (March 4), as it won four games in four days for a second straight year.
Michigan advanced to the title game after a second-round 77-71 overtime win over No. 12-seed Iowa (March 1), a 77-58 victory over No. 4 seed Nebraska in the quarterfinals (March 2) and a 75-64 triumph over No. 1-seeded Michigan State in the semifinals (March 3) -- the third straight year U-M has knocked out the top seed.
Beilein is guiding the Wolverines to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in his 11 seasons as head coach of the Wolverines, which included an appearance in the national championship game in 2013 and trips to the Sweet 16 in three of the last five years.
This season's bid to the NCAA Tournament is the 13th overall for Beilein and his 12th at the Division I level. Beilein is one of 12 coaches to take four different Division I teams to the NCAA Tournament (Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia and Michigan). He also guided Le Moyne College to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1988.
Michigan is one of four Big Ten schools to earn a spot in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, joining Purdue (No. 2 in the East Region), Michigan State (No. 3 in the Midwest Region) and Ohio State (No. 5 in West Region).
A look at the other teams in Michigan's part of the bracket for the NCAA first and second rounds:
• Montana, the regular season and tournament champions from the Big Sky Conference, are 26-7 overall, which included a 16-2 mark in league play. The Grizzlies won the Big Sky's automatic bid with an 82-65 victory over Eastern Washington in the tournament championship game on Saturday (March 10).
• Houston earned an at-large bid with a 26-7 overall record. The Cougars posted a 14-4 mark in the American Athletic Conference and reached the AAC Tournament Final, where they fell to Cincinnati, 56-55, on Sunday (March 11).
• San Diego State earned the automatic bid out of the Mountain West Conference after they won the league tournament on Saturday (March 10) with an 82-75 victory over New Mexico in the tournament final. The Aztecs have a 22-10 overall record and an 11-7 mark in conference play.
The West Regional will be played March 22 and 24 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Final Four is scheduled for Saturday and Monday, March 31 and April 2, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
