So, it's been a minute. Michigan's first two scheduled Big Ten games were postponed because of COVID-19 concerns in the program, meaning they haven't played in a game setting since December 9th against Butler. The Wolverines are set to retake the court tomorrow afternoon at home against Wisconsin, which is off to an 0-2 start in conference play, before a marquee matchup at Northwestern on Sunday. The Standings The table is a bit rougher on the women's side because, unlike with Big Ten men's basketball, there have been a number of cancelations/postponements. By my count, four of the 16 scheduled conference matchups have been postponed (every game involving Michigan or Ohio State, both of which had outbreaks) and an additional 12 non-conference games involving Big Ten teams have been postponed or outright canceled. We're also working with the results-oriented RPI instead of projection-oriented KenPom/Torvik numbers, though Warren Nolan's site has predicted standings and RPI projections I'm using here despite a lack of explanation about the methodology beyond "based on this season's previous results." Per-100-possession efficiency numbers, which notably are not adjusted for schedule quality, are pulled from Her Hoop Stats.
Record
Proj. Rec.
RPI
Polls
Efficiency
Team Ovr. B1G Ovr. B1G Current Proj. AP Coach OE DE EM
Wisconsin should be relatively easy work for Michigan if they're not too rusty from the layoff. Northwestern, on the other hand, is one of the better programs in the Big Ten; M's triumph over the Wildcats in last season's Big Ten Tournament after losing competitive games in both regular season matchups was a big moment for Kim Barnes Arico's program. That win over NW was a sign Michigan could compete at a top-25 level. They're right around there in RPI and well within both the traditional polls. While the voters are believers, the lack of a quality win has kept the RPI projections relatively skeptical. Sunday's game could help change that. [Hit THE JUMP for Wisconsin and Northwestern previews.]