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The Michigan Wolverines are projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament per Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology.
Lunardi’s projection has UM facing off against the Dayton Flyers during round one in Salt Lake City.
Updated: Joe Lunardi's (@ESPNLunardi) Bracketology https://t.co/nY99XfwhyH pic.twitter.com/PgUXiYCCMe
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 23, 2017
It’s a slight improvement over a mid-February projection from USA Today that had Michigan as a No. 10.
The bad thing about playing as a No. 8 or No. 9 is that round two is against a top seed, which in this case would be a still-undefeated Gonzaga squad.
The other No. 1 seeds are Kansas, Villanova and North Carolina. Elsewhere, projected Big Ten participants include Wisconsin (a No. 5 seed), Michigan State (No. 10), Northwestern (9), Purdue (4), Maryland (7) and Minnesota (7).
There are three games left in the regular season for Michigan, beginning with a home game Saturday, 4 p.m. ET against Purdue.