By Tuesday night around 10 p.m., there will be only one team in college basketball capable of claiming nine wins in Quadrant 1 opportunities on the season. It will be either No. 2 Michigan, or No. 4 Illinois. And as luck would have it, the two square off at 7 p.m. ET.
There are sprawling implications to the game of the evening. The Wolverines have a one-game edge in the Big Ten race over the Illini with three games left. A win would clinch the crown for them after seven consecutive wins entering the night.
There are also NCAA Tournament seeding ramifications. Both teams are No. 1 seeds in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology. The winner could capture No. 1 status with a bullet entering the home stretch.
If that doesn’t have your attention, then the on-court product should. Michigan boasts a top-five offense and top-five defense, the only team in the sport to own such a distinction. It faces an Illini team that has a top-10 offense and a bowling ball of a big man in Kofi Cockburn, whose physical play makes for an incredible matchup pitted against Michigan bruiser Hunter Dickinson.