Conference tournament predictions: Picking potential 2025 champs

Despite a dominant effort from his team in the first half of the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma, Alabama coach Nick Saban had reason to be angry as the second quarter wound down. The Tide, leading 28-10, was on the verge of scoring its fifth touchdown, but the potential scoring drive was derailed by three red-zone penalties — holding, an illegal formation and then a false start on a fourth-and-1 play. After the false start, which forced Bama to settle for a field goal, Saban exploded and slammed his headset on the ground in disgust.

Unlike many programs around college basketball, the Michigan Wolverines have their roster set, barring any unforeseen attrition or arrivals. While there are always question marks about a team heading into a season, especially when making predictions six months before games are played, the Maize and Blue are on solid footing coming off a successful year two under head coach Juwan Howard. In fact, Michigan was the most successful Big Ten team in 2020-21, having won the outright regular-season conference crown and advancing the furthest in the NCAA Tournament out of any team in the league (Elite Eight).

Michigan Wolverines basketball needed some unexpected contributions to get out of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The most notable was senior guard Chaundee Brown Jr., who dropped a season-high 21 points — 14 in the second half — and hit three shots from beyond the arc in a thrilling win over LSU. Junior forward Brandon Johns Jr. also acquitted himself well in his second and third starts of the season, scoring seven points in victories over Texas Southern and LSU.