Back in November, around 300 basketball teams from different colleges around the US were on an equal footing, looking to make a mark in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball season. Now, the competition for the top place remains amongst only 68 teams. After five months’ worth of regular season games, the team bracket was announced for the March Madness tournament on Selection Sunday. The arrival of this annual selection also brought with it the usual doubts and questions regarding why a particular franchise wasn’t selected over the other. This scenario can often lead to the spread of misinformation, even from experienced journalists. While Seth Davis could not correct all of them, he did make an effort to rectify at least one alleged false claim.

Amongst the teams that were selected in the final 68 was the Michigan Wolverines, who were the 3rd seed in the Big 10 standings. However, it was selected as the 5th seed on the overall standings, even after holding a 25-9 win record. ‘The Athletic’ contributor Dylan Burkhardt highlighted the same by writing “Michigan is a 5 seed in Denver (Thursday) against UCSD. You can’t convince me the Big Ten Tournament matters to the committee.”

NBC Sports insider Nicole Auerbach agreed with this stance. Additionally, she put her own belief by replying to Burkhardt’s comment and writing “It doesn’t. We go through this every year — the last day or two of the Big Ten tournament never seems to impact seeding.” The post caught the attention of Seth Davis. Having made basketball his life for 30 years, the NBA TV contributor wasn’t willing to just pass through the post without correcting the record.

“Incorrect. The committee does contingency brackets to incorporate all the results” Davis wrote. “I thought Michigan was seeded too low but it’s not because Sunday’s game wasn’t accounted for.”

“In 2025, the NCAA selection committee continues to rely on the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings, which assess team performance across quadrants of wins and losses, alongside contingency brackets prepared in advance of Selection Sunday,” Davis elaborated on CBS’s Selection Show on March 16, 2025. “These contingency brackets allow the committee to adjust seedings based on conference tournament outcomes, such as Michigan’s Big Ten title win on March 16, 2025. However, the committee’s emphasis on season-long performance—Michigan’s 25-9 record versus Purdue’s 22-11—suggests that late surges may not always shift seeds as much as fans expect. Michigan’s seeding is one of the more baffling decisions this year.”

As highlighted by Yahoo! Sports writer Jeff Eisenberg, the Michigan Wolverines had defeated Purdue, Maryland, and Wisconsin during the Big Ten tournament. The Wolverines had defeated the Wisconsin Badgers only a few hours ago to become the Conference tournament champions for the first time since 2018, and 4th time overall. Despite this, it got seeded behind Purdue, Maryland, and Wisconsin. You would maybe question that the selection committee reportedly ranks teams for the bracket based on their season-long bodies of work. However, Michigan’s 25-9 record was better than Purdue’s  22-11.

With Seth Davis having claimed that the committee does contingency brackets to incorporate all the results, one can presume that this was a mistake made by them. Even Newsweek ranked the error as 2nd in its ‘Biggest Seeding Mistakes in 2025 NCAA Tournament’.

This isn’t the first time the selection committee has faced backlash for seeding decisions after conference tournaments. In 2019, Michigan State won the Big Ten Tournament but was seeded 2nd behind Duke, prompting similar outcry. The 2025 Michigan case fits this pattern, suggesting a consistent approach that frustrates fans and analysts like Davis who value late momentum.

Under normal circumstances, the wrong seed would not be questioned too much. However, it is being discussed now, potentially out of worry for coach Dusty May and his team. After all, the Wolverines will have their first game against the UC San Diego squad. The same squad that had recorded a 30-4 win record in the recent Big West season. They had established a 15-win streak by the end. Furthermore they had become the Conference tournament champions after defeating UC Irvine Anteaters by a 75-61 score. Therefore, despite securing a top 5 seed, the Wolverines squad has gotten stuck with the most difficult opponent one could have asked right at the start of March Madness.

Well, it is a shame what happened. Unfortunately, the only option now is to move on. No one knows better how tough UC San Diego can be for his squad than Dusty May. Despite this, he is holding onto hope.

Dusty May reveals hope of Michigan pulling a win over UC San Diego: “We’ll go out there with a little bit of extra edge”

Dusty May was named the head basketball coach at the University of Michigan back in March 2024. Therefore, the recently concluded season marked his first full one with the team. To secure a championship win in his first season speaks well for the head coach. Unfortunately, San Diego is not going to be like Wisconsin. The first step in accomplishing something is believing that you can do it. It’s a good thing for the Michigan Wolverines squad that May is already there.

“I think we’ll go out there with a little bit of extra edge,” said May on Sunday evening. “But this team is motivated intrinsically by the right things. Like I said, we control what we can control. We’re grateful to be a part of it, and matchups and all those things are much more important than the number that’s next to your name.”

As for being named the 5th seed, May revealed that he wasn’t choosing to focus too much on that. Fortunately, the coach revealed that he had on his list of teams to study this offseason. Therefore, he got an early head start. With San Diego located at sea level, May believes that he can use the mountainous Ann Arbor to his advantage. How he will do so, is something that remains to be seen. Michigan Wolverines or UC San Diego Tritons? Who will you be rooting for in the upcoming game? Let us know in the comments section.