The Next Three Games

The next three games are key before Michigan faces OSU again. U-M goes up against the three teams that currently have one win in the B10 and are sitting at the bottom of the early standings with Mich.
 
Iowa at home on Thursday - the Hawkeyes got Kachine "The Machine" Alexander (as BTN's Vera Jones calls her) back from a stress fracture, but in the meantime they lost three more players for the season. Hanna Draxten - back; Theairra Taylor - ACL; and Shante Jones - off team. Iowa is down to 8 bodies and is waiting for 1 walk-on to be cleared to play. In spite of the terribly thin roster, the Hawkeyes have made it into overtime (but lost) with PSU and Minnesota. Their one Big Ten win was over Wisconsin.
 
Wisconsin on the road on Sunday - the Badgers had a dominating win at home over Michigan State but have lost road games by 15 at OSU, 10 at Iowa and today by 1 at Illinois with UI scoring a layup with 2 seconds left.
 
Indiana on the road on the 14th - the Hoosiers traded wins with the Spartans on each other's floors. In their other B10 game, IU lost by 10 at Purdue.  
 
All three of these games are winnable for Michigan. 4-4 going into a rematch with OSU would make me feel darned good about this squad.

ugh...well, Michigan only won one of these three, and have not proven they can beat anyone in the conference except for a really banged-up Iowa.

The tOSU home game is almost looking like a "must-win" now, to avoid having the season fall further down the drain. Michigan came close to beating the Bucks at Columbus, so hopefully being in Ann Arbor will make a difference.

On the other hand, Michigan lost at home to Northwestern, who while improved is in no way at the level of tOSU. And Michigan lost away games to Wisconsin and Indiana, who are also hardly a great team like tOSU.

So, as has so often been the case, who knows what to make of this Michigan team???? Maybe they will get it together and salvage the season, maybe not. I hope they will. I fear they may not.