In their first year of NCAA postseason eligibility, the UC San Diego Tritons seized their opportunity and won the Big West Conference tournament.

This means that they secured the automatic bid into the tournament. On Sunday, the NCAA selection committee revealed that UCSD received a 12 seed. Opposite of them on the bracket is the formidable Michigan Wolverines out of the Big 12. The Wolverines are the fifth seed in the tournament after winning the Big12 Conference tournament championship game.

For any team, Michigan would be a formidable opponent.

The Wolverines play in one of the Power 4 conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC). They have top recruits, and they have a coach who’s been to a Final 4 recently. New head coach Dusty May led the Florida Atlantic Owls to a Final 4 in 2023. In 2020-21, the Wolverines went to the Elite 8; the next year, they went to a Sweet 16. In 22-23, the Wolverines missed the NCAA tournament and ended up in the NIT. Last season was a mess for Michigan, where they only won eight games and ended up relieving head coach Juwon Howard of his duties at the end of the season.

Make no mistake, this year’s Michigan team is day and night to last year’s team.

This year, the team went 25-9 overall and finished second in the Big 12 regular season standings. At one point, the Wolverines looked like they were going to win the Big 12 regular season title. But they ended the regular season with three straight double-digit losses. The Wolverines responded impressively, beating Purdue by 18 in the first round of the conference tournament. In their second game, they squeaked out a one-point win over Maryland to advance to the championship game. In the championship game, the Wolverines managed to win an absolute rock fight of a game against Wisconsin 59-53.

The UC San Diego Tritons out of the Big West Conference are one of the biggest stories in Division 1.

The Tritons dropped their opening game to cross-town foe and tournament team, San Diego State. From there, the Tritons won 30 games and only lost three. In the non-conference, the Tritons went on the road to Logan, Utah, and beat another tournament team in Utah State by two points. Overall, this has been a monster year for the Triton program, but they’re not satisfied with just making it to the NCAA Tournament.

The Tritons aren’t just red hot; they’re white hot.

UC San Diego has won 15 games in a row coming into the NCAA Tournament, and they have won them handily. The Tritons are 45^th in Division 1 in scoring per game at 79.8 points per game. On the defensive end, the Tritons allow only 61.6 points per game. The Tritons are going to lean on their defense throughout the game. They are fourth in Division 1 in steals per game. On the other hand, Michigan turns over the ball a whopping 14.1 times per game. If the Tritons stick to their game plan and turn the Wolverines over, they will set themselves up for success.

For the Tritons, look for their star point guard, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, who averages 19.5 points and 3.7 assists per game, to lead them to victory.

On the Wolverines side, look for Vladislav Goldin, who averages 16.7 points per game, to try to keep Michigan’s turnovers low. The Tritons will be the trendy pick to upset the Wolverines in Denver, and with good reason.

Max Montoya

A Southern California kid from San Clemente, he attended Gonzaga University and obtained a degree in sports management with minors in digital marketing and public relations. Max has been a San Diego sports fan for life.