Michigan vs PFW 11/7/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The IPFW Mastodons and the Michigan Wolverines meet in college basketball action from the Crisler Center on Monday.

The IPFW Mastodons will be out to build on a fairly successful 2021-22 season, finishing the year at 21-12 overall, which included a 15-6 mark in Horizon League conference play. The Mastodons as co-regular season champions, took out UIC in the quarterfinals before losing to Northern Kentucky in the tournament semifinals. The Mastodons were then invited to the CBI, losing to top-seeded Drake in the first round and ending their season. The Mastodons bring back a lot of key pieces, including leading scorer Jarred Godfrey (15.2 PPG, 3.8 APG). Damian Chong-Qui (10.2 PPG, 3.6 APG), Ra Kpedi (8.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG) and Bobby Planutis (8.3 PPG) as well as reigning Horizon League 6^th man of the year Deonte Billups (9 PPG). The Mastodons did get a solid transfer in the form of Anthony Roberts, a 6’4” guard from D-II Saint Cloud State, who averaged 20+ PPG while shooting 47% from the floor last season.

The Michigan Wolverines will try to take another step forward after a decent 2021-22 season where the Wolverines finished 19-15, including an 11-9 mark in Big Ten conference play to finish tied for 7^th place. In the Big Ten tournament, the Wolverines were dispatched early by Indiana but did get an at-large bid to the Big Dance. The Wolverines made the most of their chance by taking out Colorado State and Tennessee to advance to the Sweet 16, where the Wolverines were eliminated by Villanova. There is going to be a lot of turnover for Michigan after losing three double-digit scorers from last year’s group, but there are some signs for optimism, with a very good freshman class as well as the return of 7’1” All-American big man Hunter Dickinson (18.6 PPG, 8.6 RPG) as well as the transfer acquisition of Jaelin Llewellyn from Princeton (15.7 PPG) for this season. Someone will have to step up or the Wolverines may have another season filled with inconsistencies in 2022-23.

IPFW is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games and 16-7 ATS in their last 23 games overall while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall. Michigan is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Monday games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.

I get why Michigan is favored here, but this is an experienced IPFW team that performed fairly well last year and is going to relish their opportunity to go on the road and take on Michigan. The Wolverines still have some kinks to work out with their new pieces and I think while the cohesion will come in time, it’s still going to be tricky early on and IPFW is a good enough team that I think they can frustrate Michigan and potentially make this one a lot closer than some would think. Give me the Mastodons and the points.