Michigan Basketball's Season Starting To Look Like Last Season
With the inconsistency and clinging to hope of an NCAA tournament bid, this Michigan basketball season is looking a lot like the last one.
Last season was quite the emotional journey for Michigan basketball. After spending so much of the Big Ten schedule wondering if the Wolverines would do enough to make it into the NCAA tournament, the Wolverines did just barely meet that mark.
With the returning leadership, many were hoping this time around would be less stressful—that maybe we could spend more time focusing on seeding rather than if Michigan is even going to make it in or not.
But here we are, about to enter February, and the Wolverines are in a very familiar spot. Sure, the familiarity might serve some positive purpose for Michigan in the coming weeks, but it really shouldn’t even be here.
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After seeing the way they started the season—with wins over Marquette, SMU, even Texas—the Wolverines looked like they were in pretty good shape. Then the Big Ten schedule came, and the defense went into a blender, which sort of the threw the whole operation out of whack. Because now Michigan’s got to finish on a strong note if it wants to pass through the bubble.
Having exactly zero true road wins is not going to help their case. Neither will having one of the Big Ten’s worst defenses. And neither will getting smoked by Illinois.
Basically, if something is to really help the Wolverines get into the tournament, it’s going to happen after this point. Michigan has no shortage of chances to prove itself, but just how often will that be counterbalanced with a bad loss or a complete flop against a quality opponent?
For a team that can be very fun to watch (see the Indiana game, for example), it also has its nights where the product is ugly and unrecognizable. You mean to tell me the same team that handed it to the Hoosiers on Thursday couldn’t muster up a point per possession on Sunday against Michigan State?
There’s a lot going on here, and just as it was last season, it’s pretty complicated. There are going to be so many scenarios to comb through in the coming weeks.
I guess the silver lining is that we got good at this a year ago.
