Wolverines on the Verge of History

Shortly after 6 p.m. tonight on CBS, the Michigan Wolverines will have their name announced and will be in bracket pools across the country.


This will mark the first time the Wolverines are in the NCAA Tournament since 1998. That’s 11 long years. In the Big Ten, Michigan has the longest drought of any team except for Northwestern. The Wildcats have never made the tournament.


Michigan did what they had to do this season picking up signature victories against Duke, UCLA, Purdue, Illinois, a road win versus Minnesota, and a near upset on the road against UCONN who just happened to be the No. 1 team in the land at the time. They also avoided too many bad losses with their worst loss coming at the hands of Iowa in Iowa City. This was the game where Manny Harris was benched in the overtime period. Most fans remember that one.


The key to this year’s success was focus, drive, coaching, the effectiveness of the role players, and the two stars who the ball went through time after time with Harris and Deshawn Sims. I feel like Michigan played their best basketball down the stretch with a near road win against Wisconsin, a win on the road against Minnesota in the final regular season conference game, and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament (BTT) against Iowa.


Although, Michigan lives and dies by the three point shot as they showed you in their second round loss to Illinois in the BTT. ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas said it best today on College Gameday “If Michigan makes their shots they can beat anybody, but if they don’t their rather easy to beat.” This will determine how far the Wolverines will go in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.


Michigan is expected to be a No. 10 seed tonight by most bracketology experts on the web including ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That means Michigan would see a No. 7 seed in the first round followed by most likely a No. 2 seed barring an upset from a No. 15 seed.


Teams I feel would cause problems for Michigan in the tournament would be Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Arizona St, Tennessee, and Texas. Now some of these teams would cause problems for any team in the tournament. You have heard it thousands of times your success in the Big Dance is determined by matchups. Michigan doesn’t match up well against teams who have athletic big men down low that can score the basketball or teams that run a fastbreak offense with full court pressure defense. All of the above mentioned teams have one of these two qualities.


Teams that I feel Michigan could upset would be UCONN, Kansas, Oklahoma, Duke, Villanova, and Xavier. Michigan’s first round matchup could be against the following teams: Tennessee, Texas, Butler, Boston College, Texas A&M, Oklahoma St, Marquette, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Siena, Utah St, USC or California. One of those teams will see the Wolverines and as you can see the first round game isn’t going to be easy for Michigan.


Michigan has shown they can play with anybody this season but they could also lose to anybody on any given night. Which Michigan team will show up? One thing is for sure they have exceeded expectations this year and any wins in the NCAA Tournament will just be icing on the cake!

A Bid on the Line

It's less than 15 hours before the 2008-2009 Michigan Wolverines basketball team plays their biggest game in the last decade. Yes it has that much significance because of one reason and one reason only. An NCAA Tournament berth!

Sure other Michigan teams in recent years have been close to making the tournament and have picked up significant wins against top opponents, but none have punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament. It's been the NIT or as many used to call it the Tommy Amaker Invitational Tournament (TAIT).


Michigan has the opportunity tomorrow as they head to Minneapolis, Minnesota to play the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Barn. It's a tough place to play no doubt and Minnesota is trying to secure a spot in the tournament as well. The Golden Gophers are also trying to avenge a loss against Michigan from February 19th at Crisler Arena where they lost 74-62.

Michigan played one of it's best games on that night under must win conditions, the same conditions many bracketologists place under the Wolverines tomorrow afternoon. According to ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi Michigan is the second to last team into the tournament as of right now. That's right now, but if Michigan loses tomorrow, they will back on the outside looking in. That's a place where Michigan basketball fans are all too familiar with.


With a win tomorrow and a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament next Thursday they will be a near lock for the tournament. Who they would play in the first round of the tournament has yet to be determined. As of right now they would take on Northwestern, but there is a scenario where Michigan could get a bye in the first round but it's very unlikely.

So with all that said. Michigan controls it's own destiny, something they haven't been able to say too many times this late in the season. Looking back a few years, the old Michigan teams used to collapse in the month of February. By the time March came around they were already on the outside looking in to the tournament and they never did themselves any favors by exiting the Big Ten Tournament early.


Michigan can not afford to do that this year either. It didn't show up in the stat column, but in my opinion I feel Michigan played their best road game of the season this past weekend against Wisconsin. They nearly won at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin a place where head coach Bo Ryan is now 48-0 at against unranked Big Ten opponents during his career.


That game told me a lot, the effort, concentration, desire, and focus were all at a place where they needed to be at this point in the season. Only two things were missing, the experience of doing this before and the execution late in games. That comes with experience, the young Michigan team must learn fast from last weekend's game to beat Minnesota but I feel they will.

No one player makes a team. Although for tomorrow, the game will be won or lost as it lies in the hands of Manny Harris and Deshawn Sims. These two are the most talented players on the team. They are the scorers who must show poise and execute during the last five minutes in order to leave on the right side of the win column.


These two are trying to accomplish what many have tried but failed to do at Michigan in the recent past which is getting Michigan back to the NCAA Tournament. It's been 11 grueling years for most Michigan fans. Players such as Lavell Blanchard, Bernard Robinson Jr., Leon Jones, Chris Young, Daniel Horton, Dion Harris, Lester Abram, Courtney Sims and many more laid there heart on the floor over the years. They just couldn't get over the hump for whatever reason.


We must not forget those players, as the past is what leads us to the future. Those players efforts will be celebrated when Michigan makes the NCAA Tournament and it could very well happen this year.


If Michigan does not win tomorrow, their hopes are not over. They would then need to at least pick up two victories in the Big Ten Tournament. As it stands now, they would play Northwestern in the first round and Michigan St in the second. If they could find a way to pick up those two victories they would be dancing in my estimation. Although if they play a lesser opponent in the second round, they would need to win the third round game as well.

You have to take a wait and see approach into these games much like the rest of the nation teams vying for an NCAA Tournament bid.


One thing is for certain. When adversity strikes, stars are born, there are a lot of naysayers out there saying Michigan is NIT bound or going to choke again. Well that remains to be seen. For me a media member who grew up in the city of Ann Arbor. I will always stick behind the University of Michigan athletic programs under all circumstances. I will be cheering away tomorrow at noon in my apartment while watching possible Wolverine history being made on ESPN.


Listen to my sports talk radio show on Sunday night from 8-10 p.m. as we go over the results from tomorrow's game. Listen live at http://thewhale.org/