Jordan Morgan and members of the Michigan basketball team had an inkling they were in the NCAA tournament when athletic department officials directed the student section to start cheering moments before their game was announced on CBS.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The Michigan marketing crew and those with the CBS selection show started to wave their arms, valiantly trying to incite four sections of fans sitting behind the Michigan basketball team in Crisler Arena to stand and cheer.

Nothing had been announced, so Michigan juniors Stu Douglass and Zack Novak — the two Wolverines who have played in the NCAA tournament before — thought this was odd.

It also meant they knew what was coming next.

Michigan’s name popped up on the giant screen as a No. 8 seed. The Wolverines will face No. 9 Tennessee in the second round of the West Regional of the NCAA tournament in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday. Game time is 12:40 p.m. and available on truTV.

“I was hoping maybe some Tucson,” Douglass said. “It kind of helped it build up. (Michigan assistant marketing director Katy Jackson) was telling everybody to make noise, so you were questioning whether you were going to be in there or not.

“It felt like it, and then when our name was announced, it felt like she knew already.”

This moment had been months in the making for Michigan, back when the Wolverines started practicing for their four-game European trip in August. It continued through to the beginning of the season, when Douglass said he’d be disappointed if Michigan didn’t make the NCAA tournament this year.

Never mind, of course, that Michigan had lost a chunk of its scoring and rotation from an underachieving 15-17 team a season ago. Most outside of the Michigan locker room — from prognosticators to other coaches to even some families of players — didn’t believe the Wolverines could get there.

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“People thought we were crazy, even my family,” Novak said. “My mom just reminded me today that I told her we were going to get in back in August, and she told me she thought I was nuts.

“I’ve got an old coach telling me, ‘Well, if you play well, you’ll end up in the NIT.’ I told him that’s not what we want to do, we want to go to the NCAA.”

After winning nine of its final 13 games to close out the season, including victories over fellow NCAA tournament teams Michigan State (twice), Penn State and Illinois, Michigan found itself a little bit more comfortable than it was two seasons ago, when the Wolverines made the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade.

Now, Michigan is there for the second time in three seasons under fourth-year Wolverines coach John Beilein.

This, though, has always been the goal for Beilein. At the end of every practice he’s coached since he started leading teams at LeMoyne College during the 1983-84 season, he has his team say NCAA.

It keeps the goal fresh, the potential dream alive. And for this Michigan team, one with only two rotation players that have even been to the NCAA tournament before, it is exceeding the expectations of a lot of people.

“It came a point where I felt like I was back on my high school team, that you look around and people were doubting a lot of players,” Morris said. “You are just saying, after a couple of practices with the team you could tell this team has what it takes.

“After that trip to Europe and the first couple of practices, it felt like our attitude was too right and we deserved it, to be in the tournament.”

Most of Michigan’s players didn’t know much about Tennessee, although Morris remembered seeing some film of the Volunteers when they prepared for Oakland back in December. The two teams haven’t played since the 1984-85 season, when Michigan beat Tennessee, 87-52.

Some, including Novak, were surprised at the seeding Michigan received considering most mock brackets had the Wolverines anywhere from a No. 9 to No. 12 seed, not the No. 8 seed Michigan received to face the Vols (19-14).

While Michigan expressed some nerves about whether or not it would make the 22nd NCAA tournament appearance in school history — Morris said doubts left his mind after the first bracket was shown without Michigan on CBS — they knew they were probably in.

All they had to do was look around and then hear the cheers.

“I felt like it was a good sign that CBS did all this so they must have knew something we didn’t,” Morris said. “I felt that was a good sign, that they wouldn’t do us like that and have us hanging out here to dry.

“It’s a good feeling.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein