No question, Michigan basketball team deserves a spot in NCAA tournament
The Michigan basketball team celebrated an invitation to the NCAA tournament with fans in March 2009. On Sunday, they'll open the doors of Crisler Arena and hope to do so again.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Two years ago, freshman Stu Douglass didn’t give the NCAA tournament a second thought. On Selection Sunday, he assumed the Michigan basketball team was a lock.
Then the NCAA made him sweat.
“It came down to the last four teams picked,” Douglass said. “I thought in my mind there was no way we weren’t getting in. I was maybe overconfident.”
As a junior, he knows better this time.
Minutes after falling to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament, 68-61, the only confidence Douglass expressed was in his decision to not make the same mistake again.
Entering Selection Sunday, he says he has no idea whether the Wolverines have done enough.
OHIO STATE 68, MICHIGAN 61
The Wolverines have done enough. They finished the season with 20 wins. Their strength of schedule ranks 21st in the country. They had won nine of 12 until Saturday’s loss.
Close may not count on the scoreboard, but it should count in the minds of the NCAA committee members.
In three losses to Ohio State, the Wolverines lost by single digits every time. Lost in overtime to No. 3 Kansas. Lost to No. 9 Syracuse by three. They only have one truly bad loss -- at Indiana in mid-January.
With the tournament field expanding to 68 teams this year and a weak bubble crowd, the Wolverines merit inclusion. “It’s like a job interview,” said guard Darius Morris, who scored a team-high 16 points Saturday. “You feel confident and they’ll say they’ll give you a call. But you don’t know for sure until they call.”
Like they did two years ago, Michigan will await that call in a public setting. Officials will open the doors at Crisler Arena at 5 p.m. and CBS cameras will film the reaction.
For the fourth-seeded Wolverines, the ostensible clincher came Friday, when they ran Illinois into the ground, outscoring the Illini 18-2 on fast break points and outlasting them in the second half.
Although Ohio State reversed that Saturday, beating the Wolverines on the break 11-3, Michigan made a late pitch to the NCAA committee.
Trailing by 18 points with no apparent reason to keep playing with 4:26 remaining, the Wolverines went on a 16-2 run that pulled them within four points with 23 seconds remaining.
The crowd that had headed for the exits suddenly paused in the aisles at Conseco Fieldhouse.
“We have a resilience factor, and we’ve been having that ever since Europe,” Tim Hardaway Jr. said, referencing the team’s preseason trip overseas.
There’s a fight to this team. That hasn’t always been the case, but Michigan showed it again Saturday, entangling themselves in a few scraps with the Buckeyes after the whistle had blown.
Much as Michigan coach John Beilein might wince at the thought, the scuffles enlivened the Wolverines when they needed a spark.
“When you get a lot of young men who wear their emotions on their sleeve, we’re out there trying to not get punked around and standing up for ourselves,” Morris said.
“You’re showing the other team you’re not going to back down.” That resonated with the Buckeyes. Even though they have beaten Michigan three times this season, they have noticed the rising confidence the Wolverines possess.
Ohio State guard Jon Diebler marveled at the difference between the opponent he remembered facing in Ann Arbor on Jan. 12 and the one he faced Saturday in Indianapolis.
“They’re just playing with a tremendous amount of confidence,” he said afterward. “Darius, he’s only a sophomore, but he doesn’t play like it.”
So do the Buckeyes, who have beaten Michigan three times, won 30 games this season and captured their fifth Big Ten title think that their nemesis to the north deserves to be in the tournament?
“Absolutely, I definitely think so,” Diebler said. “They finished fourth. In this conference? I think definitely.”
Respect from Ohio State.
On Sunday, it should follow from the NCAA.
Pete Bigelow covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2551, via email at petebigelow@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @PeterCBigelow.
Comments
tater
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 10:09 p.m.
Michigan should be a lock. @Theo212: MSU is probably going to get a "courtesy berth," based on past years and coaching politics. But I can't see them winning more than one game. It's like every time MSU beats anyone good this year, it takes so much energy out of them that they have nothing in the tank for the next opponent.
rensational
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 3:09 p.m.
The Big Ten team most in danger of not making the Tourney is Penn State, and they are even predicted to get in no matter what they do against Ohio State by analysts. All of the analysts believe Michigan is definitely in, usually said to be an 11-seed, and how could you take Michigan State and/or PSU but not take Michigan? Michigan swept both of those teams. From the reading I've been doing, it looks like what MSU and PSU have done in the Big Ten Tourney has hurt teams from other conferences like the garbage ACC and SEC teams that were on the bubble. Nobody's going to take bubble teams like Georgia, Alabama, Boston College, etc, from weaker conferences that don't have the nice wins or near misses Michigan, MSU and PSU have--like Wisconsin, Purdue, Ohio State, Kansas, etc--over Michigan, MSU and PSU. We're probably getting 7 teams in.
XTR
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 11:49 a.m.
It all depends on how many teams the NCAA com gets from the B10. Four, Five or even Seven? In that regard, Michigan finished fourth in conference, therefore is a lock for the tourney. Actually if the NCAA com got Seven teams, then Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin are the top three, the last four selected would be Michigan, Illinois, Mich State and even Penn State would be in the tournament. Now on to think how to win at least the first game!
Engineer
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 3:49 a.m.
In or not I hope Mr. Brandon makes it clear to Beilien that losing to the school down south three times does NOT a good season make. Hoke seems to get it but the West Virginia boys seem to not understand it. I can not stand sparty and cry baby Izzo but give them credit Purdue beat them twice by double digits and they came out and punched them in the mouth and payed them back. Beilien after three tries still can not figure out how to beat Matta. Not a good situation. We need a couple top notch one or two year players to compliment this team. It was an embarassment the way a freshman in Sulenger took it to us today. Hard to play the young card hey!
XTR
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 2:03 a.m.
No question UM is in the tourney. The problem there is winning at least one game as it will be such a shame to qualify and then get out at one game only.
Jackson
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : 1:17 a.m.
I have a feeling we wont get the invite. Unfortunately Illinois was not as good a win as we expected, we needed to beat OSU to push us over the edge. Sparty moved in, as does Penn State, which probably leaves us on the sidelines...again. Maybe a play in game if we are lucky
Craig Lounsbury
Sun, Mar 13, 2011 : midnight
Under the system as is they deserve an invite. If I ran the world we would return to a 48 team tournament.
Theo212
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 11:50 p.m.
Nice job, Pete. I think the committee will now have to decide whom to leave out: illinois or izzo. msu has stunk the place up a little bit more than illinois as this season has ended. So let's hope they are left holding their (potluck) lunch. And it was sickening seeing Sullinger get all those calls today. With all the threats that Cicero is getting for outing tressel, perhaps the refs were looking over their shoulders. osu truly is a disgrace and an affront to common decency. It's a shame they're allowed to remain in our conference.
Macabre Sunset
Sat, Mar 12, 2011 : 11:43 p.m.
The bubble hasn't been terribly kind today, but I think they're in with an 11-seed and won't have to be in the play-in round. Their record against other bubble teams is excellent. Looks like seven Big Ten teams this year. I'm sure other schools around the country weren't too happy about how the Big Ten bubble teams fared in the conference tournament.