Michigan State sweep fuels Wolverines with tournament approaching
CHICAGO
—
Twenty
minutes after Michigan looked
on as confetti cannons burst
and the United Center lit up in
green and white, celebrating
Michigan State as the Big Ten
Tournament champions, the
Wolverines were ushered to
their selection show watch
party.
Suddenly,
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball
team
had
to switch gears to the NCAA
Tournament.
Cameras
were
trained on the Wolverines,
ready to catch their reaction
as their draw — a No. 2 seed
playing Montana in Des Moines
— was announced.
The announcement itself was
anti-climactic. Michigan knew
it would be in the tournament
and though the Wolverines
stood and clapped while they
were announced, they were
devoid of the same energy as
teams with undetermined fates
— and teams that hadn’t just
been dealt a crushing loss.
Back in the locker room
afterwards, the mixed emotions
collided.
Some
players
were
sullen,
refusing to even
face
reporters.
The ones that did
simultaneously
faced
questions
about what had
gone
wrong
in
Michigan’s third
loss to its most
bitter rival and
questions looking
ahead to March Madness.
But the answers to those two
questions are connected.
“Here we are on Sunday and
we’re down,” said Michigan
coach John Beilein. “We’re on
to the NCAA Tournament and
now we’ll see what we can do
there and learn from what we
did today.”
Before blowing their second
title opportunity in two weeks,
the
Wolverines
blew
away
both Iowa and
Minnesota
in
earlier rounds
of the Big Ten
Tournament.
Neither
of
those
teams
is great — but
both
made
the
NCAA
Tournament as
No. 10 seeds,
and
Michigan
hadn’t beaten a tournament-
caliber team so decisively since
January.
Ask the players, and they’ll
tell you that the fact that those
wins came so soon after the loss
at the Breslin Center on Mar. 9 —
which compeleted the regular-
season sweep for the Spartans
— wasn’t a coincidence.
“The
loss
at
Michigan
State kinda brought a lot of us
together and kinda evaluate
ourselves,”
said
sophomore
forward
Isaiah
Livers
on
Saturday
after
the
semifinal
win. “Look in the
mirror, are you
doing what’s right
for us to win?
What’s
going
on? Why are we
coming up short
against our rivals?
“It was just, some people just
self-reflected, some had a little
meeting. It was just small stuff
like that and I could see from
starter all the way to walk-on,
just a difference in the practices
last week. It felt a lot more
competitive and focused.”
The title game made clear
that those issues aren’t totally
resolved. But there were some
improvements,
tweaks
that
came
out
against
lesser
competition.
And
perhaps
the
road
to
another March
run is taking
those
tweaks
a step further
—
something
the Wolverines
have
no
shortage
of
motivation to do.
“I think every loss has been
a rallying point for us,” Beilein
said. “That we learn from every
loss and we’ll learn from this
one. … We’d like to avoid losing
to get better, but the fact of life
is it’s gonna happen.”
Michigan likely won’t soon
forget the way it felt in the locker
room. Even amid the joy of a
high NCAA Tournament seed
and the fun of March Madness,
the pain of the Spartan sweep
will still be there, fuel for a
team that still very much has
something to prove.
Of course, it’s a tough task
to fix everything so quickly.
The
Wolverines
play
again
Thursday, and there’s only so
much prep that can go into such
a short turnaround. Beilein
himself couldn’t offer up any
promises Sunday, but when
asked if it was really possible to
produce an uptick in efficiency
in a mere matter of days, Beilein
did offer a glimmer of hope.
“We have before.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein wants the Wolverines to learn from their Big Ten Tournament final loss to Michigan State ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
We’ll see what
we can do (at
the NCAA
Tournament).
Look in the
mirror, are you
doing what’s
right?
Michigan draws Kansas State in
first round of NCAA Tournament
The Wolverines are officially
going dancing.
Nine days after the Michigan
women’s basketball team bowed
out of the Big Ten Tournament
with
a
semifinal
loss
to
Maryland,
the
Wolverines
secured
their
second-
consecutive NCAA Tournament
berth.
“You never want to take for
granted the opportunity to play
in the NCAA Tournament,” said
Michigan coach Kim Barnes
Arico. “It’s always a special day.
It’s like Christmas in March. It’s
a great honor to be selected. It’s
great for our seniors but really
for our younger kids to have this
experience.”
As the No. 8 seed in the
Albany Region, Michigan will
face Kansas State in the Round
of 64. The two teams will
meet on Friday in Louisville,
Kentucky.
The
Wildcats’
season
followed a similar trajectory
as the Wolverines’. Not only
do
both
squads
enter
the
tournament with a 21-11 record
and finished fourth in their
respective
conferences,
but
Michigan and Kansas State
both went on late-season runs
to
cement
their
postseason
resumés. The Wolverines won
eight of their last nine to finish
out the regular season, while the
Wildcats ended on a five-game
win streak — punctuated by a
season sweep of powerhouse
Texas.
“They had some great wins
through the course of the year
and had a really strong finish,”
Barnes Arico said. “I don’t know
when the committee was going
through that if they thought,
‘These are two teams that
finished strong, it would be a
great first round matchup,’ but
they seem very similar to us.”
Receiving an at-large bid
was not a surprising outcome
for Michigan, but the team was
blindsided by ESPN prematurely
displaying the bracket three
hours ahead of schedule.
“Right when practice ended
we talked at the circle,” Barnes
Arico said. “I said ‘There’s
been a leak but there are so
few surprises in your life, so if
you guys can wait it will be fun
to hold out.’ That being said,
obviously everyone went to
their phone, so by the time we
got to our little party, everybody
already knew.”
If Michigan gets past Kansas
State, it will likely face No. 1
seed Louisville. At 29-3 overall,
the ACC runners-up are one
of the tournament favorites.
Adding the Cardinals’ home-
court advantage to the equation
means the Wolverines would be
playing the role of underdog in
that matchup. The teams’ most
recent meeting — in November
2017 — ended with a 25-point
win for Louisville.
Before it can think about a
potential Sweet Sixteen run
though, the Wolverines must
focus on the game at hand.
Michigan has played its best
basketball of the season as
of late, but with almost two
full weeks between the Big
Ten Tournament and Friday’s
game, the team might struggle
to
continue
their
recent
momentum.
Nevertheless, the Wolverines
seem ready for the challenge.
“Our kids really have a belief
that they can play with anyone,”
Barnes
Arico
said.
“When
you’re going into the NCAA
Tournament, you kinda have to
have that belief in yourself and
your teammates. We’re feeling
pretty confident right now.”
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico will take her team to Louisville to play Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament.
8 — Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com