LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer
A
t 6:13 p.m. on Sunday
night,
the
Michigan
men’s basketball team
could
finally
breathe.
After
weeks of speculation and missed
opportunities to punch their own
ticket, the Wolverines made it out of
the bubble and into the bracket.
“I definitely was nervous, I’m not
gonna lie,” graduate guard DeVante’
Jones said. “I feel like we let a lot of
games slip, so I didn’t know how
the people that were actually
making the brackets, I didn’t
know how they would perceive
us.”
With an 11 seed, Michigan coach
Juwan Howard and his team have
narrowly avoided the embarrassment
of being the first Michigan team
since 2015 to not make the NCAA
Tournament. But, this sense of relief
comes with a caveat: This story has
already been written.
Yes, the Wolverines will play
No. 6-seed Colorado State on
Thursday. They might
face No. 3-seed Tennessee or No.
14-seed Longwood in the second
round. But — pending an act of God
— this team’s legacy won’t be what
happens in March. In all likelihood,
its most defining moments are already
behind it.
Thirty years down the line,
Michigan fans might remember
this as the year the Wolverines were
a preseason top 10 team and then
started the season 7-7. The year they
could barely squeak out wins against
unranked opponents like Tarleton
State and Buffalo. Or as the year
Howard socked some guy in the head.
The ones with better memories
might recall Michigan blowing a
17-point lead against Indiana to
send them home from the Big Ten
Tournament in just the second round.
Personally, I know I’ll remember
when sophomore center Hunter
Dickinson had to sit out with a tummy
ache.
Of
course,
there’s
the
slim
possibility that the Wolverines will
turn it all around in the 11th hour, go
all the way and become the Cinderella
story of the decade. If that happens,
every loss and poor performance will
be cast in a new light. This team won’t
be looked at as one that failed to meet
expectations, never able to capitalize
on the talent that — on paper — should
have led them to the Final Four.
Instead, it’ll be a team that bided its
time, finding its groove when it
Michigan escapes
bubble, but season-long
questions still remain
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
BYE, BYE
BUBBLE
needed to the most.
But that’s just the trope of a cheesy
movie. As others have pointed out,
the time for a cinematic, zero-to-hero
plot line is long behind us. Coaches
and players alike have been saying
that they’ll use their losses to learn
and grow for months, yet the same
mistakes pop up week after week.
Still, when asked what makes the
team feels confident that they can go
on a run in the Tournament, Jones
repeated a similar refrain:
“This is the opportunity we
always talk about, especially after
the loss to Indiana,” he said. “… After
that, we’ve been saying that all we
need is a chance. All we need in an
opportunity.”
It’s hard to make the argument
that the Wolverines have lacked
opportunities thus far. Instead, it’s
much easier to find examples of when
they’ve squandered them. There have
been instances where it’s looked like
Michigan is finally starting to right
the ship, but then, after a one or two
game stretch, its flaws come racing
back.
“It’s a new season now, this is the
postseason,” Howard said.
Maybe Howard is right and this is
a new season, an entirely new team
from the one that got trounced by
Indiana on Thursday. Or — more likely
— we’re starting a new chapter in the
same story. Maybe the inconsistencies
that have plagued the Wolverines will
still be there on Thursday, and this
year will end in the same way it began:
With dashed hopes and unmet
expectations.
Tess Crowley, Julia Schachinger, Dominick Sokotoff/Daily
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