Hello NIT! After a compelling start to the season, including wins over then #4 UCLA and then #4 Duke, the Michigan basketball team has moved slowly towards an epic collapse. Think 2008 Denver Broncos or 2007 New York Mets.
Last night Michigan lost to Ohio State for the second time in 10 days. The stats were...I want to say ugly, but that is not descriptive enough. Grotesque? Repulsive? Vile?
- 18 first half points
- 21 turnovers, 11 assists
- 15-49 shooting, a shade over 30%
- Bench? 0-9 from the field, 6 turnovers
- Manny Harris had 10 turnovers
- Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims shot a combined 20 two-point shots, making 8...the rest of the team took THREE shots inside the arc, making zero
- Again, besides the big 2, Michigan shot 5-24
- Ohio State shot 57% for the game, defense anyone?
After the hot start, 13-3 overall and 3-1 in conference, Michigan has lost all the swagger we witnessed early in the season. Losing four of the last five games including the two to Ohio State and one at penn state. Michigan now stands at 14-7 overall and 4-5 in the conference. Now comes the difficult part of the schedule...
at #17 Purdue, home Penn State, at #2 UConn, home #9 Michigan State, at Northwestern, home #24 Minnesota, at Iowa, home #17 Purdue, at Wisconsin, at #24 Minnesota
How many wins do you see in there? two? maybe three? So let's assume the best and say they get four. Four of the last ten leaves Michigan at 18-13 overall with a conference record of 8-10. That's not likely to garner an NCAA tournament bid.
Michigan needs to rally and reach the 20 win plateau with a .500 or better conference record if they want to have a shot to end their NCAA tournament drought.
I'm gonna try to stay optimistic, but sheesh...Michigan went from a dark horse contender in the big ten to a team that may struggle to win two more games.
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