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No one in Ann Arbor would have thought this to be the case back in November, when Michigan took down Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga in consecutive days to win the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
But, the month of December was unkind to the Wolverines, handing them their first loss and the first injury to starting forward Isaiah Livers. If December was unkind, January was flat-out mean to the maize and blue, as Michigan went just 2-5 that month, losing four-straight somewhat inexplicably.
Thus, Michigan is nowhere near the lock it could have been to get into the NCAA Tournament next month, with a 13-8 overall record, and 4-6 Big Ten record, 11th in the conference.
Thus, the way that ESPN sees it, the Wolverines are the top team in conference with ‘work to do’ to make the tournament in Juwan Howard’s first year.
Thank you, Michigan, for demonstrating how the seemingly straightforward “work to do” label can, in fact, contain several different meanings. The Wolverines would be in the tournament if the selection were held today, for example, and it’s possible they would even receive a seed in the (high) single digits. Still, Juwan Howard and his men have work to do. Michigan is 13-8 overall and 4-6 in conference play in a league that can hand teams losses at every turn. The 18-point neutral-floor win over Gonzaga will always look magnificent on the profile, but a crucial two-game homestand against Ohio State and Michigan State now looms for the Wolverines.
It should be noted, that in the full conference-by-conference breakdown, the Big Ten is the only one with 12 teams that are either likely in or has just a little work to do, according to the worldwide leader. The next closest is the SEC, which has 7 teams — three likely in and four on the bubble — thus demonstrating just how deep, as well as how crucial, the final 10 games of the regular season are for the Wolverines.
That starts Tuesday, with Michigan hosting rival Ohio State for a 7PM EST tip-off before Saturday’s noon EST home contest against another rival in Michigan State.