Michigan Basketball: Wolverines season officially in crisis mode
By Seth Berry
How did this happen?
After the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas in November, the thought of this team potentially missing the NCAA tournament would have been asinine.
Any rational person probably realized Michigan was not quite that good. They did after all lose their top three scorers from last season and are breaking in a first-year head coach.
Water was bound to find its level. But to go from thrashing Gonzaga to losing to Penn State at home and to be floating just three games over .500 at the end of January? That did not seem possible. Yet, here we are.
It is easy to point towards the Livers injury and look at that as a turning point in the season. While that has a lot to do with Michigan’s tailspin, his injury isn’t the only reason for the Wolverines struggles.
All season long, Michigan has struggled on the defensive end of the floor, ranking at the bottom of the big ten in many defensive categories.
This isn’t a recipe for success for a team that doesn’t have the weapons on offense to put up 90 a game. Over the past two seasons, Michigan has been able to survive scoring droughts due to elite defense. That has not been the case this season as it seems like as soon as Michigan hits a drought, the games will start to get away from them.
The Louisville game right after the Battle 4 Atlantis was excusable. Right after three straight grueling games, on top of travel time, that was a quick turnaround and was a tough ask for anyone to come out with a win.
The first sign of concern actually may have come in what resulted in a Michigan win. On Dec. 6, the Wolverines defeated Iowa 103-91. While it was an exciting, high scoring game, Michigan allowed Iowa to do whatever they wanted, especially Luka Garza, in the paint.
Then on Dec. 14, Michigan loses a hard-fought overtime game against Oregon on their home floor in which they struggled to execute down the stretch, which has been an issue that has come about in games to follow that one.
Then, the Livers injury happens on Dec. 21 and Michigan’s full downward spiral had begun.
Couple that with the recent Simpson news and it is hard to wonder where this team is at mentally at this moment.