Michigan Basketball: 4 factors that shaped the season so far

Midway through the Big Ten campaign and Michigan basketball is not where it thought it would be after such a blazing hot start.

20 games in and Michigan basketball is12-8 after kicking off 2019 at 7-0 and being inside the top five in the country. Things were going so smoothly that people had all but forgotten about John Beilein. Juwan Howard was hitting on all cylinders on and off the court.  Analysts everywhere jumped on Michigan’s bandwagon as one of the best teams to go from unranked to ranked in the blink of an eye.

Then the proverbial flip switched the wrong way in December. The maize and blue couldn’t hit open shots, the defense fizzled to help protect the paint. It was the first real adversary that hit Coach Howard and his staff on the job. Michigan basketball dropped from the top five all the way to the bubble at best. Its been a rollercoaster of a ride to say the least since than.

February is upon us and that means the Wolverines have to prove to the doubters whether or not they want to make Howard’s first year a memorable one. The remainder of the schedule holds a wealth of opportunity to do just that. Three of the current top four schools in the conference are still on the docket, which leaves the rest of the road manageable if a few breaks can fall into their laps.