Michigan Basketball: Despite doubters, championship signs were there

The Michigan basketball team took home their first Big Ten championship since 2014 when they beat hated rival Michigan State on Thursday. It was a surprising run by the Wolverines through the toughest conference in college basketball.

Most experts were not very high on the Wolverines this year and they were even picked to finish ninth in the conference at the beginning of the year.

There were a lot of questions for the Wolverines as they were losing their point guard in Zavier Simpson and the underrated big man in Jon Teske.

There were even questions about how good of a coach Juwan Howard was. Could he do the little things to get this team to the top and was he more than just a very good recruiter?

All of these were valid questions, but if you really paid attention to the Michigan basketball team you could see that the signs of a run were there you just had to look.

A lot was made of the fact that the Wolverines finished in ninth place in the Big Ten last year. It was a disappointment after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis early and climbing to number four in the polls. Were the Wolverines that good? No, they weren’t the fourth-best team in the country but they also weren’t as bad as a ninth-place finish might look like.

Michigan basketball was always better than it looked, even last year

First, they finished just one game behind four teams in front of them. One more win and they would have been tied for fifth.

Second, of their 10 conference losses, seven of them were by single digits. They were not getting blown out of their conference games and could hang with just about anyone in the Big Ten.

Then came talks of no way the Wolverines could replace Simpson’s production.

Look, Simpson was a great point guard for Michigan and I hated to see him go, but he wasn’t a scorer. He had his times, but he was very consistent. Michigan just needed to replace that calming presence leading the offense and Mike Smith was the perfect person to do that.

Questions about him were if he could score in the Big Ten? Well first he can, but second, the Wolverines didn’t need him to.

They just needed him to be a very good point guard and that is what he is. There are always unknowns about transfers, but they didn’t need Smith to be all-world, just a good point guard. That translates a lot easier than trying to come in and be a scorer.

Another key was when Isaiah Livers decided to return to Michigan after flirting with the NBA draft. Livers isn’t a household name, but the way Michigan plays with him on the court is completely different.

When he was fully healthy last year the Wolverines tore through the Battle 4 Atlantis including an 18 point win against Gonzaga that wasn’t even that close. Who knows what would have happened had he not hurt his leg shortly after that game. With Livers in the lineup, they are a lot better.

Finally, if you paid attention you saw what kind of culture Howard was creating in Ann Arbor. The players love playing for him and play hard for him. They know when to be serious and when they can let loose as they did after winning the tournament in the Bahamas.

Questions on how the new guys would fit were valid, but Howard has done a tremendous job in getting everyone to buy-in. They have fun playing and it shows. It is easier to play when you are loose and pulling for one another.

It is easy to see why people on the outside had questions, but for us Wolverines fans we saw what was possible.

A Big Ten Championship might not have been the ceiling we were thinking but the signs were there. You just had to look.