Michigan Basketball: Wolverines appear destined to be NIT bound

In a matchup that Michigan basketball had to win against Iowa at home, the Wolverines started slow and never recovered from the Hawkeye onslaught.

With fewer and fewer opportunities left to impress the tournament committee, Michigan basketball wasted one with a senior night loss to Iowa.

Keegan Murray got things cooking for the Hawkeyes early and often in this one. He had eight points and two made threes before the first media timeout of the contest.

Murray showed again why he is considered as a top NBA prospect for Iowa. He’s basically carried his teammates on his back in their recent five-game winning streak, which got going because of Michigan’s triumph in Iowa City last month. Iowa is now in the driver’s seat for a double-bye in next week’s Big Ten tournament.

Same old story for Michigan basketball

As far as our guys are concerned they had to play catch up all night long. They never were ahead and continued their erratic play coming off a big win. That’s been the story of their conference season and what could ultimately cost them a trip to the NCAA tournament. They’ve got one showdown left, then have to make some serious noise in Indy when they take the court next Thursday.

Eli Brooks didn’t sit at single minute, and nor should he, in what might be his final time that he gets to wear the Michigan basketball home jersey. If it is indeed his last time, then he left everything he had on the Crisler Center hardwood. His legacy will be praised for being the heart and soul of Michigan basketball and for being the winningest player in its storied history.

It was also presumably the final hurrah for Hunter Dickinson. He has been an instant game-changer since he arrived at Michigan. A perpetual double-double machine who improved his standing in the eyes of those who followed him the last two seasons here. Before he goes pro though, he and this group have some work left to do.

Michigan’s chances of earning a double-bye, which were a longshot to begin with, are now completely erased. They can do no better then a seven seed and no worse then a nine seed once Juwan Howard makes his return to the sidelines. They’ll likely play Indiana in the opening tilt on Thursday with a shot at advancing on to Wisconsin on Friday. How entertaining would that be?

Senior night will go down as a failure, just like the entire season was in a nutshell. Michigan had national championship aspirations from the jump and those got derailed by the third game of the campaign.

The only thing left to do is to make amends in the postseason or go home much earlier then anyone could have anticipated way back in November.