If Michigan basketball could just make the simple plays, it might be playing for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday.
However, the things that have dragged down the Wolverines in most of their losses this season came back to bite them at the worst time. Offensive rebounds and turnovers.
Auburn deserves credit. The Tigers shot the ball better in the second half, but they were always going to start making shots. That's why dribbling the ball off your foot, getting a five-second call, throwing it away twice for layups, dropping the ball after the catch multiple times, are the kinds of mistakes you just can't make.
Yet, Michigan made them repeatedly and that's why the Wolverines are going home.
Tre Donaldson had a four-possession run of turnovers, if you include a wayward 3-point attempt. Danny Wolf did the same, more than once, it seemed.
Eventually, all the errors caught up to Michigan basketball. The Wolverines led by nine at one point in the second half, but lost the lead in a flash after allowing a 20-2 run.
Again, Auburn made shots. Both teams struggled with turnovers, but Auburn made up for it on the offensive glass and with their shotmaking. They made twice as many 3-pointers.
The refs also didn't help with some weird calls and non-calls in the 20-2 stretch. Is it so much to ask that the same contact called on one end is whistled on another?
Regardless, that's the game. Michigan had its chances. But instead of stepping on the throat of the No. 1 overall seed, the Wolverines handed the ball to their opponent repeatedly, opening the door for a game-changing run they never recovered from.
The simple things doomed Michigan all year, and Auburn was just too good for U-M to overcome that many mistakes. It's disappointing because the Wolverines wasted what was a very winnable game.
Hell, they got blown out in a game they led by nine in the second half.
It was a great season. Michigan basketball will hang a banner, but the mind-boggling turnovers and the lack of defensive rebounds will forever stick in my mind.
It's hard not to think about what could have been.
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