Unlike the past two seasons, Michigan basketball will play in the NCAA tournament this season. The Wolverines were projected as a five seed on Friday by ESPN's Joe Lunardi. Bracket Martix also has Michigan around a No. 4 seed but trending down.
While the past few games have been disappointing, this is still a great place to be for Michigan baskeball. The Wolverines are 14-5 in the Big Ten. They are 22-8 overall and have a team capable of winning a couple of games in the NCAA tournament.
Some Michigan basketball fans might have a hard time believing that right now. But it wasn't that long ago that the Wolverines were a completely different team. They have Sunday's game against Michigan State and the Big Ten tournament to turn things around.
Looking ahead of March Madness, here are the biggest strengths and weaknesses for Michigan basketball.
Strength: 2-point shooting
Michigan basketball has two 7-footers who can score the ball and take over games. Danny Wolf is shooting 58 percent on 2-point attempts. Vlad Goldin is shooting 66.4 on twos this season. His effective field goal percentage is 65.3 and leads the Big Ten.
The Wolverines have overwhelmed teams on 2-point attempts this season. They didn't against Maryland, which is one of the reasons they lost, but Michigan basketball, especially outside of the Big Ten, will have the ability to overwhelm teams with its pair of 7-footers.
Strength: Danny Wolf's playmaking
One of the issues for Michigan basketball is that Danny Wolf hasn't been playing as well as he was earlier in the season.
Wolf is expected to be a first-round pick and he flashes that ability. He just hasn't been consistent. Still, Wolf scored 20 points against Maryland and shot really well off the dribble.
That's a good sign moving forward. Teams are going to force Wolf to make more plays with the ball as a scorer and creator. Knocking down shots in ball-screen sets will be critical. Wolf is still a major threat for opposing teams and is the No. 1 thing atop of the Michigan scouting report.
Wolf is averaging just over 11 points per game in the last five. He'll need to play better in March Madness if Michigan basketball is going to advance. When he has it rolling, he's the best thing that the Wolverines have going for themselves.
Weakness: Guard play
You need great guard play to win in the NCAA tournament, which is concerning for Michigan basketball. Tre Donaldson looked like an All-Big Ten player earlier this season but has struggled recently.
Donaldson did knock down two 3-pointers against Maryland and had eight assists. That was promising. However, Roddy Gayle, Rubin Jones, and Nimari Burnett have all been struggling too.
Donaldson is still shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. Burnett, who drained the game-winner against Rutgers, is shooting 41 percent. Roddy Gayle is down to 19 percent. Jones is shooting just 25 percent.
Their defense is why they are on the floor, but the impact of their poor shooting is being felt by Goldin and Wolf. Defenses are focusing on them even more and if the guards don't find a way to be productive like they were earlier in the season, Michigan might be bounced in the first round.
Weakness: 3-point shooting
Michigan basketball has dropped to 169th in 3-point shooting and since the start of February, the Wolverines have been one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in college basketball.
Some of the percentages are still good for the season. The Wolverines have five shooters at 34 percent or better. One of them is Sam Walters who has missed quite a few games. It's not clear if he will return this season.
Will Tschetter has played for more minutes. Danny Wolf is shooting 34 percent. In the prior three games, before Maryland, Michigan basketball shot under 25 percent from three. The Wolverines shot 35 percent against Maryland, they just need to keep that up.
Weakness: turnovers
The biggest weakness all season has been turnovers. Michigan turned it over 16 times against Maryland and that was the difference in the game.
The Wolverines were down by two in the second half, then abruptly threw the ball away. Michigan is ranked outside the top 300 in turnovers. U-M is last in the Big Ten. As Dusty May said, they were able to overcome earlier this season when shots were falling.
Now that they aren't, the offense is struggling, and things need to turn around if Michigan is going to have success in March Madness.