Michigan Basketball: 3 questions facing the Wolverines in the Big Dance
By Bryan Mauro
Michigan basketball is riding a hot streak heading into the NCAA Tournament. What questions face the Wolverines as they embark on a potential run?
Every team wants to be playing their best basketball as they enter the NCAA tournament. Since John Beilein has been the coach of the Wolverines, they have made a living on playing really well in March. The 2018 season appears to be no different as the Wolverines received the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament after winning the Big Ten tournament several days ago.
The Wolverines are loaded with talent, and they always seem to gel at the right time. In Ann Arbor, many expected this to be a rebuilding year by their standards as they lost super seniors Zak Irvin and Derek Walton to graduation and lost a great shooter in big man DJ Wilson to the NBA Draft.
What Michigan did return was a slew of experienced players who knew how to win and understood John Beilein’s system. Some of the returning players were also some of the top players in the league as well. Moritz Wagner, Duncan Robinson, and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman were the returning players who have helped Michigan rise to the top of the Big Ten over the years.
Michigan started the season slow, with early losses to LSU in Maui before taking an early beating at the hands of Nebraska. As a result of that game against Nebraska, Michigan went back to the drawing board and was able to make the needed adjustments on offense as well as defense to get themselves back to the top of the Big Ten.
The Wolverines ran the table at the Big Ten Tournament. In the first game against Iowa, Michigan had a hard time hitting shots and won late in overtime. In the rematch against Nebraska, the Wolverines were able to exact revenge and wiped the floor with Nebraska before beating Michigan State and Purdue handily.
Michigan has some questions to answer once they start play. Can the Wolverines make it out of their bracket? The following items are going to be huge factors to how far Michigan can go in the tournament.