NCAA Tournament 2019: 5 top seeds that won’t win the national championship
By Brian Rauf
Michigan Wolverines
The team that lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament title game – and in both of their regular season meetings – Michigan will not be making a run like they did in last year’s tournament.
In fact, they won’t even come close.
John Beilein has been perhaps the best NCAA Tournament coach over the past few seasons and it feels sacrilegious to think they’ll be a disappointment in the Big Dance this year, but that’s what they’ve shown over the past few months.
Michigan’s defense has been one of the best in the country and that isn’t necessarily a surprise. What has been a surprise, however, is the way their offense has stagnated and even regressed in some aspects.
Their offensive execution has been well below the level you’d expect from them as they often rely on one-on-one playmaking and drives to create offense. No one has stepped up to become that go-to guy they had last year in Moe Wagner, and the result has been the long offensive droughts they’ll go through.
It’s what sunk them in all six of their losses, but particularly in their three games against the Spartans as they blew second-half leads in all three contests.
Unless this group suddenly gets red hot from three and goes on a tear, they’re not going to make the Final Four, let alone win a championship.