Bracketology 2020: North Carolina, Michigan headline this week’s losers
MICHIGAN
Is this an overreaction?
Sure!
But it’s hard to argue that the Wolverines didn’t hurt themselves during Week 6.
After taking the country by storm over the Thanksgiving break and jumping all the way into the Top 5 of the national polls, Juwan Howard’s first Michigan team is finally experiencing its first real adversity.
When Michigan lost to Louisville on December 3, it looked at the time like it was simply a statement win for the Cardinals. But the Wolverines were held to 43 points—and with Louisville looking lousy against Texas Tech, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate the performance from Michigan at the Yum! Center.
Still, even if you grant them leniency for Louisville, Michigan still has to answer for a pair of losses in the past seven days. On Wednesday, the Wolverines fell to 1-1 in Big Ten play when they traveled to Champaign to face Illinois. After dropping 103 points against Iowa just days earlier, Michigan was held to just 62 points in losing to the Illini, shooting 3-of-18 from downtown.
It was the first “bad” loss of Juwan Howard’s career in Ann Arbor. That term is relative, of course, since Brad Underwood’s squad looks like an NCAA Tournament team with their Kofi Cockburn, Ayo Dosunmu, and Trent Frazier leading the charge.
But it wasn’t the only loss of the week.
Back at home, Michigan fell to a very good Oregon team by just one point in overtime. Franz Wagner had a nice game, with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, but the Wolverines’ other stars struggled. Leading scorer Isaiah Livers managed 13 points, but Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske combined for just 12—less than half of their combined season average.
It’s not as if Michigan is in any danger of falling out of the bracket, but this week’s performance will certainly be a point of discussion down the line when the Selection Committee starts handing out #1 seeds. In a season like this, where there are a handful of really good teams that keep losing to each other, the slightest stumbles can quickly become inculpatory evidence.
Our last Bracketology Loser lost to the Wolverines earlier in the season, but it’s their most recent defeat that has landed them in hot water this week.