On Thursday, as Michigan missed its first 16 jumpers and had no answer for Texas Tech’s top-ranked defense, a strange sensation took hold: a Sweet 16 season that tasted slightly sour.
Despite lower preseason expectations, the Wolverines quickly established that they were a championship contender. They blew the doors off of Villanova on the road and North Carolina and Purdue at home by Dec. 1, 2018 and were firmly in the top seven of KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin rankings for the remainder of the year. At that point, Michigan’s eyes were completely fixated on earning a Big Ten championship and making a run to the Final Four.
Michigan’s season, though, ended without either, hence the reason for this sour sensation, and oddly, this sensation is a testament to the program John Beilein has built at Michigan.