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Michigan basketball misses first NCAA Tournament since 2015

The Michigan basketball team has officially missed the 2023 NCAA Tournament. It's been a brutal season for a team that, on paper, should not have come anywhere close to missing the big dance.

What's on paper isn't what the NCAA Tournament selection committee looks at. Instead, they look at results, and Michigan didn't formulate much to look at in that category. A 17-15 season culminates in an omission from March Madness.

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It's the first time that the Wolverines will not participate in the tournament since 2015, when John Beilein's team finished at just 16-16.

Juwan Howard and the Wolverines will now turn their attention to the National Invitation Tournament, in which they will likely get an invite to participate. Many NIT bracketologies have Michigan as a projected No. 2 seed in the 32-team field.

Michigan would have to accept an invite to the tournament, and there as been skepticism as to whether they would want to continue to play. Howard hinted that the team would lean toward accepting an invite, if it is given one.

"They want to continue to keep playing," Howard said, after Thursday's 62-50 loss to Rutgers. "I want to see them playing, and I want to be out there coaching them in the postseason. We’ll go back home, we’ll talk about what’s the plan for the future and we’ll go from there."

Junior center Hunter Dickinson briefly gave his thoughts, too.

"We talked about it in the locker room that we’ll wait until we get back to talk about it as a group.” Dickinson said.

The NIT selection show is set to air at 10 p.m. on ESPNU on Sunday night.

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