Back in 2014-15, the Michigan basketball team — just two years removed from a national championship appearance — went 16-16 and boasted separate losing streaks of four and five games throughout the course of the four-month season.
Michigan's 2014-15 season ended on March 13 with a Big Ten Tournament loss to No. 1 seed Wisconsin. The Wolverines were passed over as the National Invitation Tournament committee looked for its 32-team field.
Since, Michigan has yet to play in the NIT, not because it failed to be invited, but because it's qualified for the NCAA Tournament every year since 2015.
Not only has it consistently qualified for the NCAA Tournament, but it's had immense success in March year after year.
After missing the 2015 tournament, Michigan's 2016 season ended in a round-of-32 loss to Notre Dame — a vast improvement over the span of just one season.
In 2017, Michigan's well-known streak of five consecutive Sweet 16 appearances began. The streak included a national championship appearance in 2018, as well as an Elite Eight appearance in 2021.
In 2022, U-M's streak of then-four consecutive Sweet 16 appearances was on the ropes, but the Wolverines snuck their way in as a No. 11 seed, and they made yet another run to the regional semifinal.
This season, though, Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes appear to be in even more danger than last season's. U-M enters this week's Big Ten Tournament with a 17-14 overall record, and according to most Bracketologists, it currently sits on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
However, despite all of the bubble talk surrounding the program, head coach Juwan Howard hasn't "even thought about the NCAA Tournament."
"All we're focusing on is the Big Ten Tournament right now," Howard said on Tuesday morning.
"Focus on one game. The message will be Rutgers. All the focus is going to be on Rutgers."
That's not a bad mindset for Howard and Co. to have, considering the season is on extreme life support at the moment. Should Michigan fall to Rutgers, its meaningful season will end on March 9, and it will miss out on its first NCAA Tournament since the aforementioned, brutal 2014-15 season.
Should it beat Rutgers, Michigan will have a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal bout with No. 1 seed Purdue on Friday at noon at the United Center in Chicago. The NCAA Tournament would certainly become more of a real possibility with a win over the Boilermakers, but Howard's focus remains solely on the Big Ten Tournament.
The Wolverines and Scarlet Knights will open up Thursday's slate of games at noon ET, and the game will be aired on Big Ten Network.
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