'What If': Why Michigan Basketball Had A Great Chance To Make A Deep Run
There's been projections, predictions and prophecy as to what would've happened in this past season's conference tournaments and NCAA Tournament that never occured due to the coronavirus. But, as we know, the teams the 'experts' pick to win the Big Dance hardly ever do; it's called March Madness for a reason.
One thing we know for sure: The Michigan Wolverines had some of the most postseason experience out of any other team in the country — and certainly in their own conference — right there on the roster.
There were five players in college basketball last year that had previously been a starter in a national title game. U-M had two of those players in junior forward Isaiah Livers and senior point guard and captain Zavier Simpson, as well as others — junior guard Eli Brooks and senior center Jon Teske — that have played on such a stage.
No player on U-M's roster has been eliminated in the first weekend of an NCAA Tournament over the course of their careers. That same group of players (not counting the two freshmen) made it to the Big Ten Tournament title game each of the three previous seasons, and came away with two championships out of those appearances.
The experience was there, and for players like Simpson and Teske, the opportunity to continue that success and make one more run at a title was taken away by something out of their control completely.
The Wolverines had a rollercoaster of a season in year one under Juwan Howard. They came in unranked before vaulting up the polls to No. 4 in the nation after knocking off Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Then, a rough January turned into a stellar February.
In a season that will be remembered for 'what if' scenarios, U-M had plenty more than just not having a postseason. Freshman guard Franz Wagner's wrist injury held him out of the end of preseason practices and the first four games of the season, and impacted his shooting all year long. Livers missed 10 games due to multiple injuries, and wasn't 100 percent even when he did return. The flu bug hit several others at different points.
But even still, heading into the postseason, there was a quiet confidence among the team. They knew they had been there before, they knew they had won there before and they knew they could do it (and then some) again.
“All my heart, we would have won the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. That’s truly my belief,” Livers said this week in an interview with Jack Doles from WOODTV8. “I can’t talk for everyone on my team … I was actually starting to feel 100 percent back to normal, jump, move, run, cut like was early in the season. Just getting back to the beginning of the season and how I was playing.
“It really sucks that I couldn’t go out and just perform.”
Former U-M star and current radio analyst Terry Mills knows quite a bit about postseason success, having helped the maize and blue to the 1989 national championship. Put him firmly in the camp as a believer in what the 2019-20 Wolverines could've done.
"You know, I really liked Michigan’s chances, and did all year long," Mills said in an interview with The Wolverine. "I’ll take Michigan against any team on a neutral court.
"You get to Indianapolis, and I really felt they had an opportunity to win the Big Ten Tournament because of how well they play against other teams — no matter who they are, whether you’re a ranked team or an unranked team — on a neutral court."
It all started with Simpson, Mills said, with his supporting cast — a good one — playing a key role as well.
"They were battle-tested, that’s for sure," Mills said. "And, I liked their chances. Whenever you get in that tournament play, they talk about how you gotta have good guard play. What better play would you want than what you could’ve gotten out of Zavier Simpson, who was taking his game to the next level, in my opinion, not only scoring but passing the basketball.
"Teske’s always a force. I just loved their chances and the makeup of their team going into the tournament, because of that experience that they had. They got Isaiah Livers, who was coming back, getting healthy.
"They really had some players that had that experience that could’ve carried them into the second or third week of the tournament."
It's a tough pill to swallow, to say the least, that a team what that experience and championship pedigree didn't get to take one final shot. Simpson and Teske leave the program as the winningest players to ever don the maize and blue. They should've — but didn't — get the chance to widen that margin and hang a couple more banners in the process.
Every team in the country has their own 'what if' from 2019-20, and will forever. But, U-M's 'what if' is just a bit more realistic than most.
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