“How did Michigan Basketball get this bad?” Well, Just a couple years ago, Michigan was the most successful in the Big Ten. Now, Michigan is the 14th seed, right under the Ohio State Buckeyes (16-12). Without Zavier Simpson, Michigan has struggled, They are 8-20 right now. On February 25th, Purdue beat Michigan 84-76 which was Michigan’s 9th home loss. Michigan is the only team in the Big Ten with a losing record! They have the worst overall record in the conference. From last season, the Wolverines have lost one All-American center and two top-15 NBA Draft picks.

The past few years Michigan’s biggest problem in basketball is not being able to win close games. Just recently they lost in double overtime to the Florida Gators 101-106.  Fan’s are starting to mark U of M as “Predictable” because of the amount of times their offense falls down in close games. From the 20 losses Michigan has, the things that hurt them the most are the amount of layups they give up and offensive rebounds other teams have on them. 

Regardless of Michigan’s losses this season, Juwan Howard, Michigan’s coach of five years, is planning on returning to coach next year. Howard states,”I never ran or quit in my life.” Howard had open heart surgery on September 15th and came back to coaching full time two months later.There was talk about him quitting ater his surgery but he continued to get healthier due to rehab. Howard has two years left on his contract but it’s up to the decision makers at U of M to say if they still want him to coach after this year.  

Michigan has a game against the Rutgers (14-13) February 29th at 7:30, Ohio State (16-12) March 3rd at 3:00, and Nebraska (20-8) March 10th at 11 a.m. Hopefully, Michigan pulls through with these three games, so they could possibly move their placement up in the conference. And if the games are close, Hopefully they learn to win those games that they catch themselves falling behind in.