No Dancing

There will be no dancing for the Michigan Wolverines basketball team this year. A team that held so much promise early in the year as they took down both UCLA and Duke when the Bruins and Blue Devils were highly ranked, Michigan has gone through Big Ten league play with an inability to get it done on the road. They're just 2-5 in their opponents' buildings. Heading into their final four games, they looked as though they would need to win at least three of them to remain on the bubble and in consideration of a low seed in the tourney. But with yesterday's loss to Big Ten doormat Iowa, they have severely hurt their own cause. Their shooting from the floor was dreadfully inaccurate and their defense didn't manage to step up when they had to a protect a four point lead with a minute to play. The 7-0 run that the Hawkeyes went on to start the OT period was just another sign that the Wolverines, a surprisingly good team at the start of the year, are still just on the cusp of being a contender, but haven't taken the next step yet. Analysts say that John Beilein's teams need to be sharp shooters from the outside to contend because of the system he puts in place, and unfortunately, this year's Michigan team has proven too streaky to get the job done on a consistent basis. There's a lot of hope though that the current team will continue to improve and their success will help with recruitment as well.

I've got my fingers crossed that it won't be much longer before I finally see a Wolverines team in the madness that tips off the third weekend in March!