The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Northwestern (two meetings), Rut- gers (two), Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois. "Get back to me when Michigan wins some of those games, and I'll have a better feel for their chances, but right now it's way too early," Palm said. "It depends so much on what other teams do, too, and what Michigan does over the next two months. "The only sure thing for Michigan right now is to win the conference tournament. Realistically. Obviously, much less than that could very well do, but with two months of basket- ball left to play, it's impossible to quantify that. Sometimes it's impos- sible with two weeks to go." Quite often, a winning record in Big Ten play would suffice, but even if Michigan were to go, say, 9-4 or 8-5 down the stretch (a feasible re- cord if they thrive at home), and finished 12-6 or 11-7, that will not guarantee inclusion in this year 's March Madness. "Their conference record is irrel- evant," Palm said. "The conference standings mean nothing by them- selves because you are judged on your entire season. "There are no specifics right now on who they have to beat and what their record needs to be — they just need to start building their résumé, and they need to stop adding nega- tives to it." ❑ BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK • Michigan's 80-53 loss at Arizona Dec. 13 marked the second worst ever by the Wolverines under head coach John Beilein. The 27-point defeat is topped only by Duke's 28-point win (95-67) over Michigan in Beilein's first season with the Wolverines. • The Wolverines' 62-51 loss to SMU at Crisler Center Dec. 20 represented the first time those schools have ever faced each other in men's basketball. Sopho- more forward Zak Irvin set a career high with three steals in the loss. Irvin also matched a then-season high with five rebounds. • Redshirt freshman forward Mark Donnal scored a career-high 13 points against SMU. Freshman forward Ricky Doyle earned his first career start in the game. • Michigan's 72-56 win over Coppin State at Crisler Center Dec. 22 gave the Wolverines a 4-0 series lead in that matchup. Doyle and Donnal combined for 24 points, their best effort as a duo on the season. • Irvin set a then-career high with seven rebounds in the Coppin State victory, while tying a career high with three assists. Sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr. set a career best with nine assists in the win. • The Wolverines' 73-65 overtime win against Illinois in the Big Ten opener at Crisler Center Dec. 30 cut the Illini's lead in the all-time series down to six games, 85-79.