The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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during Big Ten play left only a shell of the team that had helped lead the Wolverines to great heights. This was the year they were sup- posed to get back on track, but in- juries to LeVert and senior captain Spike Albrecht left Beilein scram- bling once again. So did a strange conference schedule in which the Big Ten had eight teams among the top 100 in RPI and six outside of it. U-M just so happened to rack up eight of their 10 Big Ten wins against the bottom six — not that it was easy. The Wolverines and Ohio State were the only two in the conference to avoid losing to at least one of them, but according to some of college basketball's most outspoken pundits, that didn't matter. Beilein thought it did. He rarely lobbies, but he went to bat for his kids following the Wolverines' loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tourna- ment semifinals, touting U-M's four wins over teams in the top 25. Even U-M's road win over Nebraska came after the Cornhuskers won at Michi- gan State, when the Huskers were healthy. "Here's what happened — Ne- braska would have been top 50 to 100, at least, if Shavon Shields doesn't get hurt. And Minnesota dropped off the face of the earth," Beilein said. "Illi- nois had the injury things. We should have had several opportunities. Who would think that [North Carolina State] wasn't in that area where they normally are? "There was just a void there, teams that through no fault of own were not in that 50 to 100 category. I think our schedule strength was 39 at the end … when have you seen Rutgers and Minnesota that bad? It was one of those years that was really tough for them. Illinois, as well. That proba- bly won't happen many more times." If U-M hadn't made the tourna- ment, that would have been a big reason why. For Beilein, though, it wouldn't have mattered. Yes, perception is huge, and missing the big dance two years in a row would have been tough to stomach. But he sees the trajectory and believes — strongly — that his team is on the way back up. "I looked at this thing because we were at such heights the year before, and everybody was down," he said. "I said, 'You know what? Given the way the injuries went and the NBA attrition, we're just sort of going back up again.' We're not going down … if we'd been in the NIT, I'd have the same impression. "It's all good for us. To beat Indi- ana, to beat Northwestern twice is just good for us overall, for our kids' psyche and for our fans to just feel good about the future — that these kids are getting better." If it evens out as it should, so should the Wolverines' luck. Then sweating it out on Selection Sunday will be a rare occurrence. ❏ Chris Balas has been with The Wolverine since 1997, working part time for five years before joining the staff full time in 2002. Contact him at cbalas@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter at Balas_Wolverine.