2022-23 Michigan basketball has been a roller coaster all year long, but that same rocky roller coaster may be straightening out. 

It has been a season for the books at Crisler Center this year. The Wolverines brought in one of the best recruiting classes of all-time, and Hunter Dickinson, the seven foot monster, decided to come back for his junior year. The young talent on this team has had its severe ups and downs, but what’s important is that the Wolverines may not be out of the March Madness hunt despite what critics think.

In the Wolverine’s last four games (at Northwestern, Ohio State at home, Nebraska at home, and Indiana at home) they have come out of the gates firing—like I’ve highlighted in previous articles—in addition to making big shots with big time players like Jett Howard and Hunter Dickinson. Kobe Bufkin has evolved into a player who can do it all, and I mean do it all. Lately, Kobe has found a part of his game where driving into the paint has got him some points. This little streak that the Wolverines have been on has highlighted the main strengths that the Wolverines present. 

Indiana at Michigan was the game that the Wolverines needed to win. It was a quad one opponent and was a premier game that could put the Wolverines back in the postseason discussion. Michigan came out of the locker room ready to fight the world, and the team did for the most part. However, they forgot to stop Indiana’s two best players in Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino; the two combined for 49 points out of Indiana’s 62. Jackson-Davis especially put on a show for the crowd at Crisler Center on Saturday night; he was a one-man wrecking crew. However, the Wolverines held their own and were leading the whole game except for four minutes. In the end, Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis were too much for the Wolverines to handle and overpowered Michigan in the end by one point: 62-61.

This heartbreaking loss is not the end of the road for Michigan, but the team is going to have to win almost all of its remaining games this season. The Wolverines have a few more quad one and quad two games remaining and these games, let me tell you, are must wins. This coming week will be huge for Michigan as the team faces off against Wisconsin and MSU. 

An NCAA tournament berth this year for the Wolverines will not be easy, but it is still doable.