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Michigan Wolverines basketball associate head coach Phil Martelli took St. Joe’s to seven NCAA Tournaments in 24 years — including one Elite Eight run — as the head coach in Philadelphia. Now second in command to Juwan Howard at Michigan, he’s ready for more madness, this time coaching for what he calls a “powerhouse” program with a chance to cut down some nets in early April as a No. 1 seed.
“Everything that’s done at Michigan is in pursuit of a national championship,” Martelli told WFAN’s John Jastremski. “The guy that handles the phones, the nutritionists, the strength and conditioning people — everybody has a role, they all play this role, and it’s to set up the coaching staff so we can be in position to pursue not just No. 1 seeds, but also this national championship, Big Ten championships.
“I have just been in awe of how Michigan goes about this, I’ve been in awe of working for these close to two years now with Juwan Howard, with [assistant] Howard Eisley and with [assistant] Saddi Washington. I didn’t need a boost — I wasn’t done — but to be in this situation has been very rewarding.”
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Michigan has lost three of its last five games of the season, including to No. 1 seed Illinois and No. 2 seed Ohio State. While the Wolverines don’t quite have the momentum they had when they were 18-1 through 19 games, there’s still an opportunity to turn things back into the right direction this postseason. Martelli did point out, however, that he would much rather have his team “humming” heading into the Big Dance.
With the Wolverines having plenty of weapons and great balance — even without senior forward Isaiah Livers (out indefinitely with a stress injury to his foot) — Martelli believes getting out of Big Ten play and into the national tournament could serve as a breathe of fresh air, in a sense, even though they were able to have a ton of success in conference as well, winning the regular-season title outright.
“In the Big Ten, there weren’t two days to prepare,” Martelli said. “Like in our situation this weekend, Mount St. Mary’s or Texas Southern, they’re going to have one day to prepare. St. Bonaventure, LSU, if we win Saturday for Monday night, they have one day to prepare.
“In the Big Ten, these teams basically have been preparing for two years as we have been preparing for two years — you know everybody’s name, you know everybody’s tendencies.
“I think there’s going to be some freshness.”
Michigan is also a team that played six games in the regular season’s final 13 days, before playing twice in two days in the Big Ten Tournament, losing to Ohio State in the semifinals last Saturday. Having one full week off before seeing the court for game action could be to the Wolverines’ benefit.
“There is another wrinkle with this year’s tournament, we don’t play until Saturday, so we will basically have a week off and, without a pause for COVID during the year, there isn’t another time we had a week off,” Martelli said. “So I’m anticipating that we’re going to be able to be fresh.”
“Culture” has been a word used plenty throughout the season, as the Wolverines rose from preseason No. 25 to top five in the AP Poll by season’s end, and the way the team has come together has been on full display. Martelli is confident that will be key in Michigan making a run, should the tight-knit nature of the bunch stay intact.
“I think for this year’s tournament, the navigation of the bubble is going to be a big deal,” Martelli said. “Last year’s NBA, the two best teams were the Bucks and the Clippers, but neither one got to the conference finals. Why? The bubble got to them. We are doing a lot of things with our players to say, ‘Let’s get there so that we can play good basketball. Not great basketball, good basketball, starting Saturday.’
“I think the biggest key is going to be elimination of distractions and elimination of this idea that, ‘Woe is us because we’re in the bubble.’ I really do mean that. I think all of the teams are in the bubble, everybody has sacrificed all year, their families have sacrificed, and we want to be in a position where it’s about basketball, not about distractions. I have confidence, and the freshness of opponents is going to be a bonus for us.”
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