Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Juwan Howard’s Wolverines Are Ready To Go Dancing: ‘Real Work Starts Now’

Michigan Wolverines basketball is ready to go dancing.

The Maize and Blue earned their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1993, when now head coach Juwan Howard was an All-American player in Ann Arbor.

“It made me feel great. I was excited to see that we were seeded No. 1, because it proved that this team — and I repeat, the team, the players, the staff — worked so hard to get to this point the entire year,” Howard said. “It’s been a very long journey. At times, it’s been stressful, but there have been a lot of highs outweighing the lows.”

In the East Region, Michigan is set to play the winner of No. 16 seeds Mount St. Mary’s and Texas Southern. Should the Wolverines win their first game, they’d face the winner of No. 8 LSU and No. 9 St. Bonaventure.

Since last season’s NCAA Tournament was canceled, this will be Howard’s first go-around as a head coach in the Big Dance. While Howard and his team have already accomplished plenty this season, including winning the Big Ten regular-season title, he knows whatever the do from this point on will determine how they’ll be remembered.

“Everything that we’ve dealt with, and our guys have competed so hard, so they deserve to be in this position right now. Now, the real work starts, and we’re looking forward to that.”

RELATED: An Overview Of Michigan’s Entire Region, & Its Path To The Final Four

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Howard, who helped lead his Michigan squads to two national title games and one Sweet 16 in three seasons as a player in the 1990s, said that it’s a bit different of a feeling to be entering the NCAA Tournament now that he’s at the helm of the program.

“Right now, I’m just as calm as could be,” he said. “But as a player, at the time, being a No. 1 seed, being a No. 6 seed and then my junior year being a No. 3 seed. There are a lot of different emotions going on as a player. You feel really excited; you worked so hard leading up to this point, and every college basketball player wants to get to the tournament because you want to win, the ultimate goal is to win the championship and cut down the nets.

“Now as a coach, I get that opportunity again. I will never forget, going back to my [introductory] press conference, when I said ‘unfinished business.’ This is the unfinished business.”

Howard’s players know what’s at stake, too, including freshman center Hunter Dickinson, who is unusually mature for a first-year college player. He acknowledged that there’s added pressure now that tourney time is here, but he’s more excited than anything else.

“If you lose, you’re going home, so obviously you can’t save anything out there on the floor,” Dickinson said. “You have to give it your all. You really don’t have the opportunity to take a team lightly. With this group of guys, we’re all competitors, and I think you’ll see us just give it our all out there.”

Another who will make his NCAA Tournament debut is fifth-year senior guard Mike Smith, a Columbia transfer who just set the Big Ten Tournament record for assists in a game (15) Friday against Maryland in what was his first-ever taste of postseason action. His teams won a total of 36 games in four seasons in the Ivy League. Now, he’s on one of the top teams in the country, hoping to be the last ones standing inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night, April 5th.

“It’s a dream come true, something that I’ve watched all my life, and I’ve wanted to be a part of it,” Smith said. “And it’s something that’s here, and I’m really excited to be a part of this.”

The Wolverines are without senior forward Isaiah Livers, who is out indefinitely with a stress fracture to his right foot, for the time being and possibly the entirety of their postseason run. He has a 7-2 record in the NCAA Tournament and, along with the rest of the veteran players such as Eli Brooks and Austin Davis should help the less experienced contingent on the team.

Even though Livers won’t be out on the floor, he’s planning on doing everything he can to aid his teammates.

“I’ve been in March Madness for two years now,” Livers said. “I’m just gonna be the best leader I can be. I’ve got the mental aspect.

“It’s going to be challenging for me looking at my teammates giving it their all out there, and I know how much work they put in. I can’t be out there, it’s gonna hurt. … It’s gonna be great for me to work on my leadership skills and just be in peoples’ ears — especially in my position. Just give some tips on what I see out there, go out there and apply it.”

After losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Saturday, the Wolverines remained in Indianapolis and will stay there until they either win the national championship or lose a game. The preparation for round one has already begun, and the Wolverines are confident they have what it takes to make a run.

“We’re gonna play our hardest every possession, and we’re gonna claw back,” Livers said, referencing the team’s comeback from down 12 to cut it within one against the Buckeyes. “I feel like that’s gonna be the No. 1 thing about Michigan in the tournament, we’re not gonna give up.”

“With the great coaching staff that we have, they’re going to prepare us well,” Smith said. “We’re going to practice as hard as we can each and every day that we get a chance to, to compete for the national championship.”

The journey begins Saturday. Michigan is set to quarantine for two days before being able to practice ahead of its tournament opener.

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