It was an All-Airport team, one of those that looked grand strolling up to its departure gate. The reason for that was its imposing size, which featured 6-foot-11-inch center Courtney Sims and 6-8 forward Brent Petway.
It was an All-Press Guide team, one of those that looked daunting as you read down its roster. The reason for that was its starting lineup, which included not only those two seniors, but also fifth-year senior swingman Lester Abram, true senior point Dion Harris and junior forward Ron Coleman.
It was an All-Figure team, one of those that looked impressive when you saw the numbers next to its name. The reasons for that were right there in Wednesday morning’s paper, which showed it 16-4 overall, 4-1 in the Big Ten and tied with Ohio State at second place in the conference race.
Yet there was still skepticism about this team from Michigan, whose most impressive achievement had been an early-January victory at home over banged-up Illinois. But in its biggest tests of the season, at UCLA and at home against Georgetown, it had not only lost badly, it had looked bad in the process.
Those were reasons enough for skepticism, but now was their opportunity to white it out. For Wednesday night they were at the Kohl Center to face No. 2 Wisconsin and that gave them a gaudy stage to assert themselves and let all know that they were truly legit.
A victory here, even a courageous performance, would erase so many doubts about them, yet the Wolverines only would call up their past as Wisconsin (20-1, 6-0) ran its winning streak to 16 straight with a 71-58 victory that was more lopsided than that.
The Badgers managed this despite getting hit by a 9-0 blitz at this one’s opening and despite getting only five first-half minutes from star Alando Tucker, who sat out the rest with foul trouble.
They managed this by taking the shots they wanted, not the ones given them, which is why they ended up going 26 of 48 from the field (54 percent).
They managed this by limiting the Wolverines to 22 percent shooting on their three-pointers, which had been one of their strengths, and by forcing the Wolverines into 19 turnovers, which led to 24 Badgers points.
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They managed this by getting 42 points in the paint and 16 points from both Tucker and Brian Butch, which together is why they exposed the truth that had been lost in the Wolverines’ early success.
This was SOM, Same Old Michigan, whose execution only executed itself. It reached on defense and got itself into foul trouble. It dawdled on offense and suffered through long droughts. It took bad shots and missed the good shots it took. It committed some errors under duress and just as many out of carelessness.
“I thought we were ready,” Wolverines coach coach Tommy Amaker said, and it looked it while running off to a 9-0 lead in the first 2 minutes 26 seconds.
But then it reverted to a familiar refrain, scoring just 17 more points in the final 17:34 of the half. Eventually, it withered and wilted so badly it fell behind by as much as 24.
“We didn’t take care of the basketball,” Amaker said, trying to explain his team’s fatal reversal. “We got ahead of ourselves, we were rushing, whatever you want to call it.
“That really doomed us and allowed them to get back into it, and they’re a very good basketball team. It’s no secret they’re one of the top teams in the country.
“But certainly things we did to ourselves did not help us.”
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