Michigan basketball headed to Minnesota riding high. Locked in a battle for the top spot in the Big Ten with rival Michigan State, holding a five-game winning streak, national pundits declaring them a viable national championship threat, and the players brimming with confidence. It all came crashing down with one nearly half court three pointer at the buzzer on a cold Minnesota night. Social media pounced immediately, every MSU fan came crawling out of the woodwork declaring the maize and blue a fraud, laughing that they lost to a team that was previously winless in the conference.
But did this loss really hurt that bad? In the moment sure, any last-minute defeat is going to sting, especially against a team you are better than in every metric imaginable. But college basketball is not college football. A loss here and there does not ruin a season, and a single conference loss does not strip away a shot at a conference title. A slight drop in net rating, maybe, but a loss like this can also have a positive effect.
A loss can sometimes teach you more than a win. Michigan was on a five-game winning streak in which they were routinely up by double digits, scoring in the high 80’s-90’s and winning in comfortable fashion. Analysts were extolling all the great virtues of this team. Two 7-footers that were unstoppable on the pick and roll, three-point shooting in the high 30% from six players, and a point guard that was commanding the team in championship fashion. Minnesota overcame all of those things in their last second win. That shot did more than defeat the Wolverines, it gave them a quick dose of humility. No team is ever as good as they appear, the Wolverines know they can still lose. That is not a bad lesson to learn before March.
2. REFOCUSES THE TEAM ON THEIR GOALS
As aforementioned, college basketball losses and college football losses are not the same. Michigan now has one loss in the Big Ten, and nobody expected them to go undefeated in a conference as strong as the Big Ten. Playing any Big Ten team on the road is always a challenge, one that Michigan experienced last night. Even so, that loss did not take any of this teams goals off the table. Big Ten regular season championship? Stil possible. The Big Ten Tournament championship and National Championship are both still on the table.
