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Newsstand: NIT corrects bracket after seeding error with Wolverines

Anthony Broomeby: Anthony Broome03/13/23anthonytbroome

Michigan basketball will play in the 2023 NIT, set to begin Tuesday with a matchup against Toledo at Crisler Center. However, the path will be slightly different than the one originally released by the NCAA late Sunday night.

Initially set as a two-seed, Michigan would have hosted both the first and second rounds of the tournament in its pod. That is still on the table, but Michigan is now the No. 3 with Vanderbilt as the No. 2 seed. If Vandy beats Yale in its first-round game, it will host the second round and the Michigan/Toledo contest winner.

Head coach Juwan Howard has been open in his desire to play postseason basketball to continue to get reps for his young squad and build a foundation for the future.

“I’m just so proud, and I’ll say it again, of how our guys competed all year,” he said after the 62-50 Michigan loss. “Yes, we have a young team, but we did not make excuses. That’s how you grow — by getting the opportunity. We’ve had four freshmen that start, Kobe being one of those four freshmen because he didn’t play last year. We also have [center] Tarris Reed, who’s another freshman that comes off the bench, and he gets a lot of minutes, as well.

“So this is a growing opportunity for our young men, and I think they grew up a lot this year. Yes, they want to continue to keep playing. I want to see them playing, and I want to be out there coaching them in the postseason.”

Tuesday night’s game at Crisler tips off at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally via ESPN2. This is Michigan’s first NIT appearance since 2006-07, Tommy Amaker’s final year with the program.

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Michigan quote of the day

I think that’s really a great point. And that’s something that we’re going to emphasize this week with our team. We’re a really good basketball team. We’re a team that was under the radar at the beginning of the year; no one expected that with Naz’s graduation. But then we went to some tournaments. We played on the road, we played at Miami, and we challenged ourselves against some really, really good teams. 

And then we got banged up. We had a couple of things at the end of the year where we didn’t finish exactly the way that we wanted. But we weren’t 100% either. So this gives us an opportunity these last couple of weeks to get back at it, and I think our players are feeling excited about the opportunity to continue to play and in a different role — maybe be the upset team this year. We are battle tested.

– Michigan women’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico on selection for NCAA Tournament

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