After unfathomable collapse, all Michigan can do is wait

INDIANAPOLIS — Hunter Dickinson sat behind a microphone, bowing his head to lock eyes with the floor beneath him. He looked up, staring through a cluster of reporters, and best attempted to summarize the solemn mood inside Michigan’s locker room on the heels of an unfathomable 17-point second-half collapse. 

“We had high aspirations coming into the weekend, so for us to fall short so early, it’s disappointing,” Dickinson began, before pivoting. “But it gives us an opportunity to come together for the next week or so until we play again.” 

The fact of the matter is, though, that the Wolverines don’t know when, where or if they’ll play next. 

Such is the cruel finality of March. Michigan’s fate is left in the hands of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, and it will wait close to 72 painstaking hours before discovering if the resumé it has built meets the prerequisite for a spot in the field. 

“Our guys put themselves in the position to have an opportunity,” Juwan Howard preached postgame, his voice stern and confident.