Michigan basketball fails to make NCAA Tournament field, accepts NIT bid

Michigan’s NCAA Tournament streak is officially over.

For the first time since 2015, the Wolverines didn’t hear their name called on Selection Sunday and were left out of the 68-team field. It snapped a string of six straight tournament appearances — a stretch that included five consecutive Sweet 16s — and marked the first time Michigan won’t go dancing under coach Juwan Howard.

Instead, Michigan will look to make another deep run in a different postseason event: the National Invitation Tournament.

The Wolverines accepted an NIT bid and will be a No. 3 seed in one of the four regions. They will host Toledo, the Mid-American Conference regular-season champion, in an opening-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Crisler Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

"We weren't able to reach one of our goals and play in the NCAA Tournament," junior center Hunter Dickinson said in a press release. "However, we have another chance to get out there. So many different things have happened to us this year, but we never put our heads down. The guys in that locker room are special and they know how much this means. Not only to ourselves but to our fans as well.

"We have a chance to play for something and we will go after it."

This will be Michigan’s first appearance in the NIT since 2007 and 11th overall in program history. The Wolverines have won the showcase three times, in 1984, 1997 and 2004, since its inception in 1938.

The 32-team event predominately includes bubble teams that didn’t make the cut for the NCAA Tournament and teams that were regular-season champions but didn’t win their conference tournament to earn an automatic bid.

The seeded teams in Michigan’s region are No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 4 UAB. The other No. 1 seeds are Oklahoma State, Oregon and Rutgers.

The NIT will begin with first-round games on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by second-round games next weekend and quarterfinals on March 21-22. The first three rounds will be played on campus sites at the higher-seeded team.

The semifinals and championship game will take place on March 28 and March 30, respectively, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. It’ll mark the second time in history of the tournament that the final two rounds won’t be played at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Michigan’s March Madness omission and NIT inclusion wasn’t a surprise. It was expected due to the team’s 17-15 record and lacking resume that featured no signature wins against ranked opponents, a horrific home loss to Central Michigan, several unimpressive victories over non-Power Five competition and a bunch of narrow defeats to Power Five foes.

Still, the Wolverines had their chances to keep their NCAA Tournament streak alive during a late-season surge that put them in the bubble conversation. It fizzled in back-to-back overtime loss at Illinois and Indiana, where they blew late leads and last-second opportunities in a depressing finish to another mediocre regular season.

In Thursday’s Big Ten tournament opener, Michigan essentially played its way out of contention with a miserable second-half performance and saw its flickering postseason hopes crumble in a heap of disappointment against Rutgers. Coupled with other bubble teams picking up critical wins in conference tournaments, Michigan’s postseason fate was sealed as the program continues to trend in the wrong direction under Howard.

After the NCAA Tournament was canceled in 2020 — Howard’s first season as coach — due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolverines earned a No. 1 seed for the third time in program history and fell a shot short of reaching the Final Four in an Elite Eight loss to UCLA in 2021. Then in 2022, the Wolverines did just enough to sneak into the tournament as a No. 11 seed and salvaged a rollercoaster season with a run to the Sweet 16.

This year, though, Michigan didn’t do enough to earn an invite to the Big Dance and a chance at another memorable March. Instead, the Wolverines had to settle for less.

"Being able to coach this team again means a great deal," Howard said. "We get a chance to play for a championship. That means something. These guys have put their hearts and souls into this year despite all the adversity. This team has grown throughout the year, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to suit up and compete again."

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins