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Here come the Hoosiers

Wolverines hope to turn recent fortunes around as NCAA Tournament selection remains in doubt

Throughout the course of the season, the goals of a team can change many times.

This has been the case for the Michigan men's basketball team (5-6 Big Ten, 15-9 overall), which finds itself in dire straits heading into the weekend.

The Wolverines began the season talking about high rankings and a Big Ten title. With seven games remaining, the only thing left on the team's mind is making the NCAA Tournament.

A victory against Indiana (8-4, 15-9) Sunday would help Michigan's NCAA chances. A loss and talk of an NIT berth will become the norm.

"We are in tough times and we are going to fight our way out of them," Wolverine coach Steve Fisher said. "This is unacceptable for Michigan basketball."

Last year, Michigan was given No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament after finishing the regular season with a disappointing 17-13 record.

That record will almost definitely not be good enough this time.

It appears that the Wolverines will need at least 19 and probably 20 wins to get the bid this time around. After Sunday's contest with the Hoosiers, Michigan travels to Happy Valley to take on second-place Penn State next Thursday.

The schedule becomes significantly easier after that, but there still remains a home game against Michigan State and a road trip to Illinois.

The Wolverines are in the midst of a slump, losing five of their past six contests. The streak began with a 99-83 loss to Indiana Jan. 23. Since then, the only team Michigan has beaten is Ohio State.

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, have fought through some of their early season difficulties and put themselves in position to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Indiana is coming off its most impressive win of the season, blowing out the Nittany Lions, 72-55, Wednesday night.

Even more striking is the fact that half of Bobby Knight's squad had been hampered by the flu before or during the game. Brian Evans, a leading candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year, played through his illness and managed to lead all scorers with 32 points.

The Hoosiers have forged their way into third place in the conference and are only two games behind Big Ten leader Purdue.

Indiana and Michigan have identical 15-9 records, but they are teams clearly going in opposite directions. The Wolverines have fallen into a seventh-place tie with Minnesota and have already been swept this year by Iowa and the Boilermakers.

The two squads have basically traded places.

In the first meeting of the year, the Hoosiers were in a must-win situation, having to win at home to have any chance of staying in contention for the Big Ten title.

"Indiana's not having the season everyone is expecting them to have," sophomore Maurice Taylor said before that contest. "But you know going in there that they are going to play really well at home."

Indiana managed to break out of its slump that night. The Wolverines are hoping for their own reversal of fortune. Unfortunately for Michigan, it has struggled at home as of late, losing two straight in convincing fashion.