The Wolverines are going for a hat trick, and hockey has nothing to do with it.
The Michigan basketball team, after losing to No. 2 Minnesota, 55-54, two nights ago, is looking to win its last three games of the season, beginning Sunday at Illinois and finishing with Northwestern next Wednesday and Ohio State next Sunday.
The Wolverines are in a must-win situation for an NCAA tournament bid, having lost four straight Big Ten games. They are also in danger of finishing below .500 in the conference for the first time since the 1991 season.
"We need a win; we need a win," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "We've been hard-pressed to get one, we've been there, but we haven't gotten one.
"We need to dig down as deep as we can and get every ounce of pride that we got in who we are and say, if we go down, there won't be a bullet left in either gun, and we're going to be fighting right to the end."
It is safe to say that the Wolverines are on the NCAA tournament bubble. Prospects for a bid look bleak for the Wolverines, who have made an NCAA appearance every year since 1991. The NCAA selection committee announces the 64-team field next Sunday.
After falling to the Golden Gophers, the Wolverines are sure to fall out of the top 25 for the first time this season, a long way from their season-high No. 4 ranking they enjoyed in late December.
So, a sub-.500 conference record and the possibility of being un-ranked makes it necessary for the Wolverines (7-8 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) to impress the tournament committee. According to Fisher, it is up to the Wolverines to take it one game at a time and finish strong.
"If you don't win all three, you go 9-9 and it depends on who you beat (for the NCAAs)," Fisher said. "If we beat Illinois, it's a ranked team on their floor, but it probably means we got to win three games."
Illinois is the only ranked team out of the Wolverines' three remaining games. The 21st-ranked Illini (9-6, 19-8) have won five of their last seven conference games, losing at Minnesota by a point earlier this week. The Wolverines beat the Illini, 88-74, earlier in the season.
Ohio State and Northwestern are in ninth and 10th place, respectively, in the conference standings.
The Buckeyes have also struggled as of late but did upset the Wolverines, 73-71, in Michigan's first home conference game of the season.
"We just got to focus on these next three games," Michigan co-captain Travis Conlan said. "They're the most important games probably of our careers so far. The reason we came (to Michigan) is to play in the NCAA tournament."
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
It's been all downhill for Michigan since it lost to Michael Lewis and Indiana on Feb. 16.