Final Four for Michigan? Ludicrous, you say ...

Mission complete.

The season could end today and it will have been a successful one for the Michigan basketball team.

Remarkably, in just one half of a season, the pride of Michigan basketball has been restored on all fronts.

The Wolverines are ranked in the top 25, playing their best ball in recent memory, the Crisler Arena stands are full and the fans are on their feet, and the team is making news on the court instead of off.

Believe it or not, it was just three months ago yesterday that more than a year's worth of allegations and controversy finally boiled over and culminated in the firing of Michigan basketball coach Steve Fisher.

The outlook was bleak for what fans and media alike portrayed to be a tarnished program with defeated players.

When assistant coach Brian Ellerbe was promoted to the helm on an interim basis two weeks later, the plan was to make the best of a bad situation. To say the Wolverines have accomplished that would be a major understatement.

For those who need something tangible to believe the transformation, the Wolverines' inspiring upset of Duke - the nation's top ranked team at the time, on Dec. 13 at Crisler Arena - symbolized the rebound of Michigan basketball. With Ellerbe on the sideline and Fisher shedding tears in the stands, the Wolverines not only beat the Blue Devils, but shut them down in the game's final minutes as they pulled out an 81-73 victory, prompting a raucous crowd to rush the court.

A raucous crowd - at Crisler? That alone is enough to make you wonder if this is the same team that Michigan fans have been so disappointed with on and off the court for so long.

So, how have they done it? How have the Wolverines managed to make people forget about the troubled past and look to a future that likely holds - come on, it's OK to say it now - a trip to the NCAA tournament and maybe more? Some fans may still laugh at the possibility of these Wolverines making it into March Madness. Even more may find hilarious the prospect of Michigan having success in the postseason, or maybe even advancing to the Final Fo-.

Ha-ha, laugh it up. Laugh all you want, but after three years, this generation of Wolverines is finally playing to its potential, and few have ever squabbled about these Wolverines' potential.

Credit the coach, credit Robert Traylor's emotional leadership, credit the departure of the bust that was Maurice Taylor, credit Jerod Ward's determination to prove he isn't a bust, credit the addition of outside threat Robbie Reid, or even chalk it up to the aura of the University of Michigan. Whatever the case, the Wolverines have come together to play well and with the confidence of a contender. They firmly believe that they can beat anyone in the country - unless they beat themselves.

"It was nothing that they did," Ellerbe said about Indiana after the Hoosiers dealt Michigan an 18-point loss last Tuesday, snapping the Wolverines' six-game winning streak.

The Wolverines' confident attitude paid off on Saturday, as they made up for a poor shooting and rebounding performance in Bloomington by crushing Michigan State at Crisler. The final score was 79-69, but the Spartans were never really in the game.

The Wolverines scored the first six points of the game and had Michigan State coach Tom Izzo (call him Izzy, he loves it - and looks like a cartoon character anyway) pulling at his hair when his team had committed its fourth foul and trailed 12-6 just five minutes into the game. Michigan expanded the lead to 17 by halftime and never looked back.

It was by no means a perfect game for the Wolverines, who became complacent in the second half.

"I think we can get a lot better," Ellerbe said. "The second half we were OK. The second half against Penn State we were OK. I think we can do something to rectify that."

Ellerbe has not been perfect either. The Wolverines looked vastly underprepared for the game against Indiana. And it's worth wondering why he chose not to play Brandon Smith, Michigan's next superstar, at all against the Spartans, especially considering the closeness, or lack thereof, of the game.

"We just felt like what we were doing was good enough," Ellerbe said.

The rest of the Wolverines have room for improvement as well. Maceo Baston has been prone to fouling out, Jerod Ward is a liability when he puts the ball on the floor and Travis Conlan has struggled offensively.

But, in contrast to past seasons, players are finding ways to contribute even when one aspect of their game is struggling. Conlan's play has been a prime example. Although he's had trouble finding the net on offense, his defense has been integral in shutting down the opposition's perimeter game. Against Michigan State, Conlan, despite a 0-for-2 shooting performance, hounded the Spartans' second-leading scorer and deadly 3-point threat Jason Klein, who did not score when Conlan was in the game.

Another difference between this season's Wolverines and previous ones is that each player knows his role. The guards know that the inside game takes priority, the post men know they have perimeter threats to kick out to when opponents double-team inside and everyone realizes they can't win if they don't play defense.

But the most important factors that make Michigan so dangerous are less tangible.

The Wolverines are a group that circumstance has forced together. Embroiled in controversy, the players, labeled underachievers since their freshman seasons, lost the coach they loved, the coach who brought them to Michigan in the first place, when Fisher was dismissed.

As a result, the Wolverines are now a united bunch. Take Robert Traylor's reaction on Saturday when a Spartan got into it with Louis Bullock. Traylor came storming down the court to defend his teammate and, in the process, drew a technical foul.

"I thought I was doing my job as leader of this team," Traylor said.

And that's been the key to the Wolverines' success - each player doing his job.

If all the Wolverines continue to do their job, they might just reach their potential - whatever that is - after all.

01-12-98