Dug McDaniel shares optimism over Michigan's chances in March

The Michigan men’s basketball team has, somewhat improbably, dragged itself into the NCAA Tournament conversation. And freshman point guard Dug McDaniel is confident in the Wolverines ability to keep up the improved play going forward.

Since the beginning of February, Michigan has gone 6-2, including winning three-straight in the last two weeks. And while the Wolverines aren’t quite in the field yet, they’ve got a few more opportunities to buff up the resume.

“I feel like there’s still time, looking at the brackets and stuff. If we just keep winning, stay being us, we got a shot in the tournament,” McDaniel said after an improbably overtime win against Wisconsin on Sunday.

The remaining regular season games for Michigan is a pair of road tests at Illinois and then Indiana. It’s two difficult road environments against strong teams — an opportunity to improve the resume or crash out. Stunningly — albeit unlikely — Michigan could win a share of the Big Ten title by winning out, along with Purdue losing out.

Narrow paths to championships aside, a pair of road wins in the final week of the season, coupled with a strong showing at the Big Ten tournament would like put Michigan in the field. One or a pair of losses and the picture starts to get murkier. It’s not easy task down the stretch, but one that presents Michigan with the opportunity to redeem a season that, at times, felt lost.

And McDaniel is confident he and teammates will close strong in large part because of the environment at Rutgers that the Wolverines survived.

“I definitely feel confident. We were just coming off a tough, tough road environment, road win at Rutgers. That’s one of the loudest stadiums I’ve ever been in. And to pull that off, I feel comfortable going on the road to another team’s place and closing it out,” McDaniel said.