On Michigan basketball - you are what your record says you are

Michigan dropped a 64-58 loss at Maryland Thursday in a game the Wolverines probably should have won — and probably would have had they stepped up with a little more effort. The Wolverines battled back from a double-digit deficit to tie, but never got over the hump in the latest missed opportunity.

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At some point, though, the missed opportunities become the expectation, and that’s where we are 7 games into the Big Ten season. U-M could easily be 6-1 in conference play but gave away a 7-point lead with just over a minute to play at Iowa, and then went through the motions for much of Thursday night’s game.

“You are what your record says you are,” former NFL coach Bill Parcells once said, and that’s the best way to describe this team at this point in the season. They’re maddeningly inconsistent, and last night it resulted in Maryland getting to the rim at will, scoring on a number of second chance opportunities, and pulling away for the win.

“Maryland was the most impressive team not just in the second half, but throughout the game,” head coach Juwan Howard said. “When you look at the amount of points they scored in the paint — 42 — and then also 15 offensive rebounds … it’s tough to win at any level of play. Whether you’re in AAU, high school, college or the NBA, if you allow a team to beat you up like that in the paint and be the most aggressive team, you are going to find yourself, like we were, fighting and clawing at the end.

“We will go back home and take a look at it on film. We will fix it. I trust that we will be better on Sunday.”

They play Minnesota at home, probably the Big Ten’s worst team, and should improve to 5-3. That one won’t move the needle, though. It’s the winnable road games the Wolverines need to help them overcome the horrible loss to Central Michigan (and others) to make the NCAA Tournament, which is really the goal now. There’s no evidence this team can stay in competition for a Big Ten title (and plenty to the contrary) given the stretches of poor, sometimes disinterested play.

It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to watch a team knife through you for uncontested layups, dunks on cutbacks, etc.

“We talked about it as a staff [at halftime] and shared with our guys as far as the accountability part. We cannot continue to allow those easy run-ins for offensive put-backs or allowing them to get second-chance opportunities,” Howard said. “… Those drives to the basket … if the shot was missed, you saw Maryland and more white jerseys than we saw from our blue jerseys being able to limit them to one shot.

“Fifteen offensive rebounds. That right there vs. a good team, it is just tough to give a good team 15 extra possessions and expect to win ballgames.”

Or — let’s be honest — even a mediocre team like the Terrapins. As head coach Kevin Willard noted, this was the first time in 6 games the Terps had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. That it came at Michigans expense was disappointing.

On the other end, Michigan continued its recent trend of giving the ball away. The Wolverines coughed it up 12 times after 18 turnovers in a win over Northwestern, forcing only 6 Maryland giveaways. It wasn’t so much the number as the carelessness of them, Howard noted.

“This game wasn’t as high compared to last game … it was just how we turned the ball over,” Howard said. “Getting late in the shot clock, not communicating at the end of the shot clock.

“A lot of the guys know what is on the clock, how many seconds left, and we have practiced where all five guys must know what the time of possession is left on the shot clock and not get caught in a situation where we now have to cast up a shot, or we try to make a pass at the end of the shot clock. Those are the mistakes we made. But they are also correctable mistakes that I know we will fix and get better with.”

But they’re running out of time, and the inconsistency is the only thing consistent about this team.

It can change. Years ago, a John Beilein Michigan was left for dead after a home loss to Ohio State, turned it around, won the Big Ten Tournament and was a shot away from making the Elite Eight.

As of now, however, there’s no indication it will. The short-term schedule appears favorable with Purdue at home after Minnesota and then games at Penn State and Northwestern that are winnable.

More likely, though, U-M will fall just short in a few of these games and languish in mediocrity going forward.

Note to Howard and Co. from us and the fan base — please, prove us wrong.