Michigan stays alive for NCAA bid with OT win at Northwestern

It was a rollercoaster ride. It lacked conviction but possessed plenty of drama. It couldn't have been anything other than a University of Michigan basketball game. Fortunately for the Maize and Blue, Manny Harris saved his best for last.
 
Harris's 8-point effort in overtime enabled the Wolverines to edge past snake-bitten and heartbroken Northwestern, 70-67, to move to 6-7 in Big Ten play and maintain contact with the three league teams (Minnesota, Penn State, Wisconsin) who sit at 7-6 in the conference. A loss would have been a death blow for Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes, but this close-shave escape in Evanston enables Coach John Beilein's boys to stay in the hunt for a Big Dance invitation.
 
Michigan fans might be tempted to lament the fact that this game was so close, and cite it as evidence of this team's inconsistency in 2009. That would be a mistake, however, because as the rest of the Big Ten has learned, Northwestern is to be taken seriously.
 
The Wildcats suffered yet another supreme punch to the gut, but Bill Carmody is definitely making a historically basketball-poor school newly rich in competitive vigor. The Purple People--playing at home in Welsh-Ryan Arena--have been a tough out for everyone in the conference this season. Yes, today's loss only reaffirms NU's reputation as a team that can't close out league foes, but it's just as true that the Wildcats are far from the pushover they used to be, not that long ago. You might outfox Northwestern at the end, but you have to work extremely hard and display considerable concentration in order to stay with Carmody's kids for 40 minutes or, in some cases, 45. Michigan simply needed a win today, and the ability to post a positive result is something that should be celebrated in Ann Arbor, where Wolverine basketball hasn't exactly lit up the landscape over the past 10 years.

Looking forward for Michigan, the biggest key to emerge from this game is the fact that Harris--the heartbeat of the ballclub--took over in crunch time. By scoring nearly one-third of his game-high 26 points in the extra stanza, Harris not only won this game; he reaffirmed himself as the go-to guy in particularly urgent moments. As the Wolverines now prepare for their final five conference games, Harris has to use this knockout of Northwestern as the spark.
 
If the sophomore guard can regularly rise to the occasion over the next three weeks, Michigan will put itself in position to wear its Dancing shoes. If UM can win four of five games against Minnesota (twice--home and home split), Iowa (away), Purdue (home), and Wisconsin (away), the Maize and Blue would finish the year at 10-8 in the Big Ten. Given UM's wins against UCLA and Duke, plus a quality road loss at No. 1 Connecticut, the Wolverines would have a resume good enough for the NCAAs, certainly better than (for example) Penn State and, to a lesser but still real extent, Minnesota.

So, Wolverine fans don't fret about the close nature of this three-point triumph at Northwestern. The "W" is on the board, and a team's hopes of breaking a decade-long Dance drought are still alive. If Manny Harris can soar down the stretch, the Michigan basketball program will still reach the field of 65.

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