“Juwan’s hugging players on the handshake line, perfect image to go to the offseason rather than the previous on the handshake line” - Rich Eisen believes Michigan can hold its heads high
Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines may not have won the school's second national championship this year. However, given their tumultuous season, they still had a happy ending.
During the "Rich Eisen Show," Eisen reflected on the season Michigan and Howard had. He said that one of the last teams to make the NCAA Tournament had a good run.
Unranked Michigan, the No. 11 seed in the South, upset No. 6 seed Colorado State 75-63 and then No. 3 seed Tennessee 76-68 to reach the Sweet 16. The Wolverines, who finished 19-15, fell to No. 2 seed Villanova 63-55 on Thursday.
"I told you how I felt about Michigan, house money, weren't supposed to make the tournament, made it, got into the Sweet 16 for fifth straight year," Eisen said.
From Howard's celebration with his Fab Five teammates to his consoling of the Tennessee Volunteers' Kennedy Chandler, most of the lasting images will be positive. Eisen felt that Howard's moment with Chandler was the perfect end to the Wolverines' season.
"Juwan's hugging players on the handshake line, perfect image to go to the offseason with rather than the previous one on the handshake line, absolutely fine with it," Eisen said.
Howard's hug of Chandler has become one of the iconic images of this tournament. Many praised the Wolverines coach for his kindness in that moment. He was suspended for five games by the Big Ten after striking a Wisconsin assistant coach during a kerfuffle in the handshake line last month.
Juwan Howard, man of the year https://t.co/dQnZxtjGyF
A strong March Madness performance from a bubble team is a strong way to end the year. The Wolverines had one of the strongest performances for a Big Ten team in the tournament.
Juwan Howard's Michigan Wolverines lost to one of the best teams in college basketball
Another reason the Wolverines should hold their heads high is because they lost to one of the best teams in the NCAA Tournament. Rich Eisen is high on the Villanova Wildcats (30-7) because of their performance, coach and program.
"And Villanova is no slouch, OK?" Eisen said. "That's no slouch of a coach (Jay Wright), no slouch of a program There's nothing to hang your heads over."
The sixth-ranked Wildcats were one of the country's best teams during the regular season and went on to the school's seventh Final Four. Wright guided the Wildcats to national titles in 2016 and 2018, the second and third for the school.
Villanova switches everything, which essentially means that any offense you want to run gets negated. Villanova forces you to try and beat a mismatch 1-on-1. Their bet is they can win bad matchups for them. They are, and they do. They're a top 25 defense for a reason. twitter.com/dano_on/status…
For a team with the season the Michigan Wolverines had, producing one of the best moments and losing to one of the best teams is a pretty good ending.