Juwan Howard Speaks Ahead Of Big Ten Tournament

Juwan Howard and Michigan pretty much need a miracle at this point in order to get into the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard spoke to the media today ahead of Thursday's matchup against Rutgers in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Howard was actually driving, so there's no video of him speaking to the media, but the audio of him talking about his starting lineup, the upcoming game against the Scarlet Knights and the NCAA Tournament is loud in clear in the video below.

Notes

• Howard seemed to speak in a lot of generalities today, which may be a product of him just getting through the media session knowing he has bigger fish to fry or it may be a reflection of how the season has played out and what Howard has and has not accomplished. Usually he's a little deeper than he was today.

• I found it interesting that Howard said he hasn't spoken about the NCAA Tournament at all with his team. He might by keeping that in house or maybe he's being honest. If he's being honest, I have a major problem with that. That is a massive motivator and should be utilized, in my opinion. These guys don't want to be done playing in a couple of days, but they might be. I know coaches like to lean on the "one game at a time" cliché, but in this case, it's ok to look ahead and say, "Hey fellas, if we don't get our shit together, we won't be dancing in March."