Will Michigan make March Madness? Fans turn on Juwan Howard after Rutgers loss

With Michigan on the bubble, they lost to Rutgers in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Did Juwan Howard just kill his March Madness hopes?

Like several other bubble teams, the best thing that the Michigan Wolverines could do during Champ Week was to string together some wins in the Big Ten Tournament in order to keep their March Madness hopes alive.

They weren’t even able to get one.

Matched up for the second round of the conference tournament against Rutgers, the Wolverines came out on Thursday and laid a complete egg. After leading by three at halftime, they were outscored 37-22 in the second half thanks to an abysmal offensive showing from the team as a whole, handing Michigan a 62-50 loss and an early exit from the Big Ten tourney.

And now their NCAA Tournament hopes are in jeopardy. Is this Michigan team going to be sitting at home for March Madness?

Will Michigan make March Madness after losing to Rutgers?

Point blank, it doesn’t look good for Michigan right now.

Coming into this game against Rutgers, Joe Lunardi in his latest ESPN Bracketology had the Wolverines as part of the Next Four Out. A loss to Rutgers, even as a Quad 1 loss at a neutral site, isn’t going to help the case.

If there’s any case for optimism, CBS Sports Bracketology expert Jerry Palm had the Wolverines as the last at-large bid to make the field in his latest update. However, with teams still alive in their conference tournaments behind them like UNC, Oklahoma State and Arizona State, Thursday’s loss could spell the end of Michigan’s tourney hopes.

Again, things don’t look good. They are still on the bubble and it’s still possible, but the projections basically said this team needed to, at the very least, beat Rutgers to secure its spot in the field of 68.

Michigan fans want Juwan Howard fired after loss to Rutgers

After the loss to Rutgers with the March Madness implications, Michigan fans had enough of head coach Juwan Howard and want the program legend gone.

If Michigan indeed misses out on making the 2023 NCAA Tournament, there could indeed be some changes within the Wolverines program.

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