Sunday had a chance to be a special day for Michigan basketball. The men welcomed Illinois to

Chrysler Center. A victory in Michigan would have been firmly on the right side of the bubble,

thanks to what would have been the team's second best win of the year on paper. And the women

traveled to Iowa with the program's first Big Ten regular season championship on the line. Well,

if you're listening to this, you probably

know how it all went. And Sunday was a lesson on just how fragile March and college basketball

seasons as a whole can be here a couple of days before March starts. One thing goes against you,

one tough game, and you're staring at the end of your season.

For both the men and the women, they fell victim to almost unfathomable shooting.

In the opener in Ann Arbor, Illinois shot 57%, including 71%, yes, 71% in the second half.

Illinois was 10 of 17 from deep.

That's 59%.

And there was waves and waves of big individual runs from Illinois.

Alfonso Plummer with 21 in the first half.

Kofy Coburn and Andre Kerbello rattled off 19 and 10 respectively after

intermission. And Trent Frazier was a consistent force, eight before halftime, nine after it,

including the dagger three in the game's final minute. Then at Carverhawk Eye Arena,

Iowa shoot away a strong start from the Wolverines women's team.

They then scored 33 points in the second half, which was the spark, and Michigan could not

cool off the Hawkeye's from there. Iowa shot 60% overall, 62% in the second half, and they were

right there with Illinois from three at 57%.

With Caitlin Clark, one of the best players in America, men or women.

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