For months, Michigan men's basketball has talked about hanging three banners, about winning three championships this season.

Of course, that will not happen because the Wolverines fell by one in the Big Ten tournament semifinals to Ohio State on Saturday.

But some of the lessons learned from that defeat may help elevate this team's chances to make it two out of three and to outlast 67 other teams in the

NCAA tournament. First things first, Michigan will learn from the tape that they have to play

better. They have to scratch out a higher percentage of 50-50 balls. They have to shoot from the

floor better than just 35%. They have to limit opponents to something worse than 54.5% from deep. Those are all

givens. Those will all come in the film sessions in the coming days. But this Michigan team also

learned to adapt and adjust on the floor while shorthanded. We've talked all season about

adaptations to the surroundings of the season, the backdrop of this pandemic year.

Yet, a team that went 20 and 4 in advance of selection Sunday, and they didn't have too many

post-loss film sessions on their resume.

There have been improvements.

This team has gotten more consistent at times, but there haven't been a ton of wholesale changes

of major adjustments

and improvements necessary to this program. They've been great. With Isaiah Livers out due to injury

and Franz Wagner out after his fifth foul, Michigan put some lineups out on the floor that we

haven't seen much this season and certainly not much, if at all, in critical

spots within Big Ten competition. And sure enough, those concoctions helped Michigan trim a

12-point deficit down to a single point. And the Wolverines had a look in the final seconds

to win the game. Mike Smith's shot went begging. As you'll hear from Coach Howard here in a little bit,

this loss will sting for a bit. There's a lot to glean from this game, though. And while it is the

final chance Michigan has in this event, the Big Ten tournament, one that has been so special to this

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