2009–10 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team
The 2009–10 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan during the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by John Beilein and played its home games in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Crisler Arena, which has a capacity of 13,751, for the forty-third consecutive year. This season marked the team's ninety-third consecutive year as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team finished the season with a 15–17 overall record and a 7–11 conference record, which was tied for seventh in the conference standings. It was seeded eighth in the single-elimination 2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament where it advanced one round. On October 16, Michigan was one of five Big Ten schools to begin its season by celebrating Midnight Madness.
| 2009–10 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| Record | 15–17 (7–11 Big Ten) |
| Head coach | |
| Assistant coaches |
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| MVP | Manny Harris |
| MVP | DeShawn Sims |
| Captains |
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| Home arena | Crisler Arena |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 5 Ohio State† | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 29 | – | 8 | .784 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 10 Purdue | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 29 | – | 6 | .829 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 13 Michigan State | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 28 | – | 9 | .757 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 16 Wisconsin | 13 | – | 5 | .722 | 24 | – | 9 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 21 | – | 15 | .583 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 21 | – | 14 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 20 | – | 14 | .588 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 15 | – | 17 | .469 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 10 | – | 21 | .323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | 10 | – | 22 | .313 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn State | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 11 | – | 20 | .355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2010 Big Ten tournament winner As of April 3, 2010 Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Following the University of Michigan basketball scandal, the team had completed serving a scholarship probation imposed in 2003 two years earlier. During the probation, the team had had only twelve scholarships to offer instead of the usual thirteen. However, Michigan continued to be prohibited from affiliation with implicated athletes (Chris Webber, Robert Traylor, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock) until 2012, which meant, among other things, that the players could not help the university recruit. The team was expected to finish between third and fifth in the conference by most expert pollings. The team was led by a pair of Wooden Award preseason watchlist nominees: Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims. Harris, Sims and Zack Novak served as team captains.
The team won two of its first three games against ranked opponents (Connecticut and Ohio State). However, the season was a disappointment that included two buzzer-beater losses to conference co-champions Ohio State and Michigan State on field goals by 2010 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Evan Turner and 2009 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Kalin Lucas. After starting the season 3–0, the team never again won three games in a row. The team was nationally ranked to start the season, but never reappeared in the national polls after the third week of the season. Michigan ended the year with a 7–11 conference record (tied for seventh) and a 15–17 overall regular season record. Turner's buzzer-beater came in the second round of the 2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament in which the eighth-seeded Wolverines lost by a point to the top-seeded Buckeyes.
At the conclusion of the regular season, Sims and Harris were named to the 2nd and 3rd All-Big Ten teams, respectively, by both conference coaches and the media. Following the Big Ten tournament both players were recognized as 2nd-team All-District selections by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.