Livers out, but Michigan still top seed
Michigan’s bittersweet weekend continued Sunday as it earned a No. 1 seed in the East Regional a day after announcing its second-leading scorer has an injury that could keep him out of the NCAA Tournament.
Isaiah Livers is out indefinitely with a stress injury in his right foot that prevented him from playing in a Big Ten Tournament semifinal loss to Ohio State. Livers said Saturday that “I don’t want people to write me off yet” but spoke Sunday night about how he could contribute without playing.
“I’m just going to be the best leader I can be,” Livers said. “Obviously the mental aspect is going to be challenging for me, looking at my teammates giving their all out there and I know how much work they put in, and I can’t be out there.”
Michigan (20-4) opens its tournament run Saturday against the winner of Thursday’s matchup between Mount St. Mary’s (12-10) and Texas Southern (16-8).
“With everything we’ve dealt with, our guys have really competed so hard, they deserve to be in this position right now,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “Now the real work starts.”
Alabama’s No. 2 seed is its highest since 2002, when the Crimson Tide also were seeded second but lost to Kent State in the round of 32. Although it hasn’t advanced beyond the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since reaching a regional final in 2004, the Tide won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles this year.
Pitino’s comeback
Rick Pitino is back in the NCAA
Tournament with his fifth different school after leading Iona to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament title.
Facing Alabama team should have Pitino feeling nostalgic. His 1987 Final Four run with Providence included a 103-82 regional semifinal victory over a secondseeded Alabama squad. Bulls coach Billy Donovan scored 26 points for Providence in that game.
Surging Hoyas
Georgetown is one of the most surprising teams in the field. The Hoyas were below .500 during the regular season but earned the Big East’s automatic NCAA bid by storming through the conference’s tournament as the No. 8 seed and trouncing Creighton 73-48 in the final.