Michigan Wolverines News: Izzo Sounds Off On Howard’s Suspension, Women’s Team Falls In Top 25 Rankings, More

Tom Izzo Comments on Juwan Howard’s Suspension

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo shared his thoughts on the suspension of Michigan Wolverines head coach Juwan Howard.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Izzo sounded off on the news that Howard will be suspended for the remainder of the 2021-22 season for hitting Wisconsin Badgers’ assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft following the Wolverines’ 77-63 loss on Feb. 20.

“I’m sure this has been hard on Juwan,” Izzo said, per Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press. “I don’t wish that on anybody, I really don’t.”

The Wolverines are now a +18000 longshot at FanDuel to win the 2022 National Championship. The top betting options on Caesars in Michigan include risk-free bets of up to $1,000 plus $25 in free play.

Following the aforementioned Feb. 20 game, Howard got involved in a heated confrontation with Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard that led to the former being suspended for the remainder of the season.

As players and coaches started performing routine post-game handshakes, things quickly escalated when an angry Howard stopped to confront Gard. The Michigan head coach was unhappy about Gard using a pair of timeouts late in the game, with a Badgers victory in the bag.

Gard stopped Howard to explain his reasoning for taking the timeouts, but this further agitated the latter. This led to a heated scrum between players and coaches on both sides, and a furious Howard hit Joe Krabbenhoft in the head.

Howard, in his third season as Michigan’s head coach, was suspended for the remainder of the season and fined $40,000. The two-time NBA Champion with the Miami Heat (2012 and 2013) is 57-29 through three seasons at Michigan.

Assistant Phil Martelli was named the Wolverines’ interim head coach following the announcement of Howard’s suspension.

If Michigan is to build off last year’s impressive March Madness run, they’ll have to do it without Howard. The Wolverines reached the Elite Eight last season, narrowly falling to UCLA 51-49 in a thrilling back-and-forth affair.

Wolverines Women’s Team Falls To 10th In AP Top 25

A loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes led to the women’s Michigan basketball team following four spots in the AP Top 25.

The Wolverines ranked sixth in the previous AP Top 25 rankings, but an 11-point win over Michigan (62-51) and a blowout loss to Iowa (104-80) led to the four-spot drop.

South Carolina, as expected, retained the top spot. The rest of the top 10 (in order) is rounded out by Stanford, North Carolina State, Louisville, Baylor, LSU, Connecticut, Iowa State and Texas.

Connecticut (previously seventh), Iowa State (previously ninth), LSU (previously eighth) and Texas (previously 11th) all moved ahead of Michigan in just one week.

The loss to the Hawkeyes moved Michigan to 22-5 on the year. The loss cost the Wolverines an opportunity to claim the Big Ten title.

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Iowa State both finished 14-4 in the conference, and as such, the Wolverines narrowly missed out on sharing a title with the other two Big Ten powerhouses.

“Even though we beat Maryland twice, beat Ohio State twice and beat Iowa once, we’re not a co-share of the Big Ten (title),” Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said after the loss to Iowa State, per ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel. “Yeah, that’s pretty crushing.”

Michigan and Kentucky London Showcase Game Set For Dec. 4

In nine months, the Wolverines’ men’s basketball team will pack their bags and fly overseas for a highly-anticipated game against Kentucky.

On Monday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that the previously scheduled Basketball Hall of Fame London Showcase game between Michigan and Kentucky has been rescheduled to Dec. 4, 2022.

The game was initially scheduled to take place on Dec. 4, 2020. However, it was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The game will be played at London’s 02 Arena.

The festivities will also feature a showdown between Marist College and Maine. Tickets for the games will go on sale this Friday.

02 Arena, which opened in 2007, has ranked at the very top of the world’s busiest concert venues. It was used for the 2012 summer Olympics in London and the ATP Finals from 2009 to 2020.