John Beilein is a master of positive thinking; he has been that way forever. Michigan basketball's coach goes out of his way to make sure his players are shown film clips of themselves doing the exact right thing at the exact right time. As much as possible. He's repetitive. He makes sure his teams talk about being champions twice every day. Once before practice. Once after. He consistently makes his clubs repeat their mission of playing hard, smart and tough, to a point where it's more of a reflex than a habit. Pound it enough and, eventually, it'll sink. On Sunday evening in a hallway outside his United Center locker room — his disappointed team a few feet away after a third loss to Michigan State in three weeks —Beilein was at it again. "We've got good kids on this team," he said in that familiar, persistent tone. "Every last one of them will look at (that loss) and say 'why did I do that?' "And we'll all grow." Beilein's reputation as not only a developer of talent but a maximizer of skill is well-documented. He has won 15 NCAA tournament games since 2015. He has won the Big Ten tournament twice and made the final two other times. Michigan is 28-6 and set to enter the tournament this week as a No. 2 seed in the West Region. This team is capable of making the program's third run to the Final Four in the past seven years. But it's complicated, because as good as Beilein is at squeezing nearly everything he can from most teams he coaches, he knows there are no guarantees when it comes to the overall development timeline. After a third loss to MSU on Sunday, Beilein acknowledged the Spartans are more efficient than Michigan at the moment. Which is why all three games turned out the way they did down the stretch, with Michigan State finishing strong and Michigan coming up short. It's not just about those final minutes, though. It's about the full 40. And the ability to be more efficient at every turn. Can Michigan squeeze those extra percentage points before hitting the floor in Des Moines, Iowa later this week for the start of what it hopes to be a long tournament run? [ Where to buy tickets for NCAA tournament games in Des Moines ] "We have before," Beilein said. "(Sometimes) it could take a week, it could be a year, a month. Could be three to four years before you see that efficiency (from some players)," "We always work on it." Beilein will no doubt spend the better portion of this week reminding his players that it's 28-6 and considered by most to be one of the top teams in America, despite the trio of thorns planted by MSU. Analytics say this is a second-weekend team right now. KenPom gives Michigan the sixth-best odds of any team in the country to make the Sweet 16. FiveThirtyEight puts Michigan's odds of reaching the Sweet 16 for a third straight year at 69 percent. If you get to the second weekend in this tournament, anything's possible. Michigan plays a Montana team familiar with the Wolverines from an opening-round loss a year ago. The 2017-18 version of Montana was better, analytically, than this one, which is why it's a 15 seed instead of a 14 like last year. [ Michigan vs. Montana in NCAA tournament: Scouting report, pick ] As for potential Round 2 matchups, No. 10 seed Florida has an offense that ranks No. 60 nationally in efficiency. Michigan's defense ranks No. 2. Nevada, the No. 7 seed, has talent. But the Wolfpack just lost to a San Diego State team that didn't even make the NIT. Nevada is a sleeper pick on a few lists, and it's easy to see why. But Nevada has one Quadrant 1 win, and has only played in two Q1 games. Michigan has nine Q1 wins. [ Our 2019 NCAA tournament bracket tips: Everything you need to win ] Texas Tech is the No. 3 seed and owner of the country's top-ranked defense. But Michigan's offense is better. Gonzaga is the No. 1 seed in the region, but is a mere 4-3 in Q1 games this season. The path, for Michigan, is there. It's not easy. All of these teams are talented, and we haven't even mentioned an improved Florida State team, a group far better than the one Michigan toppled in the Elite Eight last season. But the region is there for the taking. Beilein insists his team isn't going to break over recent rivalry disappointments. It's easy to believe him, because he has proven his ability to get over that before. Yet his team is going to have to get itself into a situation where it's playing with more efficiency offensively. Beilein will reiterate that to his players this week, as he has for the previous three months. His track record is pretty good. But at this point, it's up to the players on the floor to take that positive thinking and turn it into tournament wins. [ Jon Teske: We can play with anybody in the country ] Contact Nick Baumgardner at nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickbaumgardner. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.<doc-sep>He's got more time on his hands these days. So, maybe, just maybe, President Obama will do a little better in his brackets this year. The 44th president of the United States, in keeping with the annual tradition he started while he was in office, again filled out both the men's and women's NCAA Tournament brackets. And he's paying much more attention to Michigan than some others (ahem, Hillary). Obama has picked Michigan. a No. 2 seed that gets under way Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, to make a second consecutive Final Four, before losing to Duke in a national semifinal. Obama has Duke winning it all, over North Carolina. More: Michigan vs. Montana: Who has the edge More: Michigan State vs. Bradley: Who has the edge Along the way, Obama has Michigan beating Montana, Florida, Texas Tech and Florida State. Obama also has Michigan State, another No. 2 seed that gets under way Thursday afternoon against Bradley, advancing to the Elite Eight, before losing to top-seeded Duke. His other Final Four team, by the way, is Tennessee. On the women's side, Obama has Connecticut winning it all, over Baylor, with Mississippi State and Notre Dame also in his Final Four. Locally, he picks Central Michigan to get by Michigan State in the opening round before losing in the second round to Notre Dame. He has Michigan losing its opener to Kansas State. During his time in office, Obama picked between 59 and 70 percent of the men's NCAA Tournament games right, while correctly picking about 25 percent of the Final Four teams. Not exactly booming approval ratings. Last year, he picked Michigan State to win it all, beating Virginia in the championship game. The teams combined to win one NCAA Tournament game, with Virginia becoming the first-ever No. 1 seed to lose its opening game to a No. 16 seed. tpaul@detroitnews.com Twitter: @tonypaul1984<doc-sep>DES MOINES, Iowa — The Michigan basketball team's 2019 NCAA Tournament journey begins Thursday night in Des Moines. As for where the Wolverines' journey will end? That could easily range anywhere from Thursday night in Des Moines or a Monday night in Minneapolis. Playing with peaks and valleys all season, Michigan (15-5 Big Ten, 28-6 overall) played its way to a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but as we noted earlier, has a tough path to get to the 2019 Final Four. But ahead of the Wolverines' first-round matchup with 15-seed Montana (Thursday, 9:20 Eastern, TNT) we break down why Michigan can and can't make it through Des Moines and Anaheim en route to the Final Four. Looking at season-long traits, individual showings, recent trends, historical context and what the Wolverines' path might look like in their next four games, we offer five reasons Michigan can make it, and five reasons it can't. Before you fill out your brackets, see our thoughts below, and be sure to stick with The Michigan Insider on 247Sports.com for more updates from Des Moines.<doc-sep>Michigan coach John Beilein wanted to give his team a reminder of the position they’re in. One day after losing to rival Michigan State for the third time in three weeks — twice with a Big Ten regular-season and tournament title on the line — Beilein showed the Wolverines the NIT bracket. “I thought about all the teams that wished they were here (in the NCAA Tournament),” Beilein said Monday on his radio show. “North Carolina State had a tremendous season and they're in the NIT. Just look at all these teams that are dying to be there. That's 96 teams or 100 teams that are in postseason play, and you don't show them the other 260 that were done two weeks ago. “They have to understand it. But that's the good thing that you go from our 2009 team where we tore the roof off of Crisler because we got in to now it's such an expectation because there's only been (two times) since then we didn't make it. It's good, but we can't have a cavalier attitude about it.” Beilein noted there were “a lot of reasons” the Wolverines couldn’t beat the Spartans, but his team can’t get stuck on what they couldn’t accomplish. Instead, they need to turn the page and embrace what they have accomplished: a 28-6 record, ranked No. 8 in the country, ranked a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and ranked in the top 10 for 18 straight weeks. “I kept asking them when we had 20 wins, 'We got 20? We got 23? We got 25? We got 28?’ Are you kidding me?” Beilein said. “It's really been a tremendous year for us. To be at six losses, it's a great year. “We've got to relish what we have, what's happening here and what the future looks like.” With that in mind, here are three reasons Michigan could make it back to the Final Four for the second straight season. ‘Sensational’ Simpson Guard play goes a long way come tournament time and Zavier Simpson elevated his game to an elite level this past weekend in Chicago. Simpson put on a couple of dominant two-way performances on back-to-back days in the Big Ten tournament the by shutting down Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon (zero points, 0-for-2 shooting) and Minnesota’s Dupree McBrayer (five points, 2-for-8 shooting). He also made things difficult for Michigan State’s Cassius Winston, who needed 13 shots to reach 14 points. On the other end, Simpson averaged 10.3 points and 10 assists in 31 minutes while shooting 61.9 percent (13-for-21) from the field and 55.6 percent (5-for-9) from 3-point range over the three games. He also posted a 30-2 assist-turnover ratio and a plus-49 plus-minus rating. “He was doing it at both ends the whole time,” Beilein said. “It is as good as any point guard has performed. He was absolutely sensational. “I've never seen a kid with a 30-2 ratio like that, shoot well from 3. He's going to lead us into this tournament and it's going to be really important.” In addition to Simpson’s recent torrid stretch, his postseason experience will be pivotal for the Wolverines, who will have several younger guys playing big roles in the Big Dance for the first time. Sophomore forward Isaiah Livers started a year ago, but played more than 15 minutes in only four of Michigan’s 10 games in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. Similarly, junior center Jon Teske and sophomore guard Jordan Poole averaged 12.3 and 11.7 minutes, respectively, as backups, while sophomore guard Eli Brooks played sparingly. Simpson is only one of two players, along with redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews, who averaged 30-plus minutes during last season’s run to the national title game and understands what it takes to succeed at this time of the year, something most teams’ leaders can’t say. Dominant ‘D’ Beilein will enter the NCAA Tournament with one of the best defenses in the nation — and the best he’s had in his 12 years at Michigan. The Wolverines are allowing a 0.861 points per possession and 58.6 points per game, marks that both rank second in the country. They rank fifth nationally in 3-point field-goal defense at 28.9 percent and have surrendered the second-fewest made 3-pointers (160) and third-fewest 3-point attempts (554). They rank 20th in field-goal percentage defense at 39.9 percent and seventh in effective field-goal percentage defense at 44.1 percent, which adjusts field-goal percentage to account for 3-pointers counting for three points. They excel at defending without fouling (14.1 fouls per game, fifth fewest) and rarely send teams to the free-throw line (474 attempts, 13th fewest). On top of all of that, Michigan has stifled numerous NCAA Tournament teams and proven it can smother some of the best offenses this season, including four who rank in the top 20 in adjusted offensive efficiency in Purdue (fifth), North Carolina (seventh), Iowa (15th) and Villanova (16th). The Wolverines held Norfolk State (44 points), Villanova (46 points), Minnesota (49 points) and Maryland (52 points) to season lows in scoring. They’ve also limited Ohio State (49 points), Wisconsin (52 points) and Iowa (53 points) to their second-lowest scoring totals and North Carolina (67 points) and Purdue (57 points) to their third-lowest outputs. Manageable draw For Beilein, location and seeding doesn’t matter in the NCAA Tournament. It’s all about the matchups and who your team is going to play. The Wolverines got the benefit of being placed in the West Region with Gonzaga, the lowest-ranked No. 1 seed and a team who only has four Quad 1 wins compared to Michigan’s nine. They open with a familiar first-round opponent in Montana which shoots the ball better (56.6 effective field-goal percentage, 38.1 percent on 3s), but still ranks lower in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency than it did a year ago. Awaiting in the second round could be either Florida, a team who ranks No. 60 in offensive efficiency behind eight Big Ten teams, or Nevada, one of the most experienced teams in the nation that has played in only two Quad 1 games.<doc-sep>
We all know former President Barack Obama is a huge sports fan, and this time of year perhaps offered no bigger piece of evidence of that during his tenure in the White House. You remember: he and Andy Katz, in the Oval Office, going through his bracket as the president predicted the NCAA tournament. Thanks to the magic of the internet, we can still find our who No. 44 fancies in March Madness. Obama revealed his men's and women's brackets earlier today, just before the first game at noon Eastern, and has a couple of local quirks. Michigan basketball is going to the Final Four ... at least according to Obama. The ex-president has the Wolverines beating Montana, Florida, Texas Tech and Florida State to reach Minneapolis. But, the run ends for the No. 2 seed when they take on Duke, Obama's national champion pick. Obama's other Final Four picks are Tennessee and North Carolina, with the Blue Devils beating the Tar Heels in the final in what would be the biggest game in that storied rivalry. As for Michigan State, Obama believes the Spartans will get all the way to the Elite Eight ... before losing to Duke in the East Region final. In the NCAA women's tournament, Obama has U-M losing in the first round to Kansas State. And he has Central Michigan beating MSU in their opener in South Bend, Indiana. But the run won't be long for the Chippewas, who would then lose to Notre Dame, the top seed in the Chicago Region, in the second round. Contact Kirkland Crawford: kcrawford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @HiKirkHere.