I'll come clean. I've had a difficult time getting started on this season's basketball preview, even though the football program is doing everything they can to turn my focus to the hardwood.

Some of that stems from the lack of closure to Juwan Howard's debut season, which the ongoing pandemic ended as Michigan warmed up for their opening Big Ten Tournament game, an event that somehow occurred this calendar year. Xavier Simpson and Jon Teske never got their hero sendoffs, Franz Wagner's ascent was interrupted, and we'd never find out if the team would gel in the postseason around a healthy Isaiah Livers—nor how Howard would coach with the full rotation finally at his disposal.

A force of an entirely different nature is also working against my brain: unconstrained excitement for the 2021-22 season, when Michigan may very well be bringing the #1 recruiting class in the country to campus. It's hard not to sense a transition year after Howard's top recruiting targets for this season slipped away and he's signed two five-star prospects in a loaded six-player class for next year.

yeah that might be a problem

There's also that pesky ongoing pandemic. Today, the NCAA announced it's moving the entire D-I men's basketball tournament to Indianapolis, which was previously slated to host the Final Four. The schedule is all but nonexistent less than two weeks before the season's supposed November 25th start date. Michigan doesn't have a 2020-21 schedule page on their official site. They've booked two games: the ACC/B1G Challenge matchup against NC State next month and a Nov. 29th tilt with Oakland, both taking place at the Crisler Center.

Seton Hall shut down practices last week, becoming the fourth Big East team to deal with a COVID outbreak this offseason. Tom Izzo and Jim Boeheim both tested positive for the virus in the last week; Izzo is physically isolating himself from Michigan State's program while Syracuse has had to shut down entirely after another member of the program tested positive. The voice of reason at the moment is the head coach of the Iona Gaels.

Save the Season. Move the start back. Play league schedule and have May Madness. Spiking and protocols make it impossible to play right now.

— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) November 14, 2020

Yes, that Rick Pitino. We're in a bad place, collectively. It's hard to have a season without a schedule; it's hard to have a schedule without some general guidelines for how to safely play in a pandemic.

Will they forge on? Almost certainly, whether they remain on schedule or not. March Madness is a cash cow the NCAA's member schools will let go unplayed for a second straight year only if there's no other option. I'm not here to endorse this course of action, only to write about it.

[Hit THE JUMP for SO, LET'S TALK MICHIGAN BASKETBALL]

might just do the damn thing this year [Campredon]

Should we get something resembling a real season, however, Michigan is going to be a fun program to watch even if visions of a Caleb Houstan/Moussa Diabate pick-and-roll dance through our heads on occasion. Despite graduating their point guard/center duo of the last three years, the Wolverines are loaded with experience and depth, as Howard is happy to point out:

I would say the strength of our team is that we have experience on all levels at all positions. A guy like Mike (Smith), who is a graduate senior. Austin Davis, another one. You talk about a guy like Chaundee [Brown], Isaiah [Livers], Eli [Brooks], all three are seniors. Then you have Franz [Wagner] who doesn’t play like a typical sophomore, he’s like a seasoned vet as I would say. It’s great to have that experience on the team, yes, even though some of them are new guys and some of them haven’t played together like it was last year where we had X and Jon Teske. Pretty much, we have a team that’s familiar with one another. So that’s good.

That's helped power Michigan to higher preseason projections than, to be frank, I expected. While the excitement around the program is similar to last year, when they earned a (hypothetical) six-seed in the NCAA tourney, KenPom projects the Wolverines to finish 17th nationally and Bart Torvik has them all the way up at 11th.

While there's some uncertainty at point guard and center, Michigan has multiple options at both positions, and they've got a glut of talented, versatile wings. Howard will be able to play traditional lineups, true small-ball lineups, small-ball lineups that are actually big, and most anything else he can dream up.

If a true lead ballhandler emerges from the fray, the Wolverines could rise above the Big Ten because of that versatility, high-level coaching, and strong two-way play. The primary hope here is Franz Wagner takes that Stauskasian second-year leap to become the main conduit of an offense that can operate around his playmaking. Perhaps Columbia grad transfer point guard Mike Smith is able to translate his Ivy League game to the Big Ten more ably than one would expect. Maybe we're underestimating Eli Brooks, again. They'll all get their shot.

Whether this team is Sweet Sixteen good or merely fighting for a top-four Big Ten seed good, there'll be plenty of intrigue, especially since keeping one eye on the future is actually a fun exercise with this particular Michigan program.

Wagner's usage will be an indicator for how the coaches want to use the highly talented wings set to enter the program and how much they'll develop in Ann Arbor. The split between five-out lineups with Brandon Johns at center and more traditional looks with Austin Davis or behemoth freshman Hunter Dickinson in the middle may help determine which player types Howard prefers recruiting up front. How will the offense evolve without Simpson there to run a ton of high screens (and, yes, also limit what you can do with him off the ball)? I'm excited to find out.

There's also a chance that, in a weird sport in a weirder year, Michigan makes a 2018-like deep tournament run. I wouldn't bet on it; it wouldn't shock me. No matter what, there should be a lot of momentum rolling into 2021-22, when we all can hopefully enjoy a burgeoning powerhouse a little more intimately. In the interim, this will be more than enough.