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Back on the court. Basketball is practicing again:

After two weeks of forced quarantine, the Wolverines had their first official practice on Sunday. For 90 minutes at Crisler Center, things were back to normal for the No. 3 team in the country. …

Livers said conditioning could be a concern. “We know that game shape, basketball shape, is different than just running miles and miles,” he said. But he also said he’s “a thousand percent confident” Michigan can pick up where it left off.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Howard said of his team’s conditioning. “There’s nothing like playing five on five. That will be part of our conditioning as well, to get our rhythm back.”

Wisconsin on Sunday is Michigan's first game off the layoff. They'll have five games to make up—it's unlikely all of them get rescheduled. Per Brendan Quinn, the Big Ten's first priority is getting everyone to play each other at least once so the Illinois game will get back on there somehow; Michigan has either played or has games scheduled against Northwestern, PSU, Indiana, and MSU.

More from that Quinn article about the daunting task facing anyone trying to reassemble the schedule in full:

Michigan would need to shoehorn 11 games into a 22-day window in order to play a full 20-game schedule. Nebraska, meanwhile, has to make up six postponements. Illinois and Michigan State each have three games needing to be rescheduled. Indiana and Penn State have two apiece.

Quinn broaches the idea of teams signing off on two games in three days or back-to-backs. If I had a dollar I'd bet that the MSU game that needs to get made up ends up being immediately before or after the currently scheduled M-MSU season finale at Breslin.

Bafflingly, the conference commissioner Quinn talked to could not confirm what would happen to the regular season championship in the event of uneven numbers of games. Just do winning percentage. There's no other sane way.

[After THE JUMP: Denard!]

The move. The conference tournament has moved to Indianapolis, which is where the NCAA tournament is going to be. Makes sense, kind of think they should dump the bottom four teams but that is apparently not happening.

RIP Robert Zavala. One of Michigan's prominent ushers died from COVID at the terribly young age of 49. Andrew Kahn on his life:

With the event team, working your way up entails literally working your way down. “As we get to know them and see their strengths, that’s when we move people to specialized positions,” says guest relations coordinator Terri Stocker. “(Robert) exuded that welcoming personality.”

It wasn’t long before he’d moved down to the tunnel at both Michigan Stadium and Crisler.

At football games, Zavala helped recruits and their families navigate the sport’s biggest stadium. He oversaw the visiting team’s buses, making sure they got in and out of the parking lot safely -- no small feat when the Spartans or Buckeyes came to town.

At Crisler, he worked north tunnel security, making the 100-minute drive from Midland to arrive as many as five hours before tip. Five-foot-11 and thick, Zavala looked the part of a bouncer but his actual job better suited his personality.

“He was always the friendliest guy,” says Todd Lipa, an event team staffer and friend. “Everybody loved to talk to Robert. He always wanted to make you feel like you had the greatest experience at the Big House or Crisler.”

Extremely Michigan relevant. Basketball's best shooters by location on the floor:

NCAA’s Best Shooter by Zone

(min 6 games charted) pic.twitter.com/hkWxdqt6LH

— Fifth Factor Plots (@5th_Factor) February 9, 2021

That's two Michigan players in the corners and transfer Colin Castleton in the high-ish post. Castleton has blown up this year, shooting 61% from the floor and checking in with a top-20 block rate. Quick check on Hoop Lens suggests that Florida is way worse on defense when he's on the floor, FWIW.

SP+ drumroll. Preseason SP+ rankings are out. Michigan checks in 23rd, fifth in the Big Ten behind OSU (4th), Wisconsin (9th), Penn State(14th) and Iowa (16th). Have to take those with a bigger grain of salt than usual because of the bizarre nature of last season, particularly as it applies to an injury and opt-out devastated Michigan team.

Denard on NIL. Ethan Sears interviews the guy who always comes to mind when name and image licensing comes up: Denard Robinson. Robinson's bubbly personality, cheetah speed, and lack of an NFL position means that he would have made a ton of money from NIL; his brief NFL career means that more of his football earnings potential was taken from him than just about anyone else, possibly in the country. Robinson:

“College guys gonna need a union,” Robinson said. “And I say that because they’re gonna need someone to represent them. Cause somebody gotta be in that room to represent them. If it’s just NCAA people representing them, well then they’re gonna look out for the best for themselves. So I think somebody’s gonna have to be in that room to represent them and come up with some solutions.”

Also Robinson panics when Sears tells him he's never played NCAA. The culture has suffered.

Etc.: I'm not sure why people are posting this on the internet again but sure I'll link Craig Ferguson's 2007 Britney Spears monologue. Also a recent follow-up article on it. Reviewing this year's Super Bowl commercials. Regent Ron Weiser should resign. Are you interested in a bubble watch with no mention of Michigan State? Patrick Mahomes re-enacted.