The Michigan basketball program had quite the travel scare yesterday when the plane taking them to Washington D.C. for the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament was forced to abort its takeoff and skidded off the runway. Michigan went right to work making sure everyone was safe (they were) and finding a new way to get to the tournament.
The Wolverines took off without a problem and landed safely in D.C. Thursday morning, and arrived at the arena at 10:41 a.m. for a game originally scheduled against Illinois at noon. Fortunately for Michigan, the Big Ten was willing to accommodate them a little bit.
The Big Ten pushed back the start of the first game of the day in the Big Ten Tournament by 20 minutes to allow Michigan some time to unwind from their travel and warm up prior to the game with the typical prep time allowed before a game. Why the Big Ten couldn’t just swap games in the lineup today is a bit of a mystery, but regardless, that’s how the schedule was adjusted. That’s just one part of the story, because Michigan is getting to the tournament without their uniforms.
Because the luggage with the uniforms for the tournament were stuck underneath the plane that rolled off the runway yesterday, Michigan had to come up with whatever they could gather. With everything coming together so quickly, this is the best Michigan could come up with on short notice.
Fans have been asking. Yes, our game uniforms did not make the trip. Today we wear:
Tops – 💛
Shorts -💙
Shoes – 💙Let's go to work! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/qGR06Oe9BD
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 9, 2017
Michigan will be wearing something that looks like a warm-up jersey. This is hardly an alternate uniform that will be thrown into the rotation any time soon, unless Michigan goes on a roll and captures the Big Ten championship.
Michigan Athletics Director Warde Manuel provided an update on the situation with the Big Ten Network.
Update from Michigan AD Warde Manuel on Michigan's journey to D.C. FYI: @umichbball unis are still on the plane. https://t.co/PWGIUwwy3h
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 9, 2017
If Michigan happens to move on in the Big Ten Tournament, we’ll see if they can get their hands on some more traditional uniforms, but the important part of this all is that everyone arrived in D.C. safely.
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