LEADERSHIP LACKING AT MICHIGAN

When evaluating Michigan in the preseason, the consensus was to project on the production returning and assume the Wolverines would be just as good if not even better than the team that advanced to the second round of last year's NCAA tournament.

Manny Harris was returning, and so too were DeShawn Sims, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass. Plus the Wolverines would get a full year from Laval Lucas-Perry.

But what didn't come back -- what is clearly missing from this Michigan team -- is leadership from two players who were hardly perceived as necessities.

Gone from last year's team are seniors C.J. Lee and David Merritt, who played in all 35 games but were ninth and 12th respectively on the scoring list.

"They were born leaders," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "It was obvious to us. C.J. is already going into politics and David already has started his own company."

Manny Harris led Michigan to a NCAA win last year, but hasn't been able to make the Wolverines a contender this season.

As the Wolverines slumber through a disappointing 10-9 season (3-4 in the Big Ten), what is missing from this group is the locker room and practice leadership that clearly wasn't in place when Harris went awry last week. The junior guard was suspended for a behavioral issue in practice last week in advance of a game at Purdue. The Wolverines' leading scorer didn't play against the Boilermakers because of the action.

Beilein said Lee and Merritt were the type of players that were leaders in the locker room and during practice. They were the coach on the floor that a head coach desperately needs.

"Basketball is a flow sport where play continues," Beilein said. "It's not like football where you can have the quarterback huddle everyone up after a dropped pass."

Beilein said that Lee and Merritt didn't let last season's team drift. And this exact type of situation -- not knowing where the leadership might come from -- has occurred elsewhere this season. Like at Boston College, for example.

The Eagles didn't fret much about losing Tyrese Rice because he had a bit of an enigmatic personality and tended to drift. But what Rice could do, and had the respect to do it among his teammates, was get the Eagles refocused at times if the situation called for it. Biko Paris, who took over for Rice, doesn't have the demonstrative personality and neither does Reggie Jackson or Rakim Sanders. Senior Tyler Roche doesn't have that personality trait and neither does Joe Trapani. Yet, a lack of leadership in key moments has led to BC floundering in home games it should have won like against Rhode Island, Harvard and Maine.

But the Eagles (11-9, 2-4 ACC) were picked ninth in the ACC and even though they should have a much better record, there wasn't as high an expectation for them as there was for the Wolverines. Michigan, which lost to BC at home in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge in December, was ranked No. 15 in the preseason.

They didn't show leadership in late-game situations against Alabama in Orlando in the Old Spice Classic or at Indiana or against Northwestern at home.

Look, blaming the problems on the loss of Lee and Merritt may sound like an excuse, but no one has apparently filled the void. They need someone to act as an extension of Beilein, someone like Lee and Merritt who can be more assertive. If it doesn't happen soon, the Wolverines will be playing their final game this season in the NIT.