There are certain philosophies in sports that we cling to and that's part of what makes sports debates so intriguing and passionate.  One of those came about Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin when Michigan lost to the Badgers in overtime.  The Wolverines led by three with 2.4-seconds remaining and they chose not to guard the inbound pass, allowing Mike Bruesewitz to find a sprinting Ben Brust in stride and throw in a 42-foot halfcourt prayer to force the extra session.  Michigan head coach John Beilein instructed his team to foul on the catch, knowing they had two fouls to give, but freshman Caris Levert didn't do that and the rest is Badgers basketball history.  I am suprised at the number of basketball-knowledgeable people I know who want to blame the coach.  You can blame the coach for not guarding Bruesewitz and that's fine-that makes for great debate, but to blame him for having Levert in the game, or even blame him for the freshman not carrying out the game plan is ignorant and uneducated.  You play your best five defensive players at the end of the game like that and Levert is, arguably, their best on-ball defensive player. He was specifically told to foul on the catch.  He was also told, as was every player, in film, walk-thru and in the timeout huddles, to "press" on Ben Brust because of the junior's ability to score three's (he had 48 on the year and was the 11th best three point shooter in the league). But Levert didn't do that either on Brust's overtime triple that put Wisconsin up for good.  You can tell a player to do something, but eventually that player HAS to do it.  You don't know if he'll succeed or fail until he actually does one or the other. Levert has been put in games late for the same reason he was put in Saturday and succeeded and no one ever criticized the move and yet they want to now.  Those are the same people who might have watched a handful of UM games this year.  Look, Levert is at fault, but he was worried about fouling Brust and putting him at the line for three and of course then every fan out there would have been screaming, "why foul a guy 40-plus feet from the basket, make him hit the shot...what are the chances?" Had Brust missed the halfcourt heave, people in Wisconsin might have been screaming he had more time to get the shot away-why take it so quickly? It's easy to do all of this as we sit on a coach or in our favorite lounge chair.  It's more challenging when the play is occurring and you have a split second to decide. 

[PODCAST]: UM-MSU PREVIEW 2-11-13 
Shep talks about the upcoming Michigan-Michigan State basketball game in East Lansing, and looks back at the Wolverines’ loss at Wisconsin.