There are two vision-related proverbs that apply to this year's Michigan basketball team: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and "seeing is believing."
Michigan won several games this season that, to some, weren't pretty. Home wins over Northwestern and Rutgers come to mind, as does the victory at Texas. Michigan didn't surpass 62 points in any of them.
Michigan assistant coach Luke Yaklich liked what he saw in those games. And it was important that the players saw it too.
"What you ultimately have to have when you're growing a defensive culture is a couple games where the offense doesn't play well -- which you never want to happen -- but you win because of (defense)," Yaklich said last weekend after Michigan rode a stingy defense to a Big Ten Tournament championship.