Daily Brews: Michigan assistant Phil Martelli speaks about cancelled NCAA Tournament

Michigan Basketball Assistant Coach Phil Martelli joined the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio to highlight his first season in Ann Arbor and discuss what his thoughts were just moments before their Big Ten Tournament run was going to begin.

“There was 1/100th of a sliver of my brain that said; well they didn’t announce the NCAA Tournament, maybe they are taking this time to figure out a way to somehow salvage the tournament. Then I smacked myself in the head and said; just look at your phone, the world is basically imploding here and some damn game is not going to be that important.”

Martelli praised how Juwan Howard handled the situation saying that he “spent some time with each player in a group setting, but he made it a personal conversation with each of them... The driving message in text in the morning to each player is (that) nobody is alone. We are going to come out on the other side and we are going to come out together... I don’t have an answer, but I have ears and a heart.”

Martelli touched on what is going to make Howard a great coach saying “Juwan is a very humble man in a profession where there isn’t much humility. He is comfortable in his own skin, he knows who he is, he is a servant, the game has given him a lot and now he wants to give that back. I’m amazed at how much he loves the gym. He loves practice. He loves the hands on individual work. Our big guys work with him every single day.” Martelli continue his praise the program as a whole, “Across the board at Michigan, I’m amazed at the excellence. Every person at Michigan wakes up and their first thought is: how are we going to get closer to winning a national championship. That to me has (me juiced). It really is a special place. My mission and my goal is to have Juwan Howard coach on a Monday night in April (the National Championship game). I believe that is certainly doable, and it certainly going to happen in the foreseeable future.”

A great message from one of the most experienced assistant coaches in the country who is helping a young blood like Juwan Howard in his first couple years of head coaching.

Former Michigan Wide Receiver Devin Funchess inks new deal

Funchess signed a one-year contract with the reigning NFC North Champion Green Bay Packers.

Funchess is a former second-round pick by the Carolina Panthers and played in Super Bowl 50 in his rookie season. Last season he was in Indianapolis with the Colts but suffered a fractured clavicle in his first game.

AD Warde Manuel reiterates praise of athletes and coaches

This is the second time in the past week that Manuel has publicly complimented the athletes at the university for their understanding and support of the university’s and NCAA’s decision to shut down sports for the remainder of the academic year.

Michigan promotes coloring at home!

Stuck at home and not sure what to do with the kids? The Michigan Athletic programs have you covered! Print some of these out and pull out those maize and blue crayons!

National Brews:

• The 2020 Tokyo Olympics officially will be postponed until 2021. However, Gregg Popovich and Jerry Colangelo are still committed to the USA Basketball sqaud.
• Fox and Fox Sports 1 will continue to broadcast the I-Racing series after receiving over 903,000 views on their last broadcast, the most in E-Sports history.
• Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the pilot release one of the most popular shows in TV history, The Office.