Michigan isn't going to the NCAA Tournament, but the Wolverines will be in the Big Ten tournament. That's OK with the NCAA, but could be a problem for other Big Ten teams looking to get the conference's automatic bid.

It won't, however, affect the Big Ten teams already in line to receive at-large bids come March. Confusing? Not really, especially for the Big Ten, which has been down this road before.

	"	It's nice to see our kids make us a factor and a contender. Beating Michigan State is a big deal in itself, and I'm proud of how far we've come. But we've got a long way to go. "
		— Tommy Amaker, Michigan head coach

Michigan goes in front of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions on Feb. 14, but it's place in the conference tournament is secure. Michigan put itself on a one-year postseason ban, but the conference decided to allow the Wolverines to play in its postseason tournament. So, when the Wolverines state their case in the Ed Martin-booster payment scandal, which scarred the memory of the Fab Five years in the early 1990s, it could result in further NCAA sanctions. It won't, however, affect the conference's ruling.

Tom Yeager, the commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association and the chair of the infractions committee, said a decision by the committee isn't expected for six to eight weeks after the hearing. That means Michigan's postseason ban, as it pertains to the NCAA Tournament, will stand. But, regardless, the NCAA has no jurisdiction over suspending teams for conference tournaments.

"These are institutional penalties," Yeager said. "And, yes, innocent people can be affected. The school is being punished. They had a clear advantage during the violations. In life, there are consequences, and in this case, they are for the school."

Yeager said the NCAA doesn't frown on conferences in line to receive multiple bids, such as the Big Ten, allowing a team on probation to play in its conference tournament. And there is precedent in the Big Ten, when Minnesota played in the 2000 conference tournament while on probation during the 1999-2000 season.

If the Wolverines win the conference tournament, the Big Ten's automatic bid simply goes to the regular-season champion. If that happens to be the Wolverines, which isn't a stretch, considering Michgian is 6-1 and a half-game up on Illinois in conference play, the bid goes to the second-place team. If there is a tie, there are tiebreaking procedures for the berth.

The Big Ten is, however, running the risk of sending less teams to the dance if Michigan knocks off a bubble team or two in Chicago. But in the NCAA's eyes, the conference will send a qualified team to the NCAA Tournament, regardless of where Michigan finishes. Why? There are plenty of other contenders. The same, however, can't be said of a team on probation out of a one-bid league. Yeager said it wouldn't make much sense for a conference like his own CCA to allow that team in its conference tournament because of the risk it would take of sending a non-deserving team to the NCAA Tournament.

But, put to rest any thoughts that Michigan's success this season will have a bearing on the committee -- in either direction.

Yeager is adamant that the committee will deal with the facts of the case, not the record of the present Michigan team. His analogy was California and Kentucky football. Each was placed on one-year bowl bans two years ago when each were struggling programs. Then, both became bowl-eligible teams this past season. The penalty did look tougher since they were eligible, but the committee felt the penalty was justified, even when the programs appeared further away than just one year from qualifying for a bowl.

And, as for the common argument that it's not fair to punish these Michigan players, who had nothing to do with the violations. Well, that doesn't wash with the committee, either.

	If Daniel Horton and the Wolverines win the Big Ten tournament, the automatic bid goes to the regular-season champs.

Nevertheless, a number of schools around the country are waiting to see how the NCAA handles Michigan's case, considering the huge sums of money involved (more than $500,000 in overall payments).

"It was a significant amount of money," Yeager said. "We'll just have to see the report to see how we're going to handle it."

In addition to the postseason ban, the rest of Michigan's self-imposed penalties were largely ceremonial, such as taking down banners, erasing records and handing back the money earned during those years.

"We'll just have to see if it went far enough," Yeager said.

Regardless of what happens next week, Michigan is the story in the Big Ten this season. The Wolverines went from 0-6 to winning 13 straight games and becoming a factor in the Big Ten race again. Coach Tommy Amaker got this team to blend rather than quit. He also has one of the best freshmen in the country in guard Daniel Horton, two crusty veterans in LaVell Blanchard and Bernard Robinson, and there is a renewed passion for playing that hadn't been seen around Michigan for the past five years.

The Wolverines' commitment to themselves, to defense, and to playing with poise, led them to wins at Ohio State and over Michigan State. Michigan gave up 80 or more points in four of the first six losses of the season. During the 13-game win streak, the Wolverines gave up 70 or more points only twice.

"We did recommit to defense," Amaker said. "We were able to show them rewards come from it."

During the three games in the Virgin Islands to start the season, Amaker said the Wolverines weren't ready for a team like Saint Bonaventure -- a pressing, experienced team. The losses to Virginia Tech and Kansas State compounded the defensive problems. So, too, did losses back home to Western Michigan and Central Michigan. Losing at Duke was understandable, no matter the issues.

Getting rid of backup point guard Avery Queen (dumped for a violation of team rules) after the first three games and watching backup guard Dommanic Ingerson bolt (to San Francisco) didn't affect the team. It might have actually helped this crew. While Amaker says it might be overblown a bit, having everyone in the program that wanted to be there certainly helped turn things around in January.

"It's not like we couldn't use Avery, because we didn't need Daniel Horton playing 40 minutes (at the point)," Amaker said. "With Ingerson, we're not sure he wanted to compete with the kids we had and those coming in. That could have been a distraction if he weren't playing as much. But it still takes away our depth. But we have great chemistry."

Michigan's "team" play can be seen throughout the streak, but especially in beating Michigan State. When the Wolverines can beat the Spartans without a field goal from LaVell Blanchard, well, that's a monumental achievement. Just beating Michigan State, in the teams' only meeting this season, will give Michigan plenty of recruiting buzz in the offseason.

"It's a signal that we're competitive after getting pasted the last few years," Amaker said. "And it's even more significant that we only played once this season."

And the mantra of being a team that is deserving of the NCAA, even if it's not eligible, has worked so far.

"It's nice to see our kids make us a factor and a contender," Amaker said. "Beating Michigan State is a big deal in itself, and I'm proud of how far we've come. But we've got a long way to go."

Regardless of what happens with the NCAA infractions committee, this group of Wolverines players and coaches have handled the situation with class.

Weekly Chatter

What we're hearing ...

At UCLA ... The Bruins are already locking up their usual monster non-conference games, for whoever the coach is next season. UCLA will host Notre Dame, Michigan State and play Kentucky in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim. The Bruins will then go to Michigan and St. John's. The usual SoCal suspects are expected to be calling in Pauley Pavilion like UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine. Whoever gets the UCLA job after Steve Lavin (Pitt's Ben Howland is the coach of choice for now) won't have any givens.

At Memphis ... Billy Richmond isn't getting any sympathy from the locals for a few comments that came across as whining about his playing situation. Memphis coach John Calipari was the one person supporting him, but he won't have him in his corner if Richmond doesn't buy into the team concept. The Tigers have hit the skids in Conference USA, losing at Southern Miss, home to South Florida and at Saint Louis. What happened? "Defense," Calipari said. "Teams were shooting 50 percent against us during that stretch, whereas before we were holding teams to 40 percent or less." Calipari isn't too worried. The Tigers still have wins over Syracuse, Illinois, Ole Miss, Villanova and at Arkansas. But Calipari is a realist, too. "We'll get judged on our last 10 games," Calipari said. "This should have been a wakeup call for us. The committee can't take away our wins." The problem is that six of Memphis' final nine games are on the road, including stops at Louisville and South Florida.

In the Big East ... The conference needs to be more forthright in its discipline of officials. If the officials who were working the Seton Hall-Georgetown game are held out of a game, that needs to be made known to the public. Counting five players on each team should be Officiating 101 for a referee. The fact that two plays went by with six Seton Hall players on the court is an egregious error. It still makes no sense that Seton Hall coach Louis Orr had no idea until after the game. If six players were on the court, then when they came back to the bench and he sent five back out, then that means he replaced one player with nobody. Wouldn't you know that six players are coming toward you on the bench? Seton Hall ended up with one power-play basket and Georgetown's Gerald Riley ended up scoring a short-handed basket when he went one on six to tie the game.

At Notre Dame ... The Irish staff is confident now that point guard Chris Thomas has settled down in big games. He was trying to too much against Pittsburgh (2 for 15) and Kentucky (4 for 17). But the staff is working on Thomas' preparation to ensure that he doesn't get too worked up for the big games. If Thomas is calm and just plays without trying to be the star, the Irish have a chance for a deep NCAA run. Simply setting up Matt Carroll (20.4 ppg, 38.4 percent on 3s) will take this team far enough. Carroll might be the most consistent shooting guard in the Big East and should get the first look off of Notre Dame for any all-Big East honors.

At Butler ... The Bulldogs chose to play Duke instead of participating in the Bracket Buster Saturday event (Feb. 22). The reason? Todd Lickliter said over the summer that he thought the Duke game would give him more power rating games. Well, we're still not sure about that. Butler moved from No. 51 to 49 on the RPI list, while its strength of schedule went from 232 to 191 after losing by 20 to Duke on Thursday night. If Butler had played in the Bracket Buster it would have had a chance to win a game, possibly at home against Fresno State or Hawaii, or if maybe Creighton or Kent State (if the committee would have sent one of those teams on the road). The Bulldogs still lack a quality win outside of beating Western Kentucky in Hawaii. Butler might have enough wins to warrant consideration, but their RPI is still not moving high enough to where the Bulldogs are a lock ... if they don't win the Horizon League's automatic bid, again.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the year.