How does the Michigan basketball team get its mind right? By meditating

The Michigan basketball team has battled its share of shooting slumps this season.

Consider:

• Sophomore guard Tim Hardaway Jr. has made 13 of his last 47 shots (27.7 percent).
• Junior guard Matt Vogrich’s shooting percentage of 37.0 is the lowest of his career.
• Sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz went 4-for-25 in a four-game stretch in January.

Michigan coach John Beilein’s best solution for each slump has been continued repetition, forcing each player to shoot his way out of a funk. His secondary solution?

That’d be meditation.

“We (meditate) throughout the year, and we try to teach them some things about how to relax,” Beilein said Friday “A lot of athletes use it, and it’s important if they’re going to see themselves in positive (situations).”

Beilein says meditation allows each player to visualize themselves having success, whether that be a 3-point shooting slump, a free-throw funk or any other challenging situation in life.

Which is why he practices meditation as well.

“There’s a lot of ways to meditate. You can meditate through prayer and all sorts (of different ways),” he said….

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