Michigan's Run is Defying Odds

Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. are showing why they're the best backcourt in the nation, Nik Stauskas just keeps making it rain. (Credits: Melanie Maxwell/AnnArbor.com)

Some say it's better to be hot come playoff time instead of simply being the best regular season team. In hockey it's a hot goalie. In baseball it's a starting pitcher in a groove. In football it's a quarterback in rhythm. In basketball it's crisp ball movement and chemistry. But the Michigan Wolverines are debunking that theory one NCAA Tournament win at a time.

Beginning in February, the final stretch-run month of college ball, the Wolverines finished 6-6 heading into the tournament including a disappointing loss to a very beatable Wisconsin team in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. For many, Michigan's #4 seed in the tournament was too high for a team that struggled against top-tier competition (4-5 against ranked opponents this season). No one wanted to touch the Wolverines in their brackets even though they were ranked #1 heading into the month of February. Their front court was looking soft, beaten and battered by tough, physical interior Big Ten play. Glenn Robinson III was looking lost out there, too slow for quicker players and overmatched by bigger forwards.

However, while they were sitting on their couches for a majority of the Big Ten Tournament, they stepped on the court in the first round and pounded a lowly South Dakota State team into submission. Still the buzz around the Wolverines was only a simmer. Michigan had apparently found their groove in that first game as they proceeded to thoroughly shredd Shaka Smart's "HAVOC" defense beating VCU by 25. This was the same team that only allowed six opponents to reach 70 points, yet Michigan put up 78 with ease. Mitch McGary absolutely overpowered the Rams interior defense with a 21-point, 14-rebound game. This was a wake up game for the country. This was when people were going to start realizing that Michigan's 20-2 start was far from a fluke. 

The lingering bad habits of February came creeping back in Michigan's Sweet Sixteen game as they fell behind 14 points deep into the second half. Jeff Withey, whom many predicted to overwhelm McGary and the weak Wolverines interior D, was doing exactly that for most of the game, but eventually things began to swing in Big Blue's favor. Trey Burke rebounded from a scoreless first half to finish with 23 points and 10 assists, including eight points in the game-tying 14-4 run. The best player in the country had awoken and the Jayhawks were in trouble. Burke's three-pointer which might as well have come from the 300 section was just the icing on top. Oh just in case you were wondering McGary finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds. The championship contender we were all gushing over in January was finally back and would get even better than ever.

With McGary and Burke leading the way, Michigan played probably its most complete game of the season in the Elite Eight against a tough Florida team. From the git-go the Wolverines ball movement was electric and absolutely devastating as they found three-point threat Nik Stauskas six times behind the arc. All six found nylon. Gator nation was run out of the building. Michigan was in NBA Jam mode. BOOOOOOOM-SHAKA-LAKA

We probably should have come to the realization earlier that probably aside from Louisville, Michigan was the most talented and complete team in the nation. Yeah, they didn't exactly have size persay, but they have the best backcourt tandem in the nation, a freshman big man who's playing like an absolute monster, and an athletic swingman in Glenn Robinson who's finally settled into his niche.  Add Stauskas' deadly range and you're pretty much looking at a championship team. We all knew this team had it in them, but they weren't showing it before this tournament. We've watched far too many teams bait us into believing in their potential and watching them fizzle out way before we expect. Michigan seemed destine for a similar result until seemingly everything clicked.

Now they meet a team on a totally different path in the next round. 'Cuse got hot in the Big East Tournament and have rode a suffocating zone to a surprising Final Four appearance. I fully expect the sizzling ball movement to continue and if so, expect Stauskas to light it up once again. Big Blue should move on.

Beating a silly motivated Louisville team in the National Championship, however? Now that's a different story.