A Massive Michigan Win
Given the situation and the stakes, February wins in college basketball don't come much bigger than Michigan's 78-68 upset of Michigan State at a rocking Crisler Center on Saturday.
They had lost three straight at home. They had lost six of their last 10 games overall. They were in danger of falling out of the bracketologies with another defeat. The opponent was their biggest rival, who had won four straight in the series and is coached by a Hall of Famer. It was a game played before a sellout crowd, a nationally-televised audience, and with some of the top basketball recruits in the country in attendance.
No pressure.
Despite all the reasons in the world to collapse under the weight of the moment, the Wolverines instead put forth a virtuoso performance. Reminiscent of how they looked early in the season, when they were the toast of college basketball. And the result was probably the biggest win of the Juwan Howard era so far.
A sixth quad-1 win that is sure to bolster Michigan's NCAA Tournament resume, especially since only a handful of teams in the country have more. That's more quad-1 wins than San Diego State and Gonzaga, who were projected as No. 1 seeds if the season ended today by the Selection Committee. More than other luminaries like Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, Dayton, and Michigan State. All of whom also revealed to be Sweet 16 seeds on Saturday as well.
It was a total team win, too. Seven players scored at least seven points, which doesn't even include the lift Austin Davis gave the Wolverines off the bench with two key buckets in an efficiently effective 12 minutes. David DeJulius was a spark plug off the bench, too, out-scoring all but three Spartans.
And then there were the stalwarts.
Zavier Simpson led all Wolverines with 16 points, and it's only the second time since November that Michigan won a game when its star point guard has double-figure field goal attempts. But with Isaiah Livers back, the quality of shots available for Simpson improved dramatically. Gone were most of the desperate attempts by Simpson to dribble drive the defense with the shot clock winding down that had unfortunately become routine. Replaced by several open looks from three, which he buried four times to break Tom Izzo's vaunted defense.
Speaking of Livers, minus one befuddingly stretch to close the first half, his presence was an instant lift on both ends of the floor. He could very well be the best wing player in the Big Ten, and the respect he commands opens up opportunities for everyone else.
Throw in Franz Wagner's pesky defense, Eli Brooks' grabbing nine rebounds from his guard spot to help the Wolverines win the battle on the boards, and Jon Teske's thunderous one-handed alley-oop that permanently energized the Crisler crowd, and everyone did their part.
Finally, the Wolverines have certainly given the Selection Committee something t to think about. The committee has said for years it takes injuries into account when assessing a team's resume. Well, check out the difference in Michigan's resume with and without Livers:
With Livers
*10-4 record
*4-4 in quad-1 games (but he only played a little more than a half in one of those losses before being injured)
*83 points per game
Without Livers
*4-5 record
*2-6 in quad-1 games
*64 points per game
Translation: Michigan is a top 25 team with Livers, a bubble team without him.
Now it's about keeping him healthy and in the lineup, because in this Big Ten there's no nights off and no looking ahead.
