COLUMN: Is U-M A 'Basketball School' Now? Will This Be Howard’s Best Team?

Michigan reached its fourth Elite Eight in eight seasons and is looking for its third Final Four in the same period of time. The Wolverines are now officially one of the top programs of the last decade, and Juwan Howard isn’t showing any signs that he’s going to allow that to change.

And yes, you need to mention (and it’s okay to point out) that John Beilein got the Wolverines to this level. A reader recently pointed out that most articles about this team recently have included reference to the former coach, as though that somehow deflected from giving Howard credit.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve said it many times — Howard has done an incredible job, particularly this season, with a blend of his players and by taking the best of Beilein and implementing some of his own stuff (more post touches, inside-out offense) and coaching it brilliantly.

The Wolverines looked like a Beilein-coached team offensively last game, and that’s the highest compliment we can give. In fact, the Wolverines have been outstanding on that end in two of the last three games and for much of the tournament.

Big Ten coaches always used to talk about what a relief it was to get out of conference play, where every team knows your every tendency, so they could get the offense working against fresh sets of eyes. Howard might say the same. As one subscriber recently pointed out, his team notched 19 assists on 26 made baskets against Texas Southern, 22 on 28 against LSU and 19 dimes on 29 made in the win over FSU.

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That totals 60 assists to 83 made baskets in the three games, 15 in the second half against the Seminoles. Overall, that’s a 72.2 percent rate … simply outstanding and a mark of a team that shares the ball extremely well.