Things have been going smoothly so far for the Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team in Indianapolis, with the club set to play its first-round NCAA Tournament game at Purdue’s Mackey Arena in West Lafayette Saturday afternoon against either Mount St. Mary’s or Texas Southern.

The living arrangements and conditions are unsurprisingly not ideal, and that includes the food. Freshman center Hunter Dickinson snapchatted a picture yesterday of the meal he was served in Indianapolis, which included skimpy (and that’s putting it mildly) rations.

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“Coach [Juwan] Howard told us last night how we need to embrace the suck and buy in, no matter the conditions,” Dickinson told the media this morning. “We have to overcome, and that starts with even the food.

“From now on, you won’t hear me complaining about the food and I’ll embrace the suck. We’re doing the best with the circumstances we’ve been given. We’re just fortunate to be out here and playing and will hopefully win a national championship.”

Dickinson wasn’t afraid to talk about the lofty goals his Wolverines have over the next few weeks, despite the facts senior forward Isaiah Livers is out with injury and the squad has lost three of its last five games.

Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament semifinal setback against Ohio State was Michigan’s first full game without Livers in the fold, meaning the team has had at least a little experience of what it’s like playing without the veteran.

Junior forward Brandon Johns started in his place and racked up seven points and eight rebounds.

“The transition has been pretty seamless,” Dickinson noted. “It won’t be a perfect fit of the glove situation. Brandon Johns is a little different than Livers, though his strengths include playing closer to the basket while Isaiah is more of a bigger wing.

“Brandon is a stronger four-man who can take his matchup down low. Coach Howard has done a great job treating Brandon like Isaiah and not switching up the offense too much.

“We all have enormous confidence in Brandon. We know what he’s capable of and have seen it in every practice every day. Confidence is the biggest thing for him and that Ohio State game really helped, because he played well during it.”

Livers’ absence means there will be more on the shoulders of U-M’s other key players, with Dickinson being one of the most logical candidates of those who need to step up.

He leads the team in both scoring (14.2 points per game) and rebounding (7.6) on the year, but made it clear he’s “not going to press the issue” in the wake of Livers’ injury.

“It’ll be a team effort, and I just want to do my part to help the team win,” he explained while discussing how the club will overcome the senior’s absence. “Maybe that’s scoring 20 points or getting 20 rebounds or getting assists or diving on the floor … I want to affect winning as much as I can.

“You can’t win with just one player in the Tournament and the team has bought into that.”

Prognosticators aren’t as high on Michigan as they once were with all that transpired over the last two weeks or so, with some “experts” tabbing the Wolverines as a likely candidate to make an early exit.

Are the Maize and Blue players listening to that outside noise? Of course not, and nor should they be.

“I don’t care if the public thinks we’re going to win,” Dickinson laughed. “We take each game one at a time and in a slow grind. It’s easy to look forward to the Final Four and national championship, but you can’t get there without winning the first game.

“We’re doing a good job of not focusing on what the media says, because we don’t care. If we listened to them, we would’ve finished sixth in the Big Ten [which is where many outlets had them projected prior to the year].”

Notes

• Howard was plenty familiar with success at the highest level as a player in the NCAA Tournament, having played for national titles during both his freshman and sophomore years, before advancing to the Elite Eight as a junior in 1994.

The only clubs who ousted Howard’s Wolverines during all three of his seasons were the eventual national champions — Duke in 1992, North Carolina in 1993 and Arkansas in 1994.

“I haven’t really asked him much about his runs as a player,” Dickinson admitted. “He talked to us about how the Tournament can set you up for life if you do well. Coach Howard has told us to treat every game like it could be our last, because the next time we lose will be our last game of the season.”

• Every single college basketball fan seems to have favorite March Madness memories etched in their brains, whether it be monumental upsets, Cinderella runs or any of the other dramatic storylines that occur during the game’s best month.

“It’s something every basketball fan looks forward to,” Dickinson exclaimed when asked to recall some of his favorite personal memories. “The emotions out there are so genuine and it’s the best thing that has happened to a lot of those players.

“Florida Gulf Coast [making the Sweet Sixteen in 2013] and Loyola-Chicago [making the Final Four in 2018] and the Cinderella teams are some of the memories I have, making noise in the tournament and making a name for themselves.

“We’ll try to make a lot of noise too and hopefully we’ll do what we can to win this national championship and make history ourselves.”

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