Premium content
PREMIUM CONTENT
Published Mar 28, 2021
Michigan vs. Florida State Preview, Lineup Breakdown, Prediction & More
Clayton Sayfie  •  Maize&BlueReview
Staff Writer
Twitter
@CSayf23

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — No. 1-seeded Michigan Wolverines basketball took care of business in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, beating No. 16 seed Texas Southern and No. 8 seed LSU. Now, the Maize and Blue are set to take on No. 4 seed Florida State in the East regional semifinals.

The Seminoles beat No. 13 seed UNC Greensboro in the first round and used a huge second half in which they won 47-33 to beat No. 5 seed Colorado by a final score of 71-53. Head coach Leonard Hamilton, who was the head coach of the Washington Wizards in 2000-01 when Michigan head man Juwan Howard was a player, led his club to a second-place finish in the ACC regular season.

Both teams lost three of their last five games ahead of the NCAA Tournament but have regained momentum, enough so that they're both two of the 12 teams remaining in the tournament on day two of the Sweet 16.

Below is insight on the matchup between the Wolverines and the Seminoles, a breakdown of each team's lineup, intel on FSU from Ira Schoffel of Warchant.com and more.

RELATED: Michigan's Terrance Williams Stays Ready So He Doesn't Have To Get Ready

RELATED: Michigan Getting More Comfortable With Living In Indy, Life Without Livers

Michigan Wolverines Basketball vs. Florida State Seminoles: Game Time, Betting Line, How To Watch, More

Date: Sunday, March 28, 2021

Time: 5 p.m. ET

Venue: Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Channel: CBS (Stream: March Madness Live)

On The Call: Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst) & Tracy Wolfson (sideline)

Radio: Detroit: WWJ-Radio (950 AM) | Ann Arbor: WWWW (102.9 FM)

On The Call: Brian Boesch (play-by-play) & Terry Mills (analyst)

Line: Michigan -2

Over/Under: 143

KenPom Prediction: Michigan 75, Florida State 71 (65 percent chance of a Wolverine win)

Clayton Sayfie Prediction: Michigan 72, Florida State 68

The Matchup

Florida State is the tallest team in the country, according to Kenpom, with its players on the roster having an average height of 6-foot-7.6. This gives the Seminoles much of their identity and it impacts the game in a multitude of ways.

Defensively, FSU's size makes it hard for opposing teams to enter the ball into the post and score inside the arc, with the Seminoles allowing opponents to shoot just 43.9 percent from two-point range, which is the 10th-best mark in the country. They also block 5.1 shots per game, which checks in at 11th nationally.

Hamilton's style of defense is predicated largely on bringing a lot of help defense. The Seminoles collapse on drivers who get in the paint and post-up players who have the ball on the block. That forces tough shots, which leads to the stats listed above and a defense that ranks 20th in the country overall.

Click the image to sign up for TheWolverine.com, free for 60 days!

But it also leads to some opportunities for opposing offenses. FSU allows a lot of kick-out passes to the perimeter and has a tough time defending them, yielding 0.93 points per possession (223rd nationally) on such plays. The Seminoles' three-point defense ranks 105th in the nation, as they allow opponents to shoot 32.6 percent from long range.

If Michigan can penetrate and force help, it will have open players spotted up at the three-point line who can then either shoot or attack close-outs. The ball movement that the Wolverines showed against LSU — which amounted in 22 assists on 28 made buckets — and perimeter shooting (46.2 percent) will have to be there.

Shown in the video below are some examples of opponents attacking FSU's help defense.

info icon
Embed content not availableManage privacy settings

FSU also switches everything defensively, so Michigan likely won't get open looks as a product of the Seminoles going under ball screens, but the Wolverines will get some favorable matchups in the form of a bigger and slower player matched up against their guards and a smaller player on freshman center Hunter Dickinson and others in the post at times.

Subscribe to read more.
Unlock Premium news from the largest network of experts.
Say your piece in exclusive fan communities.
Dominate with stats, athlete data, Rivals250 rankings, and more.
Go Big. Get Premium.Log In