INDIANAPOLIS, IND. — No. 1 seed Michigan Wolverines basketball knocked off No. 8 seed LSU in the NCAA Tournament's round of 32 to advance to its fourth straight Sweet 16 and sixth in eight postseasons.
Here is a look around the country at what they're saying about the Maize and Blue.
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Chris Balas, The Wolverine: Michigan Basketball, The 3-2-1: Sweet Yet Again
Juwan Howard pushed almost all the right buttons.
Let’s be honest … there’s not much Howard or anybody else would have been able to do to slow LSU’s offense in the first half. Cam Thomas and Javonte Smart made ridiculous contested shots, and it appeared the Tigers might even run U-M out of the gym.
But Howard let his team know in the huddle it couldn’t continue, keeping them confident and urging them to stay the course. He also drew up some plays so they’d be more aggressive offensively, and that (and some timely shooting) got them back in the game.
“We started attacking the basket. We didn't settle for jumpers,” Howard said. “We also got some stops. Yeah, LSU made some tough shots, some that were well-contested. That was easily where we could have put our head down, start to point the finger … but our guys kept grinding it, grinding it.
"Each possession, we got stops when we needed it. We also continued to attack the basket and not settle, but we also made some good shots that were open.”
The only gripe — the lineup in which frosh Terrance Williams and Austin Davis were on the floor at the same time. It doesn’t work, and he stuck with it for a minute too long in the second half, leading to a five-point run for the Tigers.
Beyond that — he got the most out of his group in encouraging them to “empty the tank,” and they needed every bit of gas to get by an underrated opponent.
Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: Fab Five Takeaways From Michigan's NCAA Tournament Win Over LSU
5. Death, taxes, Michigan basketball making deep tournament runs
Michigan fans were celebrating inside Lucas Oil Stadium for as long as security would let them hang around. Droves of spectators wearing Maize and Blue tried to get as close to the Wolverines’ tunnel as possible to share an embrace with Howard and his team, while others filled the concourse with echoes of some of their most favorite chants.
They did this, of course, with good reason.
Their team is headed to its fourth straight Sweet 16 and sixth second-weekend appearance in the last eight tournaments. Gonzaga is the only other team in the country that has made the last four Sweet 16s. The Maize and Blue have the most NCAA Tournament wins — 20 — out of any team in the land over the last nine years.
In this uncertain world, it’s pretty easy to predict the Wolverines to make a deep tourney run at this point, which makes it all the more puzzling that national experts and fans of the sport had the Maize and Blue bowing out this weekend, even with the absence of Livers and the fact that this is Howard’s first postseason as a head man.
Now, Michigan is into the ‘coin flip round,’ where a battle is expected in just about every game and you just never know how far you can get. The Wolverines are two wins away from the Final Four. Again.
This has become the norm. While other Big Ten schools like Purdue and Iowa often struggle in the NCAA Tournament after stellar regular seasons, Michigan seems to find a way to play its best ball at the right time. We're willing to bet Purdue fans would trade some of those conference titles for a bit more magic in March.
"That's what we expect at Michigan, senior guard Eli Brooks, who just played in his 11th NCAA Tournament game, said of the team's postseason success in recent years.
Juwan Howard said after the game that his team will rest April 6th (the national championship game is April 5th). After surviving and advancing Monday night, they’re one step closer to their ultimate goal to play and win on one more Monday this year.
The eighth-seeded Tigers may have been quicker and more athletic with Thomas (30 points) and Smart (27 points) but they couldn’t burn that hot all game. Not when Michigan can throw 7-footer Hunter Dickinson at them, and then, just when LSU might’ve figured the Wolverines’ tank was running low, here came Franz Wagner to light it up at the end. He scored nine points in a three-minute stretch, and suddenly a close game was broken open.
This was only the third full game without Livers, and adjustments continue. But the adaptability is evident, especially in Brooks, who has morphed from a defensive guy into a creator into a lethal shooter. He scored a career-high 21 points on seven-for-11 shooting and added seven assists.
“My shot is feeling as good as it has all year,” Brooks said. “I’ve said it since the beginning of the year, this is the deepest team I’ve ever been a part of. We have a lot of shooters and we have a post presence in Hunter and Austin [Davis]. They draw a lot of attention, so you get a lot of open shots.”
And that’s not even the essence of this team. With Howard, it’s always defense, and that’s the reason the Wolverines might be able to withstand Livers’ absence. After the Tigers’ hot start, they finished 39 percent from the field, 29 percent on 3-pointers.
“I think the defense really sparked our pace and sparked our offense,” Brooks said. “To be honest, it was just about wearing on them, making everything tough. It was mostly just staying the course.”
Howard’s theme never changes. He doesn’t like to single out star players at the risk of diminishing someone else. He doesn’t like to focus on a hot-shooting effort at the risk of disregarding defense. And he certainly doesn’t like to limit players’ potential by pegging them into a certain role.
Brendan Quinn, The Athletic: Chaundee Brown, Eli Brooks and another Sweet 16 for Michigan basketball
Michigan basketball is at the point where the Sweet 16 is an achievement, but eyes in the program are much larger. This isn’t some quaint team looking to pen some memories. Players have openly talked about their national championship goals for weeks and months. On Monday, Chaundee Brown said the team doesn’t have time to get tired and will “rest in April, after we win the natty.”
For Brooks, this marks his third trip to the Sweet 16 with Michigan. As a freshman, he was a deep reserve for a team that lost to Villanova in the national championship game. As a sophomore, he was a backup guard for a team that was knocked out in the second weekend by Texas Tech. Last year neither he nor anyone else got a chance, as the postseason was claimed by COVID-19.
Now Brooks is a senior. There is no deferring. If Michigan has a run to the title game in it, Brown and Brooks will play integral parts with the pieces around them.
The goal, if anything, is for Monday’s win over LSU only to fade into a passing memory.
The goal is to turn the next two hours into something even bigger, even greater.
How significant was the victory for the conference? Had Michigan lost, the Big Ten would have missed out on the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2006. The Big Ten's other top programs all flopped in rapid succession through the first two rounds.
No. 11 Michigan State lost a play-in game to UCLA. No. 2 Ohio State lost to No. 15 Oral Roberts and No. 4 Purdue lost to No. 13 North Texas in first-round stunners.
No. 1 Illinois — the Big Ten Tournament champion — lost to No. 8 Loyola Chicago on Sunday, and No. 2 Iowa was run off the floor by No. 7 Oregon on Monday afternoon. No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 10 Rutgers and No. 10 Maryland all were eliminated in the second round, too.
"Just like football" comparisons started, and in the most unflattering way possible. This felt like another New Year's Day massacre. The validity of the Big Ten's strong regular season was shredded, and the prevailing thought was that these teams wore out each other.
Leave it to the school that takes the brunt of that football criticism to save basketball, at least for one more weekend. The Wolverines did that, unlike football, by throwing their game back in the SEC's face.
Myron Medcalf, ESPN.com: Reseeding the men's March Madness 2021 field for the Sweet 16
3. Michigan Wolverines (Original seed: No. 1. Reseed: No. 1)
Many teams would have significantly regressed if they'd lost a player like Isaiah Livers (13.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game) just before the NCAA tournament. And with Juwan Howard declaring that the standout is still "out indefinitely" following his team's 86-78 win over LSU in the second round on Monday, it's safe to assume Livers will probably be sidelined in the coming weeks too. But Michigan's depth has allowed the top seed to advance and still look like a team that can chase a championship. Brandon Johns (11 points) gave Michigan a boost against Texas Southern in the first round. Eli Brooks (21 points) carried Michigan against a relentless LSU squad. The Wolverines are averaging 84.0 PPG through two matchups in the NCAA tournament. This stretch has been a reminder that Michigan is still a force.
The Wolverines (22-4) are not the same team that dominated Big Ten play to claim the league's regular season title. The loss of veteran Isaiah Livers has forced coach Juwan Howard to re-establish his team's identity in the NCAA Tournament. As talented as 7-1 freshman Hunter Dickinson and 6-9 sophomore Franz Wagner are on offense, it's their defense that can make Michigan a force. Guard Eli Brooks has stepped up, too, finishing with 21 points and seven assists in the win over LSU.
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