Michigan 76, Florida State 58, Elite Eight Bound
Florida State guard MJ Walker faced up in the post on should've-been Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Franz Wagner. Wagner swatted the shot to the baseline, won the race to the ball, and bonked it off Walker's head to ensure Michigan retained possession even if Walker hadn't been whistled for a foul on the way.
Wagner's ensuing bonus free throws put the Wolverines up 20 with just over four minutes to play. That about sums up how this supposedly difficult Sweet Sixteen matchup played out, and now M finds themselves in their fourth Elite Eight in the last eight NCAA Tournaments. It is, of course, Juwan Howard's first as a coach, though the setting won't be unfamiliar to him.
Michigan outclassed Florida State in the British sense, looking more skilled, taking far better care of the ball, and passing with exquisite precision. They never trailed after the score was 4-2 Seminoles, bullied their way to an 11-point halftime lead despite shooting 33% from the field, and dismantled FSU's defense in the second half.
Even though Isaiah Livers has now officially been ruled out of the rest of the NCAA Tournament, Michigan is cruising into an Elite Eight matchup against the winner of Alabama/UCLA looking as strong as they have all season. The team effort on offense was beautiful to watch; Hunter Dickinson and Brandon Johns tied for the team lead with 14 points apiece, Wagner added 13, and everyone else in the rotation scored between six and 12; they had 19 assists on 29 field goals with only nine turnovers.
Johns set the tone with an early steal and dunk
[Brett Wilhelm/NCAA Photos via Getty Images]
The defense, as usual, was dominant throughout. Take out Malik Osborne, who went 4/7 from beyond the arc for a team-leading 12 points, and FSU combined to go 20/51 from the field and 1/13 on threes. It was Michigan, not the bigger 'Noles, that worked their way into the bonus early in each half. Soon-to-be lottery pick Scottie Barnes ran out for a couple early buckets and was otherwise shut down by Wagner and friends, going 4/11 with three assists and three turnovers.
When FSU tried to get early offense, their preferred way to points, they ended up with contested jacks instead of open looks. Getting stuck in the halfcourt was even worse. The Wolverines beat them on the glass, getting second-chance points from not only Dickinson and Johns, but also Chaundee Brown and Austin Davis.
The Wolverines dominated a very good team in a way few other remaining squads are capable, winning nearly every important battle within the war. They're playing with the freedom and calm of a team that's been freed from the burden of expectation. They look ready for anyone.
Let's go.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
Juwan is awesome!! Hope he stays for 50 more years !!!!!
Lets fucking go boys! Marchigan
50 points in the paint, including 17 of 18 fgs in the second half in the paint, only 3 treys, against the tallest team in the tourney. Coaching, execution, teamwork.
Especially in the second half, we had so many lanes to drive to get to the basket... and FSU had no rim protection.
UM had the lead for virtually the whole game. Was up by 23 with 4 minutes left. Damn shame Michigan is on the same side of the bracket as Gonzaga. They are the two best teams in college basketball, but cant meet in the finals. Can only meet in the semi-finals. Grrrrr.
Franz Wagner is a freakin' jedi. He sees things before they happen. He's always one step ahead of everyone else on the court. He's a guaranteed NBA lottery pick in a few months.
Is there a chance UM is somehow better with Livers, due to Johns and Chauncey getting more minutes? I dont think so, but it's worth a discussion at some point.
#GoBlue #FinalFour
March 29th, 2021 at 12:08 AM ^
Don’t think so, but it might be matchup dependent because Johns and Livers have very different skillsets.
Was there, another Michigan home game! The team definitely heard and appreciated the fans.
DID EVERYONE SEE THE GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAY IN HISTORY?
There may be shots that win games or dunks that thunder through the arena, but did everyone see the sequence of events near the end of the of the game:
- Wagner's block of Walker (#23).
- Wagner leaps out of bounds to save the ball and retain possession (which he does by...)
- Bouncing the ball of Walker's head (while ...)
- Walker is fouling Wagner (resulting in ...)
- Two made free throws by Wagner.
Amen.
That was the best one-on-one defensive play I have ever seen in a college basketball game. Wagner knew what Walker was going to do, before Walker even did it. Wagner knew exactly how to block the shot (he didnt slam it away. He blocked it just enough to give a chance to be in-bounds), then Wagner has the foresight to slam the ball against Walker, so it would go out of bounds on Walker, and be UM's possession. UNREAL. I've never seen a college player make a D play like that.
Wagner is a jedi. He really is one step ahead of everyone else on the court. He knows what is going to happen before it happens.
A Jedi Franz is.
Let the Franz be with you.
If you'd told me before the game that we'd shoot 27% from 3 and 65% from the line, I'd have said "how much did we lose by?"
That was methodical. Once they got inside the paint, they just dismembered FSU's D with the tight passing game.
Unrelated to the above, did anyone see the 60 Minutes segment on the Boston Dynamics robots? I hope we win this tournament because it's pretty clear Skynet has the machines to eradicate the human race in the next 12 months.
Those robots are frightening. The worst part will be when they can organically flip me off and give me the wanking hand motion after overtaking the world.
I am really sorry to point this out and people will probably neg the heck out of me but... I am completely frustrated that almost everyone has forgotten or never learned the difference between take over and overtake.
Overtake is used in the sense of closing the gap or passing someone or thing that is ahead of/or leading another. (Car 49 has overtaken the lead car.)
Take over means taking control of a country, company, organization, etc. (The army's take over of the government was successful.)
Sorry, but I couldn't help myself.
The Michigan Difference.
Is there some /s to Scottie Barnes being a lottery pick?
The NBA sees a guy who is 6'9" and who can dribble and pass. The play where he broke down Brown off the dribble and dunked is not something many guys his size can do.
Yeah I guess I dont get it either. Sure, he's huge and can ball handle, but the dude wouldnt shoot from outside even when Hunter was marking him. I don't profess to be some NBA expert, but I know what NBA-ready players from Michigan look like and I'm not seeing it with Barnes
Barnes weakness is on the offensive side especially shooting. He's not a shooter but he can pass and be a creator for the team at 6'9" which is rare. NBA knows his weaknesses but he has a lot of upside as a prospect. He's basically a lesser athletic Ben Simmons
Yeah if he goes before Wagner the the NBA is dumb. Like really dumb.
This would not be a tape that the scouts are going to be sent. 4-11 FG, 0-4 on 3s, for -17.
He looked like he didn’t want to be in the game after awhile. Not overly impressed but he has the measurables and the NBA will believe they can teach him to shoot enough to be a tough matchup.
Especially since they might notice that 6'9" (or 10") Wagner can do everything he can do and more.
Well. You put Scottie on Michigan's roster, with this coaching staff, and you will see the lottery pick in him. This young man is a very nice basketball specimen.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:01 AM ^
He really is. Also....some guys do develop a shot eventually.
Lets go! This team was coached to take advantage of their weaknesses.
Props to Beilein for the previous three Elite 8 appearances. We now expect to be here.
Emphatic! Kudos all around, including the refs. Seems like the first game in a month without several blatantly wrong calls and numerous questionable ones.
LFG!
March 28th, 2021 at 10:03 PM ^
So what's the deal with the moving screen call? The CBS rules expert says that if you set a blind screen you must give them space to turn. I'm not an expert but I've never heard that. Is it on the books or is it an unwritten rule?
March 28th, 2021 at 11:56 PM ^
And was it even a blind screen? It looked like every other screen to me. But what do I know.
Looked like a flop to me. How is it reasonable that since he only leaned back about 2" to contact Dickinson and the contact threw him two feet forward sprawling flat on his face?
March 28th, 2021 at 10:13 PM ^
Two keys for me:
1) Wagner is now playing at an elite level.
2) Can't replace Livers, but John's is at least showing he can be a competent starter and key contributor for this team.
What a great effort today.
March 28th, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^
Final Four is coming...can just feel it
Yikes!! No Jinx No Jinx!!!!!
sorry, sometimes you just have to be honest
March 28th, 2021 at 10:26 PM ^
Experience, discipline and maturity will win over undisciplined athletes every day and twice on Sunday.
March 28th, 2021 at 10:56 PM ^
Suddenly we're looking like a buzzsaw.
The game was about the 12th most important thing happening for me today (it's the kind of day where that number has grown since I first realized this, it's been quite the day). A good day. This is... not the best part.
But it's awesome.
March 28th, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
FSU wasn't very good. UCLA will be a much stiffer test.
March 29th, 2021 at 12:19 AM ^
Queue the Porsche commercial from the 1990s where the German test driver runs one of their sports cars through its paces; stops; gets out and removeshis helmet, and asks "any qvestions?"
March 29th, 2021 at 12:23 AM ^
TWill has got to take better care of the ball, and clean up the fouling.
On another note, I really like the UCLA match up. Let's face it, they're an 11 for a reason, and AL was a 2 for a reason. There were those who thought AL had 5th best chance of the sweet 16 to win it all. UCLA has had to play 1 more game, tonight they went to OT, that is likely going to impact their legs. GO BLUE, bring on the Bruins.
We match up better with UCLA. They have 3 key players to focus on, and we have the height and athleticism to do it.
Alabama scared me. When they are shooting well, they are hard to beat. Tonight they had open looks, but had an anamoly of a bad shooting game. You can't count on that happening multiple nights in a row.
I'm glad they are done. UCLA is going to be tough, but they are a more "conventional" match up for us.
I'm still glad we play UCLA, but I do think the conference rankings were really thrown off by a small sample size of games played last year.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Juwan can't get enough credit for this win. They knew exactly how FSU was going to play defensively and built the perfect offense to combat it.
Very very very imrpessive.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
Seemed like all the pundits were planning for the Michigan upset (again). In the pregame show they said "Michigan hasn't faced an athletic team like this, FSU is the best team they will have faced all year". As I was talking back to the TV I said "Really? I wonder how FSU'd do in the B1G?" They'd probably have finished between 6th and 8th place.
Its like they first tried to run us out of the gym - as other, better teams have unsuccessfully tried...then they tried, unsuccessfully to out-muscle us. In the end they weren't close to being able to do either one.
March 29th, 2021 at 12:07 PM ^
before the sweet 16 games cbs had their analysts, about 8-10 of them, pick a new bracket with the remaining teams. not one of them had mich going to the final four. it was evenly split between fsu and bama. and both those teams are out a day later. hahaha.
March 29th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
basketball (UM) defeated football (fsu). the more skilled team easily won.
March 29th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^
how about that franz bounce pass to HD for the layup? a thing of beauty.
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