Is Anyone Preparing For Games As Well As Michigan?
Michigan didn't have its best stuff against Florida State but it was good enough to pound the Noles by 18.
Coming into the game, a lot of people thought that it would be Florida State's size and length that would rattle Michigan, but it was actually the other way around. Michigan held Florida State to 40% from the field and just 5-of-20 from three-point range, while the Wolverines scored 17 of 18 buckets in the paint in the second half. Life without Isaiah Livers hasn't been as rough on U-M as it seemed like it would be, and now that it's been a few weeks, the maize and blue are humming along.
How exactly has Michigan been able to adjust and adapt so well? Juwan Howard.
Michigan's head coach has been lauded all season as a great motivator, culture creator and leader of men, but he's now showing off his coaching chops on the national stage and it's got his Wolverines in the Elite Eight. Florida State does have a lot of size and length, but Michigan was so well prepared for it that it didn't have much of an effect, especially in the second half.
Franz Wagner spoke about U-M's preparation after the game and it immediately became very clear that the Wolverines are playing chess while Florida State was playing checkers.
"We knew coming in that they were going to switch a lot of ball screens and basically everything. So we tried to move the ball," Wagner said. "I think a lot of times people get in trouble just holding the ball and dribbling the whole time. So I think we moved the ball pretty well and then attack close-outs.
"I think they're the tallest team in the country, so we know they press a lot. So that's one thing we kind of went over in practice a lot. And like I mentioned earlier, the switching and how we can attack those close-outs. Yeah, look at some weaknesses that they have on film. I think, like we always do, we analyze what the other team does and try to look how we can exploit it.
"I mean, the scout team did a great job again. I think the coaches had a good game plan. I think everybody who played watched film, like they always do. We also talked about what to do when they read the post, when they front the post, and stuff like that. That's something they've seen all season with Hunter being so good down there. So those are probably the main things we talked about."
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton also touched on Michigan's execution, which was obviously a product of the flawless preparation.
"Here's congratulations to the University of Michigan and Coach Juwan Howard," Hamilton said. "I thought they did an excellent job in their preparation and their execution. Many times, when you watch teams on film, you feel like you have a pretty good idea of their strengths and their weaknesses. This team executed so well. Their spacing was unbelievable. They were extremely patient. We had a hard time turning them over. They really, really played off of their big guy. We spent so much time trying to defend Hunter, and they get to their perimeter shooters, when the clock would run down to with about ten seconds left on the shot clock, they continue to keep staying in their system, and they executed and made plays right toward the end. That's what a good team will do."
To put it bluntly, Michigan was not surprised by anything Florida State did and it played out that way on the court. Howard and his staff have proven all year long that they simply do everything well — motivating, game planning and rotation managing. When you combine the coaching talent with the talent on the floor, you get what we're seeing right now — a No. 1 seed, down its best player, still dominating other solid teams.
Howard and his staff will now set their sights on UCLA, who eliminated Alabama in their Sweet 16 matchup. UCLA has gotten hot after battling its way into the tournament with a win over Michigan State in one of the First Four matchups. They've got some versatile, lanky scorers who have obviously been hard for opponents to guard, but no real post presence, which certainly makes for an intriguing matchup. Even though they're a hot team with a lot of confidence, you can bet money on Howard and Co. identifying their weaknesses, putting in a plan to exploit them and executing that plan at a high level.
