By Charlie Commeret
As the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament begins both Michigan and Michigan State basketball have hopes of making a deep run in March. Michigan, having finished 29-2 overall and 19-1 in Big Ten play, secured the top seed despite their upset loss to Purdue during the Big Ten tournament. On the other hand Michigan State finished 25-6 overall and 15-5 in Big Ten play and earned the No.3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Michigan’s tournament outlook
For Michigan they look to build off of last year’s Sweet 16 appearance in Dusty May’s second year as Michigan’s head coach. This season they have aspirations for a National Championship, and have been in the AP top three best teams in college basketball for the majority of this season.
Overall, the Wolverines have a pretty balanced attack which is led by their first team All-American Yaxel Lendeborg, who on the season is averaging 14.7 points a game, along with seven rebounds and three assists. He does his work in a variety of ways including running ball screen action and taking what the defense gives him, as well as creating for himself or others off of the drive which was especially prevalent in their 90-80 win against Michigan State in the regular season finale.
They also have a massive advantage with their overall size in the frontcourt with 7-foot-3-inches tall Aday Mara, as well as Morez Johnson, and Will Tschetter when he gets minutes. This especially gives them an advantage on the offensive glass as they are in the top 20 overall in offensive rebounding percentage. Just the pure size and athleticism is tough for teams to handle physically, and they can create easy second chance points.
This also gives them the advantage when they decide to feed the ball into the post mainly with Morez Johnson and Aday Mara who can do damage in those situations. On the defensive side of the ball Michigan ranks top five in efficiency along with their potent top five offense. On that end the versatility in terms of the amount of switching they can do defensively gives them an advantage, especially if Mara is on the bench who primarily is a drop coverage big. They can be really dangerous defensively when they use their size and athleticism to pressure the ball and cause issues for opposing ball handlers.
However, back up point guard LJ Cason’s injury does not help the Wolverines’ case for making a deep march run, as he is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Michigan State’s tournament outlook
On the other hand for the Spartans, who are also poised for a deep march run are led by their All-Big Ten point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. who is averaging 15.2 points per game along with leading the country in assists at 9.2 per game. He is a guy that they can go to toward the end of the game, and trust to make decisions and create good shots. He especially can excel in the open court, as MSU as a whole is at their best when they push the pace of the game, and get into early offense, specifically off of their defense, where they can get numbers and go the other way and score.
In the halfcourt as well as Fears ability to break down the defense and create, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper have emerged as post up threats that they can run their offense through, and the other guys can play off of.
One of the biggest keys for the Spartans come tournament time is the 3-point shooting of Kur Teng. In several games this year he has provided a spark for MSU when they have needed, and is effective in catch and shoot situations off of Jeremy Fears, as well as Carson Cooper, and Jaxon Kohler. However, Tom Izzo will also run him off of some pindowns and off-ball screens in order to free him up from long range..
Overall, it is an exciting time for basketball fans in the state of Michigan as both respective basketball programs have had outstanding seasons so far. The Wolverines swept the season series versus the rival Spartans 2-0. However in the NCAA tournament the ultimate bragging rights are up for grabs as both teams have aspirations for a deep run in March.
