A lot of people are already jumping off the Michigan Wolverines’ bandwagon. Although Michigan is the No. 1 seed in the East Region, many observers believe the Wolverines are ripe for an upset. The Big Ten is not all it was cracked up to be according to the brackets, and Michigan is the only team from that conference left in the NCAA Tournament. That has led to plenty of people picking the Florida State Seminoles to get past Michigan and make it into the Elite Eight.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on March 28, 2021, and the game will be broadcast on CBS.
College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Michigan Wolverines -2
Florida State Seminoles +2
Total 143.5
How They Got Here
Michigan was one of the top teams in the country all year. The Wolverines raced out to an 18-1 record with a 13-1 mark in Big Ten play, but they did not end the season well. They were hammered by Illinois by 23 points in Ann Arbor, and they dropped three of their last five games before the NCAA Tournament. Michigan didn’t have much trouble with Texas Southern in the first round, but LSU led for much of the way before the Wolverines took over late.
Leonard Hamilton has done some incredible things at FSU. He has made a football school a perennial contender in the ACC, and the Seminoles have been one of the conference’s best teams for the last few years. They went 15-5 and 11-4 in the ACC during the regular season. FSU wasn’t really troubled by either UNC Greensboro or Colorado in its first two NCAA Tournament games, beating both teams by double digits.
Game Preview
Isaiah Livers is likely out for the rest of the year due to a stress fracture in his foot. His absence has really hurt the Wolverines, as he was the best perimeter shooter on the team (43.1 percent) and he was the second leading scorer. Chaundee Brown did a good job filling in for him with 21 points against LSU, but Florida State is a different beast.
Freshman center Hunter Dickinson will need to have a nice outing for Michigan to get the win. Dickinson has been the Wolverines’ most reliable player all season, leading the team with 14.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG. He is making over 60 percent of his field goals on the year, and he had a double-double against LSU.
The Wolverines rank in the top ten in offensive and defensive efficiency per Ken Pomeroy. They have a solid inside-outside game on offense, and the interior defense is elite. The perimeter defense is a bit shaky though, and FSU is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country.
Although the Seminoles failed to make a triple in their win over UNC Greensboro, they made six against Colorado in the second round. FSU is making 38.2 percent of its threes on the season, and both M.J. Walker and Anthony Polite can make it rain from the perimeter. Walker is making 43.6 percent of his threes, while Polite is hitting 44 percent from beyond the arc.
FSU has a ton of size once again, ensuring that this is one of the best teams when it comes to interior defense. The Seminoles rank in the top ten in two-point percentage and block percentage, as everyone in the rotation is at least 6’4. That helps FSU get a lot of offensive rebounds, but they can have lapses defending the glass on their end.
Prediction
This is a great spot for FSU to pull off the upset. The Seminoles are one of the most athletic teams in the country, and they can slow the Wolverines’ offense down. Under is the best bet though, as there’s a good chance neither team scores 70 points.
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