Michigan-Ohio is just what college basketball needed.
Arguably, the most anticipated game of the regular season has eclipsed the hype, offering a more attractive game and interest in school rivalry than football has been able to provide for most of the past decade. A bonus: this was the first match in the first five university games among the programs in its history. Michigan, third place, obtained, from a curriculum point of view, what could be the most accomplished victory on the road this season, with a 92-87 victory over No. 4 OSU.
It was a fun and provocative game between two qualified teams that we saw in the last three months.
This has been a difficult season – as predicted – in college basketball. Each week, 40-80 games are postponed or canceled. Leading teams like Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Villanova and Florida State took breaks for weeks. You never want your best teams to be out of sight (so out of mind), but it has been that way for most of the past three months. Sure, it has been a joy to have college basketball, even with the problems that come with hosting a season in the midst of a pandemic, but it is fair to say that the sport has lost some energy, as it is reeling after losing the NCAA 2020.
All of that seemed to disappear in two hours on Sunday, when a national audience tuned in to tune in for March. An inclination of the first five, gilded by two of the biggest university sports brands, ended up providing a result of high octane and impossibility to turn the back. Delicious kiss from the chef.
This was the third time in the past three months that college basketball was presented with a game between two of the top five teams. On December 2, No. 2 Baylor passed No. 5 Illinois 82-69. Seventeen days later, ranking leader Gonzaga let No. 3 Iowa drag on, but it was a 99-88 submission in favor of the still undefeated Bulldogs.
Michigan-Ohio State brought what these two games did not bring – an element of the court at home – in addition to the background of both teams being designed as seeded players.
The lack of fans did not suck up the drama or viewing experience. It was a title competition. Michigan ended the game with 1.37 points for possession. (OSU ended just behind, at 1:30 pm.) For sports fanatics, downtown Michigan Hunter Dickinson was no secret. He has consistently been ranked in the top five on CBS Sports’ Frosh Watch. But for a wider audience, today was a kind of extended introduction. Although the state of Ohio lost a few second chances and two bad spins in the final stretch, in the end, a team had the caliber of 7 feet (who looks like the guy from “Empire Records”) and the other team not having it seemed the difference. Dickinson had 22 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and at least four easy buckets against an OSU team that doesn’t have a player over 6-8.
“The hard thing with them is that they shoot well from a variety of points,” OSU coach Chris Holtmann told CBS Sports. “And Dickinson is a burden.”
The combined teams made 22 3-point shots and 49% of shots beyond the arc, in addition to Michigan hitting 57% of the 2-point shots and Ohio State 55% of the attempts within the 3-point line. Offense, offense, offense – and not because of deficient defense.
Along the way, we had a wonderful preview of Final Four. Both teams are obviously good enough to make it to the final weekend. What Michigan managed to do after a 23-day break is almost jaw-dropping. A week ago, the Wolverines beat Wisconsin by 40-20 in the second half, got rid of any flakes of rust in the process and won on the road. Thursday brought a W over Rutgers home, diligent and without a doubt. Sunday was the best so far. UM opened with an absurd 10-in-13 shooting performance in the first half beyond the arc. He finished 11 of 23, bringing flashbacks of some of John Beilein’s best teams in the process.
Can this group be better than its four final teams of 2013 or 2018? At this point, this is on the table. Holtmann told me that you can see a little of Howard’s influence in the NBA in the way Michigan performs some of his offensive sets, and that’s what makes this team well balanced.
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“I think what is so impressive about them is that you can say that they really took on their personality,” said Holtmann. “Competitive, intelligent, obstinate. I put this team on the same level as the really good Beilein teams and it’s amazing to see him do that [in his second season]. “
In two seasons, Howard did what Beilein has only achieved once in 11 years: winning at Ohio State. This was the Wolverines’ first victory in Columbus in seven years and only the second since 2005. Michigan is now 11-1 in the Big Ten, its best championship start since 1976-77. Juwan Howard was 4 years old at the time.
The Big Ten will obviously make sure that at least one of your teams wins the first seed. This will mark the first time since 2015 (Wisconsin) that the league was able to find the top line on Selection Sunday. Michigan is not yet blocked to be No. 1 (games against No. 11 Iowa, No. 5 Illinois and the Big Ten Tournament await), but it is as close as it could be to blocking status on February 21.
“They are a complete team,” said Holtmann. “That’s why everyone is so excited about them and rightly so.”
It is one of the best stories of the college hoops. Recently, there was a time when you opened a job in Michigan. There was a man who, behind the scenes, was pushing to be hired. He was a well-known man, a former student and someone who had a successful career as a player and coach. Would a return to college work? At first, it didn’t matter to fans, because they were very happy with the prospect of having a beloved face back on campus, of having someone who had a serious success at the highest levels choosing to train Michigan again. Better yet: beat Ohio State.
No, not Jim Harbaugh. Another JH: Juwan Howard. The University of Michigan’s men’s basketball team is dominant, relevant and evolving in a way that its football program can only imagine right now.