Tourney Preview

Since Michigan is playing in the REAL first round of the NCAA Tournament tomorrow, I've got a little preview lined up. 

It's interesting, because Michigan's first opponent is kind of a mirror image of them in some respects. South Dakota State 's best player is a PG (Nate Wolters) who can both score & distribute, but really handles most of the scoring load. Both teams have secondary players that can have big nights or disappear, depending on... I don't know, the phase of the moon or something. Neither team is great at rebounding or defense, both teams feature some really good 3-pt shooters and score a lot of points. And the way to stop both teams is the same - contain the PG.

Wolters has game. He's 6'4", he scored 53 points earlier this year against IPFW, and he can get the other 4 guys involved too. He's maybe less of a distributor than Burke is though, and has less talented teammates. SD St. has one win over a ranked opponent this year, an early-season win over New Mexico, and losses to Minnesota (with Wolters out though) and the Oakland Grizzlies (who Michigan beat last year & MSU beat handily this year).

Anyway, the teams are too similar, and Michigan does what it does better. I think Michigan takes this one pretty easily, unless they play like they did in East Lansing.