Michigan basketball Sweet 16 picks vs Alabama; Wolverines to Elite Eight?
Michigan basketball takes on Alabama on Friday night at United Center; here's how Free Press experts think the Wolverines will do.
The road to the Final Four gets a lot tougher for 1-seeds – and Michigan basketball , specifically – in the second weekend of March Madness. A whopping 13 of 16 1s have made the Sweet 16 in the previous four NCAA tournaments – but just seven of those have advanced from there to the Elite Eight. And four of those came last season, in an exceedingly rare tourney in which all four 1-seeds made the Final Four.
This year’s tourney isn’t quite shaping up that way, with South 1-seed Florida already falling in the second round. West 1-seed Arizona advanced on Thursday, March 26, leaving just U-M in the Midwest and Duke in the East to join the Wildcats, one win from the tourney’s final weekend. Will Yaxel Lendeborg and the Wolverines do it?
Four Free Press sports writers sound off on U-M’s chances against 4-seed Alabama on Friday (7:35, TBS, truTV): Tony Garcia The Tide have the shooting and know their formula to win: "execute the game plan, make shots, protect the way to ball, find a way to rebound," Oats said. Saying it is one thing. Doing it is entirely different.
Michigan has more avenues to victory. If the shots aren't falling, it can go inside. If drop coverage isn't working on pick-and-rolls, U-M can hard hedge.