Next!

Now it is about championships.

All those people saying Texas A&M is playing great with NBA twin towers and an unstoppable playmaker, watch the game.  It wasn't even close.  Those of us who follow have seen it before.  Purdue (with Isaac Haas) and Michigan State are tougher, and several other Big Ten teams can be better on a given day.  Not always, but on this current run, Michigan has beaten them soundly.

The Jordan Poole lifesaver?  It wasn't a whole lot different than little 'ol jumpshots by the likes of Trey Burke and Derrick Walton, Jr.

John Beilein said he is going to remember the bench--the starters on the bench--going crazy when Austin Davis and C.J. Baird scored.  For the millionth time, he's a good coach, but you cannot force that.  I could dig up the GIF of the much smaller X spinning around Jon Teske or even the previously-woeful Ibi Watson on the bench after a score, and that was last year.  Although undercover at times, it has always been there.  Watch Charles Matthews, for example, this year, and you will see that there is nothing phony about it.

Zavier Simpson had 6 steals in 33 minutes.  And when a 6' 11" man-child makes a point to dive on the floor and grab the ball to call a timeout, others involved tend to pay attention.  Once again, Matthews did.

No, it wasn't close in the last game.  One team was there on a mission and the other, a very good team for sure, just wasn't.

Florida State was 9-9 in a good league.  Correction--the ACC is a very good basketball league, but so is the Big Ten.  So they're maybe around Penn State or Indiana level at .500.  Maybe they're a little better than Northwestern or Maryland or Nebraska.

I don't think you can become champions that quickly.

Michigan will be more at home with the crowd--watch the game--and, as the pundits are starting to learn, defense will keep them in it even if close.  The Wolverines have enough hot shooters to win.

We'll have to wait until game time to see who brings what for the Semiholes--or more importantly, what they bring as a team--but they were good last year too.  If they bring more energy and game than Michigan they deserve to win.

Michigan 76 Florida State 67.