Michigan sends message: You don't want to play them
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO – With Tennessee down by 19, one basket wasn’t going to make a difference. The game was effectively over, and whether Michigan won by 10 or 20, the outcome was still going to be the same.
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Michigan coach Dusty May challenged the goaltending call, anyway. The Wolverines weren’t just here to win, they were here to send a message:
They’re the best team in the country, and they’ll steamroll anyone who is in their way.
Top-seeded Michigan routed sixth-seeded Tennessee 95-62 on Sunday, March 29, to reach the Final Four for the third time since 2013. With apologies to Moritz Wagner and Glenn Robinson III, these Wolverines have the best chance yet to win the school’s first national title since 1989.
In a span of two days, Michigan humbled the country’s top offensive team and the SEC’s best defensive team, and the Wolverines barely broke a sweat in doing so. They’ve scored 90 or more points and shot 50% or better in each of their NCAA tournament games, and the XX-point win over Tennessee was the biggest blowout of the weekend.
And if Yaxel Lendeborg isn’t the player of the year, he’s for sure the player of March.
Lendeborg tagged Tennessee for 27 points, his third game with 23 or more, and 10 of those came during a 23-2 run in the first half that effectively sealed the game. He’s making a career’s worth of highlights every game, including his tip-in layup off his own missed 3-pointer with 11:57 left to play against Tennessee.
The Wolverines are not a one-man team, however. Three other players were in double figures against Tennessee and three more just shy of it.
Whatever those hiccups Michigan had in the Big Ten tournament, where they struggled against Ohio State and Wisconsin before losing to Purdue in the title game, they are long gone. Michigan is rolling, and good luck to anyone who faces them.
That’ll be fellow No. 1 seed Arizona in the Final Four in Indianapolis on Friday night, April 3.
Though Michigan’s Fab Five never won an NCAA title, they changed college basketball with their outsized personalities, baggy shorts and black socks. These Wolverines might not have that kind of influence, but they’ve got a similar brand of fun.
Lendeborg is as goofy as he is good, and Roddy Gayle Jr. isn’t far behind. Even when they’re stealing people’s souls, they look to be having a blast doing it. They’re the last team you want to face and the first team you want to watch.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan basketball makes statement with win over Tennessee in Elite 8