Michigan Basketball: 3 reasons Wolverines can beat Villanova in Sweet 16

Defense is turning around

Frankie Collins is a really athletic guard and his explosiveness showed in the first two games. He didn’t play that well offensively against Tennesse, although he handled the ball pressure pretty well, but he did make his presence felt on defense.

The same was true against Colorado State. Collins is better in ball-screen defense than DeVante Jones so even if Jones was 100 percent, Collins might deserve more minutes.

Regardless, Michigan is playing better defense for more reasons than just Collins. As poor as Houstan was offensively against Tennessee, his defense was as good as it has been all season. He didn’t make any noticeable errors and against a team like Villanova, that needs to continue.

Tennessee missed some good looks — that’s true. But the Wolverines also did a really good job of closing out and contested many of those shots. Sometimes good teams hit contested 3s. Villanova might but if U-M can be solid and avoid allowing the uncontested attempts, that’s huge.

Houstan and Diabate have both improved in that area. Moussa has already taken huge steps as a rim protector and had a huge block down the stretch on Saturday.

Michigan also has proven it can beat high-level teams this season. Michigan beat Ohio State and Iowa on the road, as well as Purdue and San Diego State at home, plus Colorado State and Tennessee on a neutral floor.

It’s also true that Michigan could play poorly on defense, shoot really bad from the perimeter and lose this game by 15-20. Nothing is surprising with this team but that’s also why it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise if Michigan advanced to the Elite 8.