We have not seen a Michigan team like this in quite a while. While Dusty May's squad has passed its first four tests in the NCAA Tournament, only two more remain... They will get harder and harder with each passing advancement. Michigan will be taking on the Arizona Wildcats in the Final Four on Saturday night. The winner will take on either Illinois or UConn for this year's national championship.
So when asked about his former employer's team, John Beilein spoke so glowingly about Michigan.
"You've got to argue they're the hottest team now. Not like Michigan right now. They're playing out of their minds."
Beilein picked Michigan to win it all. The Wolverines are favored over Arizona, and would be favored over whomever came out of the other side of the bracket between Illinois and UConn on Monday. However, Beilein is also fully aware of how challenging it can be to win it all. The Wolverines have only done it once way back in 1989. Not with the Fab Five. Not under his watch. Only that 1988-89 squad...
Even if Michigan has tough national championship history, here is why Beilein should feel confident.
John Beilein loves Michigan Wolverines' chances of winning national title
There are three things working for Michigan that none of their upcoming competitors can even hold a candle to. Those would be Dusty May at head coach, Yaxel Lendeborg as the Wolverines' best player, and the dominating front-court identity Michigan has on both ends of the floor. May is in his bag as a head coach. It is Lendeborg's world, and we are just living in it. The latter is why Michigan can win it all.
Whether it be Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., or Aday Mara, Michigan can simply bully the opposition on both ends of the floor in the front-court. They attack their opponents so ferociously. In a game that has gone the way of the 3-ball, Michigan will just smush you. Let's look at them like any national championship-winning team in football. They have the rough equivalent of a punishing defensive line.
While Arizona is going to be a tough matchup for them, the Wildcats may not have the bodies to go toe-to-toe with Michigan down low. Furthermore, unless Illinois shoots Michigan out of the gym, or UConn finds another kind of sorcery in crunch time, neither of them will get past the Wolverines in the national championship game. Beilein knows that this team is both strong and powerful under May.
It is why anything other than Michigan winning the Final Four will send shockwaves through the sport.