Getting Ready For The Michigan Wolverines

The Michigan Wolverines went 9-9 in the Big 10 Conference and have a 21-13 overall record and are the South Region's 10^th seed. They knocked off the 7^th seed on Thursday night with their 62-59 win over the Clemson Tigers. They are led in scoring by Manny Harris (17 ppg) who dropped 23 points on Clemson and DeShawn Sims who is averaging 15.5 points per game. Both players lead the team in rebounding as well by grabbing 6.9 and 6.8 boards respectively.

The question is how much of their mojo did the Sooners get back on Thursday night. They certainly didn't end the season on a high streak by losing two of their final four games against Missouri and Oklahoma State. Both the Tigers and Cowboys are tournament teams and have advanced to the next round. That takes a little of the sting away from those losses because of the quality of the opponents but it wont take away the inconsistency of the guard play.

Willie Warren stepped up his game against Morgan State to add a third dimension to the offense (along with the Griffin brothers) but the Sooners are reaching the point where they are going to need a 4^th and 5^th option to continue advancing. To attain success against Michigan's 1-3-1 zone OU must have excellent guard play, not just in scoring but also in ball protection and dishing out dimes.

Keys To Victory

Team Rebounding - Michigan takes a lot of deep shots which often results in deep rebounds. That means they cant rely on the Griffins to snag everything under the boards because there will wont be as many opportunities under the basket.

Perimeter Defense - Because of the aforementioned tendency to shoot from outside Oklahoma's guards are going to have to be Johnny on the Spot when it comes to ball pressure and challenging shots. No freebees and nothing comes easy for the Wolverines. If the Sooners fail in this then they fail to advance.

Feed the Beasts - Morgan State had no answer for the Griffins and neither will Michigan if they bring they type of performance they did Thursday night.

Stay Alert - No mental breakdowns! I don't really know if it was a girl problem, like the rumors said, or boredom or both but there were too many mental breakdowns over the final half dozen games that led to turnovers and defensive breakdowns.