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Five Things You Need to Know about Michigan March Madness

Click over for the details on the first round including our March Madness Mascot Matchup!

5things March Madness is upon us and Absolute Michigan has Five Things you need to know about Michigan’s teams. Have more? Share them in the comments!

Game times Friday, March 16: UM v Ohio @ 7:20 PM, MSU v LIU @ 9:20 PM, UD v Kansas @ 9:57 PM.

1 MSU vs Wisconsin
MSU vs Wisconsin (Draymond Green) by M.Hallowell

The Michigan State University Spartans are the #1 seed in the West Region. The Lansing State Journal is the Spartans hometown paper and they have the best coverage, hands down. In, Joe Rexrode thoroughly recounts MSU’s victory over Ohio State and the Big Ten title. He also recounts the announcement on Selection Sunday:

A huge roar erupted from MSU players, coaches, support staff and family members in a lounge at the arena when the NCAA Tournament selection show revealed that the Spartans got the fourth No. 1 seed in the tournament.

…This is MSU’s first No. 1 seed since the Spartans got three straight from 1999-2001 – going to the Final Four each year and winning the 2000 national title. It’s the fifth in program history, including one in 1990 for a team that made the Sweet Sixteen.

2 Two other Michigan teams made it to the big dance. The first is a University of Michigan Wolverines team that went 24-9 overall and tied with MSU & Ohio State for a share of the Big Ten Title. They are seeded 4th in the Midwest region and a definite threat to make a run. The other is the University of Detroit Mercy Titans who drew a #15 seed in the Midwest region and face Kansas on Friday at 9:57 pm. The Titans have been surprisingly tough in the tourney, downing St. John’s in 1998 and knocking 5th seeded UCLA out in ’99.

3 Three players to watch are the Spartans Draymond Green, the 6’7″ 230 pound Saginaw native, team captain and Big Ten Player of the Year who averages 16 points and 10 rebounds per game. The second is actually a pair, the Wolverines backcourt duo of Trey Burke (Big Ten media members Freshman of the Year) and Tim Hardaway Jr (son of NBA all-star Tim Hardaway who combine to average 28 ppg and are one of the most dynamic backcourts in the nation. The second is Ray McCallum Jr, the Detroit native and son of Titan coach Ray McCallum who averaged 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

4 Four more articles that are worth a read are:

  1. Will MSU’s amazing chemistry be enough?
  2. A look at UM’s tough first round date with Ohio (not Ohio State)
  3. U of D looking to make a run
  4. and NCAA March Madness Haiku Previews: Not Ohio State / Trey Burke can be big March star / Get by Bobcats first

5 About.com writes:

Michiganders usually have at least one team to follow in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament aka March Madness. In fact, Michiganders had five teams to follow in the 1998 tournament, including Michigan, Michigan State, Detroit Mercy, Eastern and Western.

They log 25 tournament appearances for Michigan State with Championships in 1979 & 2000. The University of Michigan has been to the tournament 22 times and won it all 1989. The University of Detroit Mercy has been to the tournament 5 times but has never broken into the Elite Eight.

Let’s close with won of the greatest games in Michigan basketball history, Magic Johnson and MSU vs. Larry Bird and Indiana State!