Michigan Wolverines: 28-6, 15-5 in the Big Ten
Head coach: John Beilein (12th season)
Players to watch: Ignas Brazdekis (14.9 PPG, 41.5 3PT%); Jordan Poole (12.8 PPG, 2.2 APG); Charles Matthews (12.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG)
Season recap: The nonconference portion of Michigan's season quite literally could not have gone any better. The Wolverines began their campaign with 17 straight wins, carrying over into 2019, when they finally lost to Wisconsin—leaving Virginia as the nation's lone unbeaten team for a few hours until the Cavs fell to Duke later that night.
Michigan had some blowout wins in its perfect start, beating Villanova by 27 on the road and topping North Carolina by 17 at home before blowing out Purdue in the teams' Big Ten opener. But the Wolverines did take their lumps in conference play, losing five games—although four came on the road and two were against Big Ten regular season co-champion Michigan State.
What remains to be seen is the status of senior guard Charles Matthews. Michigan's third-leading scorer, who was a big part of the Wolverines' 2018 run to the Final Four, has been battling an ankle injury, and even if he comes back, it could hinder both him and Michigan if he's not 100 percent.
How they make a run: The Wolverines do just what they did last season: play great defense. Michigan limits opponents' scoring like 2018, when it held four of its first five NCAA tournament foes to 63 points or fewer, and make a third Final Four appearance since 2013.
How they falter: The Wolverines go cold from deep—they shot worse than 30 percent from distance in three of their five losses—and just can't score enough to make another deep March surge.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."