The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com March 18, 2013 - 3B Blue gets four seed, to face South Dakota State Wolverines open at The Palace in South Region with Kansas, Georgetown By DANIEL WASSERMAN Daily Sports Editor After battling for a No. 1 seed for much of the regular season, the Michigan men's basketball team received a No. 4 seed in the South Region on Selection Sunday. But after a brief scare over the weekend, the Wolverines will have to travel just one hour to play their opening-round matchup against South Dakota State at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Mich.) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Should Michigan (12-6 Big Ten, 26-7 over- all) win, it'll advance to play the winner of Thursday's Virginia Commonwealth-Akron game on Saturday, also at the Palace. Freshman forward Mitch McGary described his excitement at an "all-time high" moments after seeing Michigan's name appear on CBS's selection show. "It's what I've always dreamed of," McGary said. "To play in Auburn Hills is a blessing, to play so close to our university, to hope- fully have a great fan base there." The Jackrabbits (13-3 Summit, 25-9) won last week's Summit League Tournament after win- ning the regular-season crown as well. South Dakota State is led by one of the country's most exciting players, point guard Nate Wolt- ers. At 22.7 points per game, the senior was the nation's fourth- leading scorer. He also averaged 5.6 rebounds and 5.8 points per game, while shooting an efficient 49.3 percent from the field. The Jackrabbits played just two power-conference teams this sea- son, losing to both Alabama and Minnesota. While they took the Crimson Tide to the brink, los- ing by three, the Golden Gophers - Michigan's and South Dakota State's only mutual opponent - ran away with a 24-point win. But the Jackrabbits did come up with a quality non-conference victory, winning at No. 15 New Mexico, 70-65, in December. Michigan coach John Beilein admitted that he knows "very little" about his opponent, other than knowing that "they were the Jackrabbits right away," he said with a laugh. Butcafter briefly look- ing over their season statistics, he's concerned with the amount of upperclassmen in South Dakota State's rotation. All five of the Jackrabbits' start- ers are upperclassmen, and four are double-digit scorers. "The thing in the mid-major programs - and they are a legit mid-major programrightnow - is that they have juniors and seniors, and they're all over the place," Beilein said. "We have to play like juniors and seniors in that game." While none of the Michigan players made available to the media Sunday were particularly knowledgeable of South Dakota State, each was well aware of Wolter's capabilities. "He's a great player from what I've seen," McGary said. "He can TODD NEEDLE/Daily Sophomore guard Trey Burke (left) and freshman forward Glenn Robinson ll couldn't lead Michigan over Wisconsin Friday, and the Wolverines slipped tothe No. 4 seed. do anything on the court; he has many intangibles to his game." The man Wolters will match up against, sophomore point guard Trey Burke, said he's never watched the Jackrabbits play, but another Wolverine guard, junior Tim Hardaway Jr., met Wolters while the two were at last sum- mer's Kevin Durant Skills Acad- emy. Though Michigan should have a considerable home-court advantage in the opening week- end, Michigan State also drew the Auburn Hills pod, and its fans - along with most other non- Wolverine fans - will likely be cheering on the underdog. Hard- away was also quick tQ note that playing so close to home has its drawbacks. "It's great to be close to home, but it can also be a negative thing because you're so caught up in distractions," he said. "We've just got to do a great job at limiting our distractions." The Wolverines struggled down the stretch, going just 6-6 in their last 12 games, but those games all came against gritty Big Ten schools. Many of the play- ers and Beilein noted that facing teams outside of their own confer- encewould be refreshing. While many teams in the Big Ten slow the game's tempo down and play more physically than Michigan - especially in the post - the Jackrabbits feature a guard- oriented offense that likes to run up and down, eliciting high-scor- ing affairs, something that could play to the Wolverines' advantage. "That is not a style you get a great deal in our league," Beilein said. "We guard some of that everyday in practice. "They're very similar to us. I do not know if that's good or bad - I'm not smart enough to know that. I do know that we better be able to defend the three, that's for sure." If Michigan advances out of Auburn Hills ant into the Sweet Sixteen, it'll head to Arlington, Texas' Cowboy Stadium, likely to face top-seeded Kansas. Morgan's struggles highlight big-man problem vs. Badgers ONE UP For a team sitting in the cel- son said. "You have to give our From Page 18B at of the CCHA standings at team a lot of credit. They've one point this season, Michigan been through a lot this year, enters Detroit riding a wave of and they've stuck together, and where the Broncos' momentum momentum. Three years ago in they're having fun and having was all but gone. 2010, Michigan sat in seventh some success. We're getting bet- The Wolverines killed off three, place in the conference stand- ter. We have a little mojo right third-period penalties to go a ings, like this year, before mak- now, and we're going to Joe perfect 10-for-10 on the week- ing a run to win the Mason Cup. Louis hopefully to have some end. "Good for our team," Beren- more fun." Redshirt junior finishes with just four points in tournament By COLLEEN THOMAS Daily SportsEditor CHICAGO - After fresh- man forward Mitch McGary's 10-point, 11-rebound perfor- mance in Thursday's game against Penn State, Michigan coach John Beilein was faced with the same question he's had to answer numerous times throughout the season: McGary or redshirt junior forward Jor- dan Morgan? Morgan has had his share of struggles just like the rest of the Wolverine big men, but the red- shirt junior got in foul trouble early against the Nittany Lions. He played just 10 minutes on Thursday, and with McGary's dominance in the paint, Beilein had to grapple with the decision on whether to swap McGary for Morgan in the starting lineup. "We talk about the roster and rotation every day," Beilein said after Thursday's game. "We'll probably do that again. But a change, I'mnot going to say we're going to do it or not going to do it. If we do make a change, maybe Jordan will play more relaxed coming off the bench and make some of those shots he missed. "I'll watch some film and talk and see what - again, look at our matchups for the next game and decide what we're going to do." But against Wisconsin's domi- nant center Jared Berggren, Beilein went with Morgan, and again, the redshirt junior under- whelmed his coach and McGary saw the majority of the big man ONE DOWN From Page lB with McGary sophomore point guard Trey Burke scoring all nine points. But Wisconsin kept making their shots and didn't give Michi- gan a chance to get back into it. "It's just we have so many - there's so many things you have to continue to get better at and all it takes, a team like this, it isolates you so much, it takes one break- down here or there and they're scoring points," said Michigan minute Mic post tc gan s couple was pt minute McGa: agains the ba pullini Mor reflect wards Neithe redshi ford w offens three s "If a ci Jor m( Tho modes points, - shot lapse i big me The to pla Ryan I man f III, w After a the Mi from h easy tm "To: lot of with B said on hot mE es. from (Thursday) because usually higan was looking to the Penn State's Sasa (Boronvjak) o get goingearly, but Mor- was posting us up. Berggren did a truggled. He fumbled a good job spinningon us (and had) of passes in the paint and easy put-backs." ulled within the first three Added Morgan: "I think they es of the game in favor of took advantage of posting up ry. Morgan didn't score some guys (that) they had a size t the Badgers and turned advantage on, and that kind of ll over three times while put us in a rotation that we might g down four rebounds. not wanted to have. That got gan's play on Friday them some open shots." eed how the Wolverine for- So without a post presence, fared against the Badgers. sophomore guard Trey Burke r Morgan, McGary nor and junior guard Tim Hardaway ri sophomore Jon Hor- Tr. took control of the offense as ere able to get in a rhythm they have so many times before ively on Friday, and all - on Friday, Burke and Hard- truggled defensively. away were the only Wolverines to score in double digits. Hardaway also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while we do make Morgan, McGary and Horford combined for 16 boards. hange, maybe Though Wisconsin didn't dominate in the paint; the Bad- n w p gersgot physical with Michigan's Srelaxed." big men and were able to out- ormuscle and outsmart the Wolver- ine forwards. This has been an issue for Michigan against more physical teams in the Big Ten, ugh Berggren scored a like Indiana and Michigan State, t eight points, all of his and as the NCAA Tournament came from layups or dunks approaches, the Wolverines must is that opened up from a figure out how to potentially n defense from Michigan's match up with teams with strong n. post presences. Wolverine forwards had Morgan, however, doesn't y helpside defense when think that will be an issue. Evans posted up on fresh- "I don't think that's true. I forward Glenn Robinson think we've won some games hich left Berggren open. where we've had to get physical * simple move to get around - it's a very physical conference," chigan forward recovering Morgan said. "I think we've helpside, Berggren had an done a good job in the past few to points. weeks of getting physical, try- day on defense, we had a ing to get into the paint, trying helpside responsibilities to go after offensive and defen- vans posting up," McGary sive rebounds. I think we've. Friday. "We had to be the improved .in that area. I think an. It was a lot different we'll be okay." coach John Beilein. "The second half they scored at will." After playing two games in two nights, it looked like the Wolverines were starting to fight fatigue during Wisconsin's offen- sive blitz, especially on defense. Wisconsin's offensive style is to pass the ball around over and over,~using every second of the .shot clock to find a perfect look. "Whatever you do to try and fight (fatigue) it's always going to come back and bite you a lit- tle bit," said freshman forward Glenn Robinson III. "We did our best, but we need to watch film to make sure that doesn't hap- pen again in the (NCAA) Tourna- ment." Despite the ankle injury, Hard- away finished with 14 points, with 10 of those points coming in the second half. Burke scored ateam-high 19 points, but needed 22 shots to get there. He finished the regular season as the only player in the Big Ten to score 15 points in every conference game. Michigan found out Sunday it will be a four seed in the South regional, playing South Dakota State on Thursday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.