Based on the pools I'm in, few people picked Michigan to advance to the Final Four; fewer, of course picked them to win the tournament. Yet, they also seemed the most upset-proof of the two seeds and a popular choice over Duke to at least reach the Elite Eight. Losing one of their marquee players early -- Mitch McGary, who came up huge during last year's postseason run -- continues to put them in second-tier considerations. As much potential as McGrary might have, he only flashed it briefly in last year's tournament. (Before that, he averaged just under 8 points per game and was dealing just under 10 ppg before this year's injury). Really, the Wolverines didn't lose much of their identity when he went down after about 10 games. They only lost the possibility of what could have been.

Rather quietly, Michigan dispatched each of their tournament opponents: 15-seed Wofford by 17; 7-seed Texas by 14. Less quietly (because they're an 11 seed) but equally as easy, Tennessee ran through Massachusetts by 19 and Mercer by 20. Before that, however, they needed overtime to beat the best team of the three, Iowa, in the pre-qualifying rounds.

Michigan's allure as a safe pick relates to the fact that they only lost one really bad game all year, a two point defeat to Charlotte (17-14, 7-9 Conference USA). Their other questionable loss was to Indiana (17-15, 7-11), who had a few big wins amid their ultimately disappointing season. Otherwise, they played one of the most challenging schedules in the country and had a handful of impressive wins.

Besides the loss of McGrary, another knock on the Wolverines centers on their three best players. Nik Stauskas is good, but he might seem like too much of an outside shooter to be the leader of a team. Chris Lavert is relatively unknown (and a 2 ppg-guy last year), while Glenn Robinson III's roman numerals should stand for the three types of games he's capable of on any given night: (1) mediocre (2) awful (3) brilliant.

Still, I'll be rooting for the more interesting team, which as I see it right now, is Michigan.

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