No. 11 Michigan is preparing to play No. 2 Villanova on Thursday, and Wolverines forward Hunter Dickinson had an interesting comparison for his opponent.
Michigan’s junior center said the Wildcats remind him of a better version of a different Big Ten team.
“Like maybe like a more disciplined Iowa team maybe. I say that in terms of like Iowa, they're really free flowing and they have a couple sets, but it's mostly just a lot of them making up their own sets and really free flowing,” Dickinson told the media.
Dickinson also had some opinions over how the other Big Ten teams have done this tournament.
“This season was definitely not the best, not the way that we wanted it to [go] and other fans definitely let us know that,” he said.
He went on to name Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State and “the team down in Madison, the red and white team,” in reference Wisconsin.
Dickinson said Michigan “heard those NIT chants” from those fans, but he made sure to remind everyone that those teams “will be watching this on Thursday back at their cribs.”
Michigan and Wisconsin famously had issues the last time they played, when Juwan Howard hit a Wisconsin assistant and was suspended five games after the Badgers victory.
Michigan finished the season at 17-14, with questions around whether they deserved to make the men’s NCAA tournament. However, the Wolverines put those doubts to rest with back-to-back victories over No. 6 Colorado State and No. 3 Tennessee to reach a second straight Sweet 16.
Meanwhile, No. 3 Purdue is the only other Big Ten team remaining in the tournament.
