ESPN Men's Basketball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Breaking down No. 13 seed Ohio University’s 65-60 victory over No. 4 seed Michigan in the second round of the Midwest Regional at Bridgestone Arena:

Overview: Other than the early minutes of the game, Ohio led the whole way in pulling off its second upset of a top-4 seed in the past three NCAA tournaments. The Bobcats knocked off No. 3 Georgetown in 2010.

There wasn’t a lot of mystery to this one. Ohio shot 51.2 percent from the field and held Michigan scoreless in the game’s final four minutes. The Bobcats were able to get good looks at the basket most of the game, and Michigan didn’t have anybody who could stay in front of Ohio junior guard D.J. Cooper.

Ohio led by nine points with eight minutes to play, but Michigan made a run and cut the deficit to 63-60 with a little more than four minutes to play on Trey Burke’s 3-pointer. The Wolverines had several chances to tie the game, but couldn’t make shots down the stretch.

Turning point: After Michigan had pulled within 63-60 on Burke’s 3-pointer, Cooper missed from 3-point range on the other end. But Ohio’s Reggie Keely chased down the long rebound. It was that kind of game. Ohio made the plays when it counted, and Michigan didn’t.

Key player: Cooper was unstoppable for the Bobcats. The Wolverines tried several different defenders on him and did their best to shadow him with two players at times. But when Cooper wanted to penetrate, he usually did. He was also 3-of-6 from 3-point land and finished with a game-high 21 points and five assists.

Key stat: Cooper was 7-of-11 from the field. The Bobcats improved to 7-0 when he shoots at least 50 percent from the field.

Miscellaneous: It was the second consecutive shaky outing for Michigan point guard Burke, the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year. He was 5-of-15 from the field and 2-of-9 from 3-point range. In the Wolverines’ Big Ten tournament loss to Ohio State, he was 1-of-11 from the field and 0-of-7 from behind the arc. … Evan Smotrycz came off the bench to score 15 points for Michigan. It was only his fourth double-digit outing since Jan. 1. … Smotrycz’s turnover when he lost the ball off the dribble with 6.8 seconds left was the final blow for the Wolverines (24-10). ... Michigan's two senior guards, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, were a combined 1-of-7 from the field.

What’s next: Ohio (28-7) will move into the third round on Sunday and face the winner of the Temple-South Florida game. Those two teams play the late game Friday in Nashville.

Stu Douglass' late jumper leads Michigan to their third straight win over Michigan State, 60-59. Click here for the WolverineNation instant analysis.

Saddle Up is our semi-daily preview of that night's best basketball action.

No. 13 Michigan at No. 12 Indiana, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2: According to ESPN Research, "This will be the first time these schools have faced off as top 15 opponents since Feb. 8, 1994, and the first time they’ve faced each other when both are ranked since 1997."

That's a great stat, especially if you need a reminder of just how much both programs have struggled in various ways since the mid- and late-1990s. Having said that, and at the risk of turning this space into Poll Thoughts, Part Deux, let's get a couple of things out of the way:

1. Michigan is not the 13th-best team in the country.

2. Indiana is not the 12th-best team in the country.

In Michigan's case, the Wolverines are almost certainly overranked. This is why polls are so unreliable -- slowly but surely, teams often move up by default. I don't think the Wolverines deserve to be unranked, necessarily; I still had them at No. 19 in my power rankings Thursday. But even that may be a bit high. On an efficiency basis (per, as usual, Ken Pomeroy), the Wolverines are currently ranked No. 46 in the country. Their offense has been solid. Their defense has been mediocre. In other words, don't let that "No. 13" disorient you. To date, for as solid as John Beilein's team has been, it hasn't been that.

Indiana, on the other hand, can make a legitimate argument that it is underranked. (It is, of course, no surprise to see Indiana fans making this argument, and rather forcefully, in the direction of our Doug Gottlieb, who is far less bullish on the Hoosiers than most.)

The Hoosiers are 13-1 and own not one but two of the best wins of the season to date, in the form of home victories over then-No. 1 Kentucky and then-No. 2 Ohio State in the span of three weeks. Only UNLV, which beat North Carolina in Las Vegas on Nov. 26, has even one win that good on its ledger thus far.

Indiana's adjusted efficiency numbers back this up: The Hoosiers are currently No. 8 in Pomeroy's rankings; their offense has been the fifth-most efficient in the country to date, and their defense has ranked among the top 20 or 25 units in the country, thanks in large part to the Hoosiers' sudden ability to force their opponents into turnovers. They've won all the games they were supposed to win, and usually by impressive margins, and they've knocked off two national title contenders at home. When compared with some of the other resumes in the top 10, well, yeah: No. 12 doesn't quite tell the story.

In other words, the numbers in front of teams' names can be deceptive. (Duh, Eamonn. Any other trenchant insights?) If No. 12 versus No. 13 was the only piece of information you had before settling in to watch this game, you could find yourself popping over to ESPN2 in full expectation of a very close, very hard-fought game. Chances are, this won't be that.

It's up to Michigan to prove otherwise. The Wolverines entered this season with a fair level of expectation -- they were seen as a potential Big Ten contender, or at least in the high-second tier directly below Ohio State -- and their wins and losses to date align with that fact. But the efficiency margins at work here suggest Indiana is light-years ahead of the Wolverines at this point in the season. This is a great opportunity for Beilein's team to put something solid behind the expectations, to prove that they're more than a few decent wins over so-so competition and to reassert themselves in the country's best and most dynamic conference title chase.

To that end, the Wolverines have plenty going for them. The first is Beilein's two-guard front system, and these players' familiarity with it. This group doesn't have much of an interior presence, but on offense that's by design. Now five years into his Michigan tenure, Beilein has had the chance to inoculate all of his players into this tricky but effective style, and this particular team runs it very well.

There's also the heady point guard play of freshman Trey Burke, a low-top-100 recruit who has exceeded all expectations in his first two months at the helm in Ann Arbor. The best way to encapsulate Burke's performance is to imagine these Wolverines without him. The point guard position would be an amalgam including players such as Stu Douglass, a combo guard and spot shooter who would have been out of place on the ball this season. Instead, Burke has been dynamic, effective and savvy beyond his seasoning.

That offensive system is sure to pose challenges to Indiana, which is still, all things considered, a relatively young group. Freshman Cody Zeller hasn't played against this system yet; will it take him out of the game on the defensive end? (With all the rotations and long rebounds, can Zeller still be effective defensively?) This is the benefit of running a "junk" system in college hoops: Even when you're seemingly overmatched, you can give more talented teams a lot of trouble.

Offense is just one part of the equation. To get this win, Michigan will not only have to score on one of the best 25 or so defenses in the country, it'll also have to stop one of the nation's best offenses. On that team's home floor.

That's something neither Kentucky nor Ohio State could accomplish. If the Wolverines can, they will notch the definition of a statement win. A victory Thursday would sound an alarm to the rest of the Big Ten: Look out for Michigan. That's what's at stake here.

But disappointing though it may be, there's no shame in a loss, either -- no matter what the numbers next to these two teams' names say.

Everywhere else: Immediately preceding the aforementioned game on ESPN2 is Pittsburgh at DePaul. It will be interesting to watch the defensively bereft Panthers try to avoid a loss -- and the resulting freak-out cascade -- on the road against Oliver Purnell's noticeably improved DePaul squad. ... George Mason travels to Old Dominion in a quality CAA matchup. ... Villanova will attempt to avoid further disaster at home versus South Florida. ... In other Big Ten action, Purdue travels to Penn State. ... And for the West Coast folks, night owls and college basketball writers assigned to rank the Pac-12 on a weekly basis, the Pac-12 has a spate of interesting matchups, including California at Oregon State, Stanford at Oregon, Arizona at UCLA (a game that should be much bigger than it is, but oh well) and even Washington at Colorado. Happy hoops Thursday, everyone.

It's not hard to name the biggest hole in Michigan's lineup this season: point guard. Darius Morris's decision to leave for the NBA in the spring cost Michigan its primary ballhandler and assist man, and few guards in the nation were better than Morris at setting up teammates. Morris dropped a dime on -- get this -- 44.3 percent of his possessions, the third-highest mark in all of college hoops. Point guards like that are hard to find.

Initially, it looked like Stu Douglass would take over the majority of the point guard responsibilities for Michigan. But then freshman Trey Burke came along. Burke is the reigning Mr. Basketball in Ohio, a former teammate of Jared Sullinger's at Columbus Northland High School, and, as of tonight, a first-year starter for the Michigan Wolverines. Why? Michigan coach John Beilein loves what he sees from Burke, and he's decided there's no reason to wait to give Burke a shot at running his team. From WolverinesNation's Chantel Jennings:

"He really feels good out there," Beilein said of Burke. "He's a point guard who's really done a great job, his whole life, of running the team."

[...] "He wouldn't be in that lineup if I didn't see every day that he's ready to do the best he can do," Beilein said. "Then we continue to nurture him through it."

Beilein said he plans to use Douglass as a sixth man, allowing him to "hunt shots" without having to worry as much about getting his teammates involved in the flow of the game.

This is an intriguing move. The point guard is always an important role -- duh, Eamonn -- but the position is especially important in Beilein's stretchy 3-point-reliant offense. With Morris gone, it seemed Michigan was bound to struggle with that spot for portions of the season. But if Burke is as good as Beilein seems to think -- if he's already ready to take the reins -- then Morris's departure will be minimized at the same time Michigan's chances of a season befitting their No. 18 preseason ranking are maximized.

Can Burke be the new Aaron Craft? If he's even marginally as good as Ohio State's freshman point guard was last season the Wolverines are in much better place than previously anticipated.

1. Michigan coach John Beilein said Sunday night that freshman guard Trey Burke continues to improve quickly in his quest to be the starting point guard. Beilein hasn’t made up his mind yet but the other choice is senior Stu Douglass, whom Beilein said has been doing a good job setting an example. Both are trying to replace Darius Morris, who split for the NBA draft in the spring. Beilein said sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr., has embraced his role as being a lead actor. He said Hardaway Jr., is playing like someone who wants to be a player. The Wolverines scrimmaged Toledo on Sunday (but we’re not supposed to know that since the scrimmages are NCAA secrets).

2. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said there have been discussions with the Maui Invitational about the 2013 field to ensure the Orange and Maryland were in opposite brackets in case both schools are in the ACC at the time. The Orange still don’t know when it will be released by the Big East to go to the ACC (Big East is holding firm on the 27 month exit timeline. Syracuse would like to go as early as possible). Boeheim said two teams from a conference can be in the same tournament. The larger conferences get, the harder it will be to keep tournaments from taking two schools.

3. Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione is expecting to be nominated by the Big 12 to replace former commissioner Dan Beebe on the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee. Beebe, who was forced out of his job, can’t serve his final two years on the committee because he is no longer employed. Castiglione has to decide if he wants to finish Beebe’s term or wait for a four or five-year term of his own. Beebe’s spot could go to someone from the Big 12, Big Ten, Sun Belt or MAC since it has to be someone from a football bowl subdivision team or conference.

Pat Forde talks with Michigan’s Stu Douglass after the win over Illinois.

INDIANAPOLIS -- If there were any doubts left about who should win National Player of the Year in college basketball, Evan Turner just extinguished them. He's the best. Case closed.

Turner's leaning 3-pointer from 37 feet away a flicker before the final buzzer lifted top-seeded Ohio State to a 69-68 win over No. 8 Michigan in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Officials reviewed whether the shot got off in time before ruling it good.

Ohio State remains alive for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament after a true escape job today against its archrival. The Buckeyes will face Wisconsin or Illinois on Saturday.

Michigan guard Manny Harris, who was brilliant in the second half with 22 of his 26 points, appeared to secure the upset on a fallaway jumper with 2.2 seconds left. The Wolverines spent the entire half clawing out of a hole they had created with a poor end to the first.

Watching Turner dribble up the floor, you have to question Michigan's defensive strategy on the last play. Everyone in the arena knew Turner was getting the ball, and he faced surprisingly little push-back as he crossed the half court stripe and launched the game-winner. After a strong first half, Turner struggled a bit in the final minutes, but once again, he came up big when Ohio State needed him most. David Lighty and William Buford also stepped up nicely for the Buckeyes.

You have to feel for Michigan, which ended an extremely disappointing season with one of its better efforts. Harris and guard Stu Douglass were brilliant in the second half as Michigan took its first lead since midway through the first half with 29.4 seconds to go. The Wolverines were a preseason top 15 team hoping to build on an NCAA tournament appearance, but they finish 15-17.