Michigan heads to Final Four as upset stopper
LOS ANGELES — Michigan is headed to its first Final Four in five years with another upsetminded opponent waiting.
The Wolverines (32-7) have tamped down three consecutive teams with designs on pulling surprises — No. 6 seed Houston, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 9 Florida State.
Now they’ll face the most improbable opponent of all — 11thseeded Loyola-Chicago in San Antonio.
“I don’t think any of us cares about rankings, seedings or none of that,” forward Moe Wagner said. “It’s about who is going to play better. They must be a really good team, that’s why they’re in the Final Four, and that’s all that matters.”
The third-seeded Wolverines withstood their own poor shooting to beat Florida State, 58-54, and win the West Region basketball title Saturday night for their 13th straight victory. They haven’t lost since Feb. 6 against Northwestern.
Loyola (32-5) made a stunning run through the South, beating Kansas State, 78-62, in the regional final to equal the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Final Four. The Ramblers have Sister Jean, too.
Their 98-year-old team chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, has been a social media and TV sensation.
Not that West Regional Most Valuable Player Charles Matthews had a clue.
“I don’t know who Sister Jean is, no disrespect,” he said.
Not so for Wagner, the sixfoot-11 forward plucked out of Germany by coach John Beilein.
“I know that she didn’t have Loyola-Chicago in the Elite Eight,” Wagner said. “I know that.”
Wolverines forward Isaiah Livers knows one of Loyola’s players, having played AAU basketball against each other in Chicago.
“I’ve been watching them. They’re a really good team,” he said. “From now on, you’re going to play nothing but good teams. They’re here for a reason.”
So are the Wolverines, whose NCAA Tournament victories have involved wild swings. They scored 99 points in the regional semifinal and 58 in the final, a 41-point swing that is the largest two-game scoring difference by any team in this year’s tourney.
After beating No. 14 Montana by 14 points in the first round, Michigan escaped by 1 against Houston on Jordan Poole’s threepointer at the buzzer.
The Wolverines trounced Texas A&M by 27 points in the regional semifinals, hitting 10 of their 14 three-pointers in the first half.