After the back and fourth slugfest in Columbus last Sunday, then the 40 to 23 flurry to overwhelm Iowa down the stretch on Thursday, Saturday's game felt a bit calmer, felt a bit more routine.

Michigan never delivered that fatal, overwhelming five-minute push that completely did in the Hoosiers, but this game never felt in doubt in the

second half and really throughout much of the afternoon. It was a business-like effort from a team

that encountered what many termed coming in as a potential trap game. And to be, that'll be

the lasting memory of this one. You see, this is the first time that this group has encountered a one-day prep. 39 hours

separated the buzzer against Iowa and the opening jump against Indiana. Hoosiers were desperate.

They had to let back-to-back double-digit leads evaporate against Michigan State and Rutgers.

They're on the wrong side of the bubble at this point. They needed this one badly.

All that kind of sounds like March, right?

This was Michigan's first such experience, but it will not be its last.

This is a team that hopes for a couple of zero-day preps in the Big Ten tournament,

followed by three one-day preps.

There's no doubt this team has the group, has the players, has the

opportunity to make all of that a reality, regardless of if they had experience in this format

or not. But it doesn't hurt. Michigan didn't play its best basketball. There will be plenty of

things to learn from this one. But the Wolverines on a one-day prep, a quick turnaround,

and a road trip never got out of

sync for an extended period of time. They snapped right back into the proper approach after a

couple of emotional wins, and they knocked out a team playing as close to a must-win game

as you can have in late February at their barn, no less. We've known for a while that Michigan is capable of passing any and every test this

college basketball season can and will throw at you.

But getting a little extra work on a situation you'll absolutely have to experience if you

...