The members of the Michigan men’s basketball team are spending way more time inside a hotel than they’d prefer. And yet they have no desire to leave anytime soon.
Michigan is among the 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Almost all of the games so far have taken place in Indianapolis, and all of the remaining games will be held in the city. Michigan arrived there on March 11, the day before its first Big Ten Tournament game, and hasn’t left.
After winning their first two NCAA Tournament games, including a second-round matchup against LSU on Monday night, the Wolverines are not set to play again until Sunday, in the Sweet 16 against Florida State. That allowed for some free time.
A trip to the Indianapolis Zoo and the TopGolf in nearby Fishers, Indiana, were among the team’s activities this week.
Freshman center Hunter Dickinson filmed the zoo trip. “I’m like a weather man right now,” he says at one point, running towards the giraffes. “I’ve got to get the shot!” Upon arriving at their enclosure, even the 7-foot-1 Dickinson remarked, “That’s a big boy.”
His teammates quoted “Finding Nemo” and “The Lion King” and, by the video at least, seemed to have a good time.
The video clips from the team’s trip to TopGolf, a fancy driving range, proved this group chose the right college sport. (Though Eli Brooks, who has been spotted on the University of Michigan course a time or two, has a swing as pure as his jump shot.)
The team also spent some time at the local minor league baseball park, where they played badminton and tossed a football in the outfield.
See also: Scouting report on Florida State, Michigan’s Sweet 16 opponent, from ACC coach
Back in the hotel, in addition to school work — which Michigan’s coaches and played have mentioned as a priority — Brooks said he and his teammates have been playing video games and cards together to pass the time. Other than designated activities, the competing teams have not gone outside.
“When we first got here we had to quarantine and everything,” said Florida State’s M.J. Walker. “A couple guys were having a little anxiety issues, just being inside a lot, not being able to step outside.”
Walker added that, in way, it’s not any different from the regular season — it’s just happening away from campus.
“I’m just blessed to be able to have the opportunity to play in March Madness honestly. Whatever protocols we have to do, we’ll do it. I’m not complaining. The NCAA has done a good job.”
He wasn’t the only one on Thursday praising the NCAA, which had taken heat earlier in the Tournament for the conditions inside the bubble.
“The NCAA has done an unbelievable job of planning this,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Things have not been perfect but I cannot say how impressed I am with how they’ve put this tournament together, how well it’s organized, and how much thought must have gone in to trying to come up with this organized event.
“We always criticizing the NCAA for things that we don’t agree with. Well, they need all the sugar we can give ‘em, they need props, and they need to be complimented for the job that they’ve done.”
Michigan head coach Juwan Howard said the NCAA should commended for, so far, pulling off this event in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and making every team “comfortable while being here, and also safe.”
With locker rooms closed to the media because of COVID protocols, it’s difficult to get a sense of how the entire team is feeling. Brandon Johns Jr. was asked on Thursday about what he was looking forward to doing when he returned to Ann Arbor.
“I haven’t even thought that far,” he said. “We’ve become kind of comfortable with living in the hotel. Getting really comfortable.”
The Wolverines haven’t forgotten why they are in Indianapolis. Their goal is to win the national championship.
“I got really concerned the first four days of the Tournament, because I thought our guys were watching too much basketball,” assistant coach Phil Martelli said Thursday morning on WXYT-97.1 FM.
“I’ve always been this big believer that when you’re in this Tournament, you almost have to go inside your little, private ‘bubble’ and you can’t really worry about — Illinois goes down as the No. 1 seed, so now does that add pressure to us playing LSU later?
“I don’t know what the balance is. I know they’re basketball fans and I know they have social media and everybody’s talking about every single game and the TVs in every room are on, they’re watching every game. That’s a challenge.”
Martelli said the staff has prevented players from taking their meals back to their room to eat alone, encouraging social behavior while still maintaining some social distancing.
The elimination of 75 percent of the initial field allowed for all 16 remaining teams to move into the same hotel, Martelli said. He said the event now has the feel of “the biggest AAU tournament that these kids have ever played in.”
“Juwan and our support staff have done a terrific job of, when it’s school time, take care of your school work, and when it’s basketball time, let’s do this joyfully because we are one of 16 teams left in the country allowed to do it,” Martelli said.
Howard said it was important that Michigan enjoy the LSU victory for a night instead of, as some teams do, immediately moving on to the next game. “I don’t want our guys to have that type of mindset,” Howard said.
As the only Big Ten team left in the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines have been in Indianapolis longer than any other team. They want to extend their stay, starting with a win over Florida State.
After beating LSU, Brooks was asked about bubble life.
“It makes me lock in even more,” he said, “because you realize that you’re not home and you don’t want to go back home, and for good reasons.”
More Michigan basketball content:
Juwan Howard to face father figure, mentor Leonard Hamilton in Sweet 16 matchup
New Michigan starter Brandon Johns Jr.: ‘My confidence is at an all-time high’
What four straight Sweet 16s says about Michigan basketball
Michigan is the last Big Ten team standing in the men’s NCAA Tournament