NCAA South notes: Michigan vs. South Dakota State a battle of finer points

From wire reports

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Trey Burke versus Nate Wolters is the matchup everyone is waiting to see.

Turns out Michigan and South Dakota State have more in common than just their star point guards.

“They don’t turn over a lot, we don’t turn over a lot,” Jackrabbits coach Scott Nagy said. “They don’t foul, we don’t foul. There are a lot of similarities, so I think it will be interesting.”

The fourth-seeded Wolverines take on their mirror image from the Summit League on Thursday night when they face 13th-seeded South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan is the clear favorite, especially since the game is about 50 miles from the school’s Ann Arbor campus, but both teams play a similar style, relying on sharp shooting from the perimeter by guards who don’t make many mistakes.

It should make for an entertaining, free-flowing matchup in the South Region.

“I think what both teams have is terrific point guards, and you get the ball into those two young men’s hands and anything can happen. The way the game is played now, there are things happening in transition that it’s just hard to practice for,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “In order to run, people have got to make stops. We have to make stops. They have to make stops. But when both teams are running, they’re really good.”

Burke is a national player of the year candidate. The 6-foot leader of Michigan’s efficient offense can shoot from outside and drive past defenders into the lane. He averages 19.2 points per game while the 6-foot-4 Wolters averages 22.7. Wolters scored 53 points against IPFW in February, the most by anyone in Division I this season.

“We’ll put Nate on Trey,” Nagy said. “Nate is a tremendous defender, but we’ve relied on him so much to play 40 minutes and to handle a basketball that I think sometimes people don’t get to see how good a defender he is.”

Both teams surround their playmaking point guards with other terrific shooters. Michigan freshman Nik Stauskas shoots 45 percent from 3-point range, and Tim Hardaway Jr. is at 37 percent. Chad White and Jordan Dykstra are both at 43 percent for the Jackrabbits.

Michigan (26-7) allows opponents to shoot 13 free throws per game, the fewest in the nation. South Dakota State is next on that list at 13.4. Michigan turns the ball over only 9.2 times per game, also the lowest figure in the country. South Dakota State is sixth at 10.4.

“They’re like an amoeba with their offense. They do so many different things that you can’t really organize for,” Beilein said. “They are in motion, and then they’re hitting with these quick striking things which we’re saying, `They can’t have planned that.“’

South Dakota State (25-9) made the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time as a Division I team, losing by eight to Baylor.

Akron coach Keith Dambrot considers VCU’s Shaka Smart family.

Dambrot recalled crying tears of joy when was he heard Smart coached the Rams past Kansas to earn a spot in the 2011 Final Four.

“That guy’s my brother,” Dambrot said. “I love Shaka …” and he wants to send him home.

Dambrot believes an upset is possible if the 12th-seeded Zips can slow down the fifth-seeded Rams on Thursday.

That won’t be easy.

Smart has installed a high-tempo defense and offense that has served his program well. The style of play helped VCU reach the Final Four in 2011 and make a third straight trip this year to the NCAA Tournament.

“We try to get up and down,” Smart said. “We try to wreak havoc.”

The Rams have their highest seeding since being a No. 2 in 1985.

Back then, Smart was 7 and Dambrot was a 26-year-old coach at Tiffin University, the first team he led. Dambrot’s coaching journey later took him to Ashland and Central Michigan and eventually to Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he coached LeBron James.

After James graduated from high school, he worked out with Dambrot, who was then an Akron assistant, who introduced Smart to him on his first day on the Zips’ coaching staff.

“Unbelievable experience, but it just says a lot about Keith,” Smart recalled. “He didn’t know me from anyone. Why would he include me in that? But he’s just so inclusive. It’s just an example of the fact that he treats people so well.”

The Miami Heat superstar is close to the Akron program. Not only do the Zips wear his endorsed gear, but James spends part of the summer on campus playing pickup games with Akron’s players. They cherish the chance to be around him, and he seems to get something out of it, too.

“It’s just great being around those guys,” James said. “I enjoy it.”

James stays in frequent touch with Dambrot and spoke with him after the Zips won the Mid-American Conference title last weekend.

“LeBron ain’t on the court with them,” VCU guard Darius Theus said. “So, it’s fine.

“We got coach Smart and we got a lot of faith in him.”

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