Michigan just finished a dominant weekend over George Washington and Providence. I couldn't find a full replay of the GWU game so I only saw some highlight videos of it, but it looks like it was more of the same, except the offense played better (GW only got to 60 because the non-rotation players saw a fair bit of playing time towards the end).
I did see the Providence game today, though. The defense was strong throughout, though the rebounding was a little underwhelming, but part of that was Michigan had a small 3-guard lineup at times for some reason (Simpson, Poole, and Brooks), which didn't seem to work well. The refs were also bad, but ultimately didn't help either team.
The offense is inconsistent but getting better. The difference with this year's team is that there is no dominant player. Poole, Matthews, Brazdeikis, or Livers could all lead the team in scoring in a game depending on the matchups. Simpson is putting up big assist numbers, so far, too. There's a lot more lineup versatility this year, too, allowing Michigan to big or small depending on the opponent. That said, a 7-man rotation is smaller than usual, which is somewhat concerning. Austin Davis will backup Teske instead of Livers against big centers, and I think that DeJulius or Nunez can break into the back court rotation at some point, but from what I've seen when they finish the blowout wins, they aren't ready yet.
Yes, Villanova is clearly overrated after their loss to Furman (which is a decent mid-major in their own right), so it remains to be seen how they do against better competition (namely North Carolina in 10 days), but I think the team is good enough to beat anyone.
