Total Play For Florida Vs. Michigan

Florida vs. Michigan, 7:00 ET

When you think of college basketball, there are a few teams that come to mind. Of course, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Kansas all jump up to the top of the list, but there are a bunch of others that have a long and storied history. The glory days of Florida may be over but they are still a strong basketball program. Michigan was hoping for a revival with Juwan Howard as the coach, but they are struggling to find footing. Tonight, the Gators take on the Wolverines and we take on the bookie.

Florida is off to a nice start with a 7-3 record to begin the season. To really understand their team, I think you need to look at their losses to understand where their shortcomings are. The first loss was on a neutral court against Virginia. They lost by three points in that one, but were able to put up 70 points against a tough defense. Their next loss came at the hands of a ranked opponent, Baylor. Baylor beat them by four as both offenses were rolling and they combined to score 186 points. They had Wake Forest in their next game, it was on the road, their first true road game of the season and they lost by 11. Now they are back on a neutral court against a decent Michigan team. Looking at Florida's wins, I only see one or two impressive wins. That does give me a bit of pause when picking them in this game. The reason I like them though, is balance. They have almost five players averaging double digits in points for the season. They are led by their backcourt with Walter Clayton Jr. scoring 16.5 per game and Zyon Pullin leading the way with five assists per game. They aren't a particularly impressive team when shooting from deep, but they find ways to put points on the board which can sometimes be more frustrating to deal with as a defense.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 17: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the second half in the first round game against the Colorado State Rams of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 17, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Michigan is only 6-5 at this point in the season. Their first three games were easy wins against mediocre opponents. Then they lost a game to Long Beach State. If you're talking about overall programs, Michigan has to be better than LBS, but the loss happened and it wasn't a good defensive effort from the Wolverines. They then lost to Memphis in the next game. While it was a close contest, they couldn't close it out after being down 12 points at halftime. Have to give them credit for not giving up, but if they played tough defense and executed the whole game, they probably beat Memphis in that one. They beat Stanford in the next game, but after that, it was three straight losses to Texas Tech, Oregon, and Indiana. To their credit, they lost in overtime to Oregon and dropped the game against Indiana by three points. They've won their past two contests with relative ease over Iowa and Eastern Michigan. They need to find a way to stop the Florida backcourt, but the Gators have to find a way to stop the Michigan forwards. Like the Gators, there is a nice balance of scoring from the Wolverines with four players over double digits and another two scoring eight or more points.

I don't really expect a lot of defense to take place in this game. The offenses are both very strong and want to get a lot of shots put up in this one. It probably will be a fairly tight contest unless one of them shoots wildly over their season averages, so it might get tight late, but I am going to take the over 156.5 in this game.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024