#627 ASA FREE PLAY ON Florida State +2 over Michigan, Sunday at 5 PM ET - With Michigan’s best offensive player, Isaiah Livers, still out, our power ratings have the Seminoles as slight favorites in this game. We feel the value is on FSU. The Wolverines are 2-1 without Livers in the line up and this will be by far their toughest test with him sidelined. They topped Texas Southern and LSU so far in the Dance and their 8-point win vs the Tigers was a bit deceiving. The Wolverines shot 54% from the field, 40% from 3, and 80% from the FT line and still trailed for most of the game. They led for just 1:00 minute in the first half and never led by more than 5 the entire game until less than 6:00 minutes remaining despite shooting lights out. That was vs an LSU team that was not known for their defensive prowess ranking 124th nationally in 9th in the SEC in defensive efficiency. Now they face an FSU team that is rolling on that end of the court allowing just 34% from the field in their first 2 NCAA tournament games. The Noles are the tallest team in the country with 5 guys at 6’8 or better in their rotation. They block a ton of shots (11th nationally) which will cause problems for another one of Michigan’s main scoring threats Hunter Dickinson. If he the freshman can’t get it going inside and they are without Livers on the perimeter, we believe Michigan is in trouble. FSU was our top rated team in the ACC all season long and we felt a serious threat to make the Final 4 and win it all. They have 5 players averaging 9 PPG or more and they are extremely deep 9 players averaging double digit minutes. They are one of the top shooting teams in the nation (30th in eFG% and 15th in 3-point %) and they have 5 players in their rotation that hit over 36% from deep. Their 18-point win over Colorado in their last game was extremely impressive. The Buffs were the top rated team in the Pac 12 all season long and FSU just destroyed them. With Pac 12 teams Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Oregon State still standing, that easy win over Colorado tips off how good this team can be. The Noles like to play fast and while Michigan’s overall tempo numbers aren’t as high, that’s partly due to the Big 10 being a very slow paced conference. The Wolverines don’t mind playing fast and we think they will here. While FSU’s defense is playing very well, they won’t completely shut Michigan down here. However, the Noles have many more offensive weapons and we like them to win a close game here so we’ll take the points.