Friday afternoon, the media had a chance to talk to Jay Bilas, one of the members of the ESPN College GameDay crew that will be in Assembly Hall Saturday morning to broadcast live from Bloomington. Among other things, Bilas talked about the key matchups for Saturday night's game as well as the importance of College GameDay returning to Bloomington once again.
Jay Bilas on Michigan's transition offense:
"I think Michigan is a under-rated transition team, and they're very efficient when they get out and run, but they don't run as much as other teams.
"When they run, they run."
Bilas on defending Michigan's Trey Burke:
"If you can stay in front of him and not get on the side where he has an angle...once he has an angle, it's over."
Bilas on both teams' potent offenses:
"Both teams have five guys on the floor who can score. That's not true with a lot of teams. It allows both coaches to be really creative. That's why these two teams are so efficient offensively. They both have a number of guys who can get 20 or more, and that makes them really hard to guard."
Bilas on the improvement of Indiana's defense:
"I think Indiana is a much improved defensive team, and I think probably of the two teams, defensively, I think I would probably take Indiana as the better defensive team. Oladipo is a big part of that, but the other part of that is Yogi Ferrell is a really good defender. He's a really good defender. He stays in front of the ball.
"Zeller is about as good a help defender for a big guy as you're ever going to find. He's very alert and switches, and he's very good at getting in the right spot. I think sometimes you judge big guys as defenders by 'Do they block a lot of shots?' he gets a lot of steals for a big guy. He gets deflections."
Bilas on bringing College GameDay back to Bloomington:
"This place is special. It's got a unique character. I don't think you have to spend a lot of time explaining why this game is important. Indiana is one of the great brands in sports. Indiana basketball; the candy stripe pants and the banners. It's one of the great brands in sports. When you're back here, and there's this level of excitement, this is not just a great Big Ten game. Everybody wants to see this. It's a game everybody wants to watch. It's two teams and two programs that matter.
"This game is important for the here and now, and that's a good thing for the Big Ten and a really good thing for college basketball."
