Johni Broome, Auburn flex their muscles in Sweet 16 win over Michigan

Of all the Sweet 16 matchups that unfolded over the last two days, none had as many ready-made storylines as the showdown between No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Michigan in the South Regional.

At the top of the heap was the potential for point guard Tre Donaldson to exact revenge on his former team. Donaldson, the starting point guard for the Wolverines, spent two years playing for Auburn before transferring to Michigan ahead of the current season. Then there was the Danny Wolf subplot in which the Wolverines' big man, who led the Big Ten in double-doubles, was facing the team he upset in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament while playing for Yale. Wolf scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in Yale's pulsating 78-76 victory over fourth-seeded Auburn.

And finally, as of approximately 9:45 p.m. on Friday, there was the possibility for Michigan to face archival Michigan State in the Elite Eight if the Wolverines could wiggle past Auburn, the tournament's No. 1 overall seed. Michigan State narrowly defeated sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the first game of the evening at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, leaving the Spartans a single win from the Final Four.

Sensing, perhaps, the magnitude of the moment — with Auburn chasing just the third Elite Eight appearance in program history and Michigan seeking its first under new head coach Dusty May — the players from both teams accelerated into overdrive as the game looked more and more like a sloppy, mid-summer AAU showcase. Frantic fast breaks covering every inch of the court produced a comedy of errors in an opening half that featured 18 combined turnovers. There was an ill-advised lob pass that sailed out of bounds and a silly behind-the-back pass that wiped away a potential layup