551 minutes and 39 seconds. That's how long Musa Diabate has played in a game in a

mason blue uniform. Now, in the grand scheme of a college basketball season, that's a pretty

healthy sample size. After all, Thursday's game for the Wolverines at Iowa was game number 24

on the season. But when you include all of the practice time, all of the shootarounds,

all of the strength and conditioning work, rewind back to before the season when Michigan was

getting work into the summer and into the fall months, then the sample size becomes a little

bit smaller. Of course, what you do in games and what Musa Diabate does in games,

that's what will be gauged in terms of success for this Michigan team this season,

in terms of where Musa Diabate will eventually slide into what should be an NBA career.

But that shows you that maybe there's some up and down performances over the course of a season

for any player, especially a freshman, but the trajectory is still moving forward. It is

trending up. And Thursday night was his finest performance. Musa Diabate was brilliant.

28 points on 12 of 15 shooting. He gobbled up eight rebounds. He was able to navigate

around some foul trouble and log 34 minutes. It is never going to be a steady line upward for any player,

especially a freshman. We know the type of potential that Musa Diabate has, and I've talked about it plenty on this show.

It's one thing to be a five-star recruit.

It's another thing to be a five-star college basketball player.

And Musa Diabate, he's still not there yet. But Thursday was a five-star performance.

Period.

Full stop.

What he did in that game was brilliant.

Was he the only reason Michigan got the victory?

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