PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas– Michigan could be better than we thought.

The Wolverines looked like they might go through the obligatory rebuild after elite coach John Beilein– Michigan’s all-time winningest coach and one of the best technical minds in the sport– left for a head coaching job with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and the school opted to bring turn on the time machine and bring back Juwan Howard from the Fab Five as his successor and they had to replace three starters– 6-6 senior wing Charles Mathews, sophomore guard Jordy Poole and freshman forward Ignas Brazdekis– all announced they would apply for early entry into the draft.   .

But Michigan is 5-0 after defeating perennial NCAA team Iowa State, 83-76, from the Big 12 in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis yesterday at the Imperial Ball room at this resort. The Wolverines will face North Carolina, who defeated Alabama, 76-67, here Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Most of the early season attention in the Big Ten has centered around on Michigan State and Ohio State. But the Wolverines have enough key players back from the Beilein era to become a surprise. In a game where 7-1 senior center John Tenske struggled with foul trouble and played less than 15 minutes, the balanced Wolverines shot 57.7 percent, put five players in double figures and got scoring out of 10 players on the roster. Senior wing Isaiah Livers led Michigan with 17 points while sophomore guard David DeJulius and 6-11 sophomore center Colin Castleton came off the bench to combine for 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting. “Next man up,’’ Howard said.

The Wolverines also got  10 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists from veteran senior point guard Zavier Simpson. Michigan’s shot selection was good, but they made life harder on themselves by committing an unsightly 22 turnovers—including an uncharacteristic eight of them from Simpson, which the Cyclones turned into 29 points and cut their solid 15-point lead to 80-74 with the ball in the final 40 seconds. “Coach told us at halftime we were trying to make too many homerun plays,’’ Livers said. “Sometimes, you have to settle for singles and doubles.’’

This isn’t the first time Michigan has had trouble closing out a game with a big lead. The Wolverines let a 30 point lead slip all the way to five in the final minute against Appalachian State in the season opener.

Howard is following a tend of former NBA players making the adjustment to college basketball. There are 15 this year, including Patrick Ewing of Georgetown, Penny Hardaway of Memphis and Jerry Stackhouse of Vanderbilt.

Howard might not have been Michigan’s first choice, but his positive attitude and calm demeanor and 25 years of NBA experience as a player and an assistant coach could make him a good fit with an experienced team that has good basketball IQ. For the Wolverines did a good job defensively on Iowa State, limiting them 5 for 21 from the three and just 43 percent shooting for the game. The only player they had no answer for was 6-7 junior Tyrese Haliburton, the nation’s leader in assists who became a scorer for the night out of necessity. Haliburton lit up Michigan for 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, getting 14 in the second half when the Cyclones tried to claw their way back into the game. ‘’In my opinion,’’ he’s a pro,’’ said Howard, who should know.