KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The blue NCAA insignias were sewn on the left shoulder of the Michigan men's basketball team's jerseys.

Per NCAA rules, the Sprint Center was devoid of advertising.

CBS, the home of March Madness, broadcasted the game.

At Wednesday's team dinner, Michigan coach John Beilein allowed the Wolverines to eat at The Cheesecake Factory instead of at their team hotel. He figured they deserved it. Desserts aren’t normally served during team meals, but sophomore forward Manny Harris ordered both ice cream and brownies.

No matter how many elements you added, it still seemed surreal.

This is the NCAA Tournament.

And Michigan is there.

After an 11-year absence from the Big Dance, just getting a bid would have been enough for some. But from the tipoff of Michigan’s 62-59 win over Clemson last night, the desire for more was obvious. The Wolverines were playing in the Tournament and actually dominating.

Harris connected on three 3-pointers in the first half. Freshman guard Stu Douglass stole the ball at half court and finished with a dunk to force a Clemson timeout. His teammates erupted from the bench and rushed towards him like it was the national championship game.

Maize-clad fans chanted “The Victors” during a timeout, completely unprovoked.

Michigan held a 16-point lead early in the second half.

But this team believed all of it was real all along.

Junior forward Deshawn Sims admitted he had some pregame anxieties, and a couple early airballs proved it.

And when Clemson came within one point, with less than a minute to play, reality finally hit for everyone else.

What were the Wolverines really doing here?

“To a lot of people, it probably felt like that but ... to ourself, we expected to win,” Harris said. “We wanted to win and that was the main thing.”

Harris, the player pegged to turn Michigan’s program around, came back with yet another unstoppable play -- maybe the biggest of his young career. And you better believe it looked good on national television.

With his team up one with 37 seconds left, Harris drove through a crowded lane. After his fouled bank shot bounced slowly from the glass through the net, Harris flexed his arms inward and growled with utter enthusiasm.

“I probably look at him and say, ‘You have a great shot here, it’s got to be like a layup,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “When Manny gets into crowds, those are like layups to him.”

When Harris runs into traffic in front of the net, he delivers. And when the Wolverines get into big-game situations, they deliver.

They’ve done it with their backs against the wall all season, most notably in late-season wins over Tournament teams Purdue and Minnesota.

They weren’t expected to do it yesterday, but they did.

And they’ll be there Saturday to take on No. 2 seed Oklahoma.

Believe it or not, the team that went 10-22 last season is now playing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. People might have already given Saturday's game to the Sooners. But talk to Michigan, and just a first-round win still isn't enough.

“As a team, we want to stay in the tournament,” Sims said. “It wasn’t a compliment for us to make it.”

But it was a compliment to a success-starved fanbase that finally had the chance to pick Michigan in its NCAA Tournament brackets.

So go ahead and move the Wolverines forward on your bracket. They wouldn’t have been satisfied with anything less.

-- Lincoln can be reached at lincolnr@umich.edu.