Inside a COVID ward. Former Michigan football captain Chris Hutchinson is a doctor, which means he's doing everything he can to deal with COVID-19:

"We saw one COVID patient per shift for a few days," Hutchinson recalled of March 9-10. "Then, there were many each shift. And a few days after that, it was pretty much all we were seeing come in.

"That was when we had drive-through testing set up, and the first day we saw 50. Next day, we saw 100. The next day we saw 200, and then in two or three days we saw 300 people coming through the drive-through."

Hospitals are already hitting limits:

"We had a smaller hospital call and tell us they have a COVID-positive patient but are out of ICU beds," said Hutchinson of intensive care units. "We told them, 'Nobody has ICU beds. We can't take your transfer because we don't have very many beds.' We've had to convert other areas in the hospital into ICUs.

"Everyone has to deal with this, and unfortunately we are right at the front end of it, still on the curve -- a steep, upward curve."

Stay inside, people. Waffle Houses are closing. Binge watch Altered Carbon, because you might have to watch it six times to understand what's going on. Or every strongman competition ever.

[After THE JUMP: the official BCHL team of Hellboy]

Bring back the Salsa. I was unaware that the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies used to have an insane name and the best logo in the history of sports:

https://t.co/A58U8NiwwS pic.twitter.com/w6lDWLLNFH

— Chris Heisenberg (@CHeisenberg) March 25, 2020

An alternate universe where Hellboy is a popular endorser of chunky tomato salsas is the one I want to live in. Correction: one of a very large number I want to live in.

Phil Martelli on his immediate past and future. Andrew Kahn catches up with the Michigan assistant:

If he could find something like that closer to home…

"This area goes through my blood in a lot of different ways," he said. If there was a blood drive or a sick teenager, Martelli would make an appearance.

"That's just my thing," Martelli said. "I haven't found that niche in Michigan."

It would take a head coaching job in the area to leave, probably, but if he gets that he'd take it.

Step one: set achievable goals. Check:

Offensive coordinator hopes to see Spartans put 'multiple' points on the scoreboard https://t.co/hkQaVIo6I7 via @detroitnews

— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) March 26, 2020

I mean, this is probably an achievable goal.

The prototype. Season highlights for Isaiah Todd demonstrate why he's a five star. He can do everything:

Doing it efficiently is an open question.

Names in. Brendan Quinn says to expect Isaiah Livers to check his draft status:

Isaiah Livers
2019-20: Junior — 12.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.1 apg

Look for Livers to test the waters as an early entry in the NBA Draft. I’ve been told the only reason he hasn’t made an announcement one way or another is the ongoing chaos that everyone is trying to navigate. There’s a lot going on and, in reality, under normal circumstances, he might still be playing right now. Eventually, though, I think he will declare for the draft but retain his college eligibility. What happens from there is anyone’s guess.

Livers hasn't appeared on any mock drafts I've seen and probably needed a healthy and productive tournament run to establish himself. Never say never these days but it would seem to make sense for him to come back since he could improve his stock a lot. Howard just said that Franz Wagner is also considering options; he too could skyrocket on draft boards if he has the Stauskas year that beckons.

Meanwhile across the league the glut of Big Ten centers who will straight murder you got a little less oppressive. Daniel Oturu is entering his name and staying in; Xavier Tillman entered his name but is going to wait for feedback before a final decision. Someone break his grandma out of Tom Izzo's basement please. (Wear a mask while doing so.)

If you need further confirmation that you really want Tillman to GTFO, he finished first nationally in that RAPM stat I posted about last year. RAPM is an adjusted plus minus stat that always needs to be taken in roster context but seems pretty good after it picked out Isaiah Livers in the top 50 after the 2018-19 season. So Tillman finishing first overall means that he is very very good and that MSU's options outside of him weren't so hot.

Good hire, dream killers. Luke Yaklich is UIC's new head coach. He's even Chicago-ized his last name:

CHICAGO – No stranger to the state of Illinois and the Chicagoland area, Luke Yaklich (YOCK-litch) has been named head men's basketball coach for the UIC Flames, subject to approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Or perhaps we were wrong all along. Surely not.

This kills far-fetched dream scenarios where Shaka gets axed and Yaklich gets the band back together but those were always fanciful anyway. Will be interesting to see how Yaklich gets along at UIC. I'm guessing he's a hot mid major name in five years.

Football offline. Orion Sang catches up with Kwity Paye to find out what Michigan players are doing instead of going through spring practice:

“It’s difficult," Paye said. "I know that everyone’s been saying it, but you’re just bored all day. You just sit in the house and you’re like, man. We’ll get our workouts done but then after that, there’s nothing really to do. Do homework and play video games. But other than that, you can’t really go out and hang out because the virus is out there.

"The first two days, we were like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s funny that we’re just chilling,’ and then after that, we were like, man, I miss it."

More Fantilli. The Hockey News's Ken Campbell has the definitive word on what's going on with Adam Fantilli:

The plan is for both brothers to play in Chicago next season, then once Adam finishes high school, he’ll have the choice of playing either college hockey or in the OHL. The Fantillis have told the Battalion that if Adam decides to go the OHL route, he would be happy to report to North Bay to start the 2021-22 season, but there are no guarantees. Luca has made a commitment to the University of Michigan, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Adam will play there with his brother.

“Luca has wanted to play for Michigan since he was a little kid, but Adam is different, he likes the OHL and he likes the NCAA,” Guiliano said. “He doesn’t know what he wants to do yet. He’ll take this year to develop in Chicago and play with his brother. North Bay had an awesome presentation, but it just wasn’t the right fit for (2020-21). It doesn’t mean it won’t be next year. We told them, ‘We’re not going to play for anybody else. It’s not a North Bay thing. It’s just we’re not ready right now.’ ”

So he will be in the USHL and North Bay gets the fun choice of taking him and hoping he reports next year instead of going directly to college, or passing on the consensus top player in the draft.

Etc.: Will Lockwood had a cursed career at Michigan; better luck in the pros. Dan Dakich might get fired from his radio show for getting too mad about a high school coach getting fired. That would be a weird way to go out. Thomas Bordeleau keeping sharp during his enforced layoff. Blackwell's lawsuit recommended for dismissal.