INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michigan has been scoring over and swatting down opponents at a record rate during March Madness.
For the Wolverines to go down as one of college basketball's best ever, they'll have to do it one more time by taking down a UConn program seeking its third national title in four seasons.
The teams meet Monday night in the NCAA championship game, bringing down the curtain on a March Madness full of surprises and fun — and highlighted
by two finalists that have been shooting for history in their own distinct ways.
At Michigan, a roster freshly constructed out of last year's transfer portal, has become the first team to score 90-plus points in five straight tournament games in the same season. On the other end, 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara leads a defense that amassed eight or more blocks in the first four games of the tournament — the first time that's happened since blocks became an official stat in the 1980s.
The Wolverines (36-3) had only three swats against Arizona, but that was a 91-73 win in a game that was supposed to be the best of the tournament but turned into something else. Michigan is trying to become the fifth team to win six tournament games by a dozen or more. The last two: the UConn title teams in 2023 and '24.
“We have a team that we think is elite,” coach Dusty May said. “But we also know that means nothing. You still have to do all the things that got you to this point, and you have to weather storms. You have to handle success.”
No program has done that better over the past four years than UConn (34-5) — a feat made more impressive by the landscape it must navigate.
Coach Dan Hurley has used the transfer portal in a more targeted way than Michigan — for instance, he nabbed Tarris Reed Jr. from the Wolverines but also has a UConn lifer in Alex Karaban — to keep the program near the top in an era of quick change.
“We want to have a lot of continuity,” Hurley said. “Our culture is unique. It’s specific. It takes a certain type of player to play for me.”
UConn comes into the game as a 6 1/2-point underdog, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, the third straight game the oddsmakers have picked the Huskies to lose. Bad bet, so far. Braylon Mullins produced the moment of the tournament so far with his 3-pointer to cap UConn's 19-point comeback against Duke to get the Huskies to the Final Four.
If they defy the odds again, they'll become the first program to win three titles in four years since the UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and '70s.
“The last thing we’re thinking about now, as we prepare for one of these teams, is dynasty,” Hurley said after the Arizona win. “We’re gonna go watch this one and go through the preparation and focus on just ... trying to — whoever we play — try to win the game.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
