INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There's a dynasty brewing in college basketball. And, in a perfectly fitting twist, UConn can cement that status by overcoming a Michigan powerhouse that is racking up historically impressive numbers, hoping to go down as one of the sport's greatest teams itself.
Those are the stakes in Monday night's title game between the Huskies and Wolverines.
Connecticut is trying to become the first program since John Wooden's UCLA behemoth
of the 1960s and ‘70s to win three championships over a four-season span, while Michigan is trying to cap off a March Madness string of dominance, the likes of which were last seen by this very UConn program that won it all in 2023and ’24.
“This run they’re on is one of the best — probably the best — since John Wooden,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “If we think riding in on a wave is going to take care of UConn, then we’re going to be very disappointed at about 11 o'clock tomorrow night or whenever the game concludes.”
The Wolverines (36-3), seeded first in the Midwest, are listed as a 6 1/2-point underdog by BetMGM Sportsbook. Even with his team's front-runner pedigree, coach Dan Hurley of UConn (34-5), a No. 2 seed out of the East, is leaning into the underdog role, not fighting it.
“There’s been plenty of times in the history of this tournament where the best team hasn’t won it,” Hurley said. “You've just got to be better one night. The good thing for us, it's not a seven-game series.”
In yet another twist with plot-shifting potential, the status of both Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg and UConn guard Solo Ball could play heavily into this game.
Ball was walking around in a boot Sunday after spraining his left foot in the first half of UConn's 71-62 win over Illinois. Lendeborg tweaked his knee and ankle when he landed awkwardly on the foot of Arizona's Motiejus Krivas in the first half of Michigan's 91-73 semifinal beatdown of the Wildcats.
Both have vowed they won't miss Monday's game.
"He played the second half like a 38-year-old at the YMCA -- and a really good 38-year-old at the YMCA," May said of his 15-point-per-game All-American. “Whatever version of Yaxel we get, it’s going to be somebody that helps us play better basketball.”
The Wolverines are the first team to score 90-plus points in five straight tournament games. They are trying to become the fifth team to win six tournament games by double digits. The other four: 2009 North Carolina, 2018 Villanova and both of the recent UConn teams.
“When you get to the Final Four and you know you have the best team, that was a different level of pressure than in ’23 where we weren’t really sure,” Hurley said of his '24 squad. “But there’s also some pressure even if you’re — whatever — the underdog, because we’re one game away from having a national championship with this team.”
The Wolverines roster is a reflection of what college hoops looks like in the transfer-portal era. Four of their starters came to Michigan this season, as May fashioned a quick rebuild in his second year in Ann Arbor. This is May's second trip to the Final Four in four seasons. His first came with Florida Atlantic.
“What makes Dusty May special as a coach is obviously his eye for talent, his ability to construct a roster, the fact that he insulates himself with an excellent coaching staff, and his ability to build team and culture,” Hurley said. “He’s got a special eye for how to put together a great team.”
UConn is built differently — with what Hurley would call judicious use of the transfer portal (Tarris Reed Jr., for instance, came from Michigan) combined with players who have become entrenched on a campus with 18 national basketball titles — six for the men and 12 for the women. The best example of that: Alex Karaban, who, with a title, could become the first player since the UCLA dynasty to win three national titles over his college career.
"You dream of being on this stage one time, and to be heading into it for a third time, it’s a blessing," Karaban said.
UConn isn't the only program with a deep history. Michigan redefined college basketball in the 1990s with the Fab Five. Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King came to the school together as freshmen in 1991. They made the title game twice and lost.
But they're most remembered for bringing a baggy-shorts, mass-marketing brashness to the game, one underpinned by the question: Why are all these coaches and shoe companies raking in dough while we play for free?
“We got to college and started understanding the hypocrisy in the game, with the schools making millions and us sitting around poor as hell,” Jackson said in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press.
In today's NIL landscape, players are making money and nobody overlooks the Fab Five's role in pushing things forward. What that group was missing, of course, was the national title. Michigan's only championship came in 1989, a few years before the Fab Five arrived.
“Other than Michael Jordan, since I’ve been alive, I don’t think there’s ever been a group change the culture for the better in our sport than the Fab Five,” May said earlier in the week. They're “just number one. We’re proud to represent those guys and carry the flag for the former players at the University of Michigan.”
One key casualty of all this UConn success: Hurley's sideline wear. He has worn the same blue suit at March Madness dating as far back as 2012 when he was coaching Rhode Island.
He also wears the same socks and underwear and eats eight M&Ms before games — but none of them green.
Anything to keep the good mojo going.
“The pants are fine,” Hurley said. “It’s the jacket that is really — the lining is a problem. There’s like three holes. When I stick my arm in the right, there’s like three different places (you can stick your arm), and if you can see it, it’s like the lining is coming through.
“I'm going to have to get a tailor in the offseason.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
