With a long but exciting five-month season nearly in the books, Championship Monday is finally here. Two teams have risen to the top: the No. 1 Louisville Cardinals and the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines. Whos going to take home the trophy? Heres our take on this weekends games along with our pick to win it all:
No. 1 Louisville finally tested, but ready for championship game
Saturdays first Final Four game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta wasnt expected to be more than a primer for the late game, a potential blowout to set up the matchup fans were all dying to see between No. 4 seeds Michigan and Syracuse. No. 9 Wichita St. had certainly impressed with beating out No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 Ohio St. to take home the West region. Going into Saturday, however, analysts werent giving them a shot against the top seed in the tournament, No. 1 Louisville.
But with both teams shooting poorly in the first half of Saturdays contest, the game was still up for grabs out of the break. Wichita St. had a one-point lead with the scoreboard reading 26-25, but it was hard to imagine that the Shockers could sustain such remarkable play for another 20 minutes against the Cardinals top-ranked defense. Nevertheless, the Louisville faithful began to break a sweat when they saw Wichita St. keep control of the game until the 13-minute mark, when the Shockers took a 12-point lead.
Unfortunately for the yellow and black, however, thats when the tides started to turn for future Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino. Junior Luke Hancock, a transfer from George Mason who has averaged just 7.7 points this season, stepped up in the huge moment, draining two of his three 3-pointers and scoring nine of his 20 points in the final seven minutes to bring Louisville back. Though the Shockers were able to stay within five until the final buzzer, seven second-half forced Cardinal turnovers were enough for the Big East powerhouse to advance to the championship game, 72-68.
Now that Louisville has made it to the end, it will be interesting to see how the Cardinals match up against Michigans vastly improved up-tempo offense. If last weekends Cards show up tonight, we could finally see Burke, McGary and company go down. But, if the offense struggles early like it did Saturday, we could see a Big-10 squad finally win the tournament for the first time since 2000.
No. 4 Michigan offense does enough to advance
Like the other three teams in the final four, the Michigan Wolverines were unable to unleash the consistent scoring prowess theyve featured throughout the tournament in Saturdays nightcap. AP Player of the Year Trey Burke scored only seven points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and freshman sharpshooter Nik Stauskas, was held scoreless, but coach John Beileins group still found a way to win.
To compensate for Burkes inconsistency, three Wolverines scored in double digits, with junior Tim Hardaway Jr. leading the way with 13 points and freshmen starters Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary pitching in 10 apiece. Moreover, every player on the Michigan bench scored, including freshman Spike Albrecht, who was 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
Despite some of the Michigan stars having an off day, the team was impressive in breaking down the Oranges 2-3 zone. While the defensive effort of Syracuse kept the game within reach until the last minute, the Orange could not pull together enough offense to upset the Wolverines.
Junior C.J. Fair dropped a game-high 22 points, but sophomore Michael Carter-Williams and senior James Southerland, who usually each score in double figures, shot a combined 3-of-15 from the floor for seven points between the two. In the end, the Orange could not make up for the poor outings from their stars in the way that the Wolverines did.
Michigan has now shown that they are a unified team, able to share the ball and account for any difficulties an individual player might be having. Louisville, on the other hand, has struggled a bit with a weak performance from senior guard and playmaker Peyton Siva in the teams matchup against Wichita St. If Burke returns to top form tonight against the Cardinals and Michigan retains their balance from the game with the Orange, the Wolverines should be poised to escape with their first national championship since 1989.
The Pick: Michigan Wolverines
