– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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INDIANAPOLIS — The well-known earmarks of an eventual champion were displayed by the Michigan men’s basketball team from the opening tap of the first game of the season, from multiple 30-point blowout victories against ranked opponents in conference play to winning a whopping 95 percent of its games in Big Ten Conference play, a league that eventually comprised exactly half of the eight teams left standing to win a national championship.
Yet that one trait that also gets highlighted regularly regarding championship teams needed to come out in spades for the Wolverines: winning ugly. Michigan was far from its superhuman best, and up against a team and a program that regularly strips opponents of their superpowers in the NCAA Tournament — especially at this stage of the Big Dance — yet managed to show the resolve in the end to cross the finish line first.
Hail to the Victors! And, also, hail to the national champions!
Elliot Cadeau, one of five transfers that make up Michigan’s starting lineup, led the Wolverines with 19 points as they outlasted the University of Connecticut 69-63 on Monday night inside Lucas Oil Stadium to win the school’s second men’s basketball national championship. The Wolverines, who had scored at least 90 points in each of the five NCAA Tournament games before tonight, barely cracked 70 and hit only two three pointers — one from Cadeau with 7:04 into the second half. The second three, from freshman Trey McKenney, came with 1:50 left and gave the Wolverines a 61-52 lead that finally made the game feel out of reach for the Connecticut.
Fitting that each of the five Wolverines’ starters were transfers, a quintet that will be remembered as much as the Fab Five teams of the early 1990s that reached back-to-back national championship games but came up short in both contests. This five completed the mission for head coach Dusty May, completing his second year in Ann Arbor with a national championship that was just two steps away from him just three years ago when he took his old squad, Florida Atlantic, to a magical run to the national semifinals in 2023.
“When you bring a group this talented together and they decide from the beginning that they’re going to do it this way and they never waver and they never change, that’s probably the most uncommon thing in athletics now, and it’s a tribute to their character but also those in their circles around them, their coaches, their parents, their mentors,” May said. “They allowed these guys to give themselves up for the group, and it’s never guaranteed, but for these guys to cut down the nets after all they’ve sacrificed is pretty special.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday’s NCAA Tournament national championship game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 23 pictures in total.
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