Bigger is better

Good morning! Michigan — and perhaps the entire Big Ten — is celebrating a title today. Let’s dive in.

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1. Michigan’s ‘just so hard to score against at the rim’

Dusty May always thought a super-sized lineup would be potent. But so potent to storm through the regular season and cap it all with a 69-63 win against UConn in Monday’s national title game? He had doubts in October after an exhibition loss to Cincinnati and an OT win over St. John’s.

“At that point we considered pivoting and changing our lineup and going in a different direction and maybe admitting failure for our vision,” May said Monday night.

But he believed. His coaching staff believed. They knew the combination of 7-3 Aday Mara, 6-9 Morez Johnson and 6-9 Yaxel Lendeborg could be devastating. They just had to stick with it. “We did a deep dive in everything that you could come up with to try to predict whether we thought it would work. Once we left that meeting, we were more committed than ever that this is going to work, and these are the reasons why.”

Those reasons were evident Monday night.

The Wolverines (37-3) were 2-of-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc against UConn. They managed just 1.05 points per possession, their least efficient performance since the Big Ten Tournament. Yaxel Lendeborg was tentative and somewhat ineffective on offense due to a bone bruise.

Nothing was working, except for the defense.

Michigan held UConn (34-6) to just 31% from the field and .95 ppp. The Wolverines were credited with six blocks, but made every shot in the paint a nightmare.

Mara had just eight points and one block, but disrupted probably a dozen shots in 30 minutes. Johnson (12 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) was all over the court, guarding on the perimeter and on the interior.

“They're just so hard to score against at the rim,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “That was probably what even got us more than the missed threes was some of those rim shots, all those transition baskets. … They changed so many shots around the rim. They're just so tall.”

That height helped deliver Michigan’s second NCAA Tournament title, and its first since 1989. It also ended a title drought for the Big Ten, which hadn’t had a team win since 2000.

It was a grind, to be sure. The Wolverines didn’t make a 3-pointer until 12:47 remained in the second half. but with Final Four Most Outstanding Player Elliot Cadeau (19 points, two assists) stretching the UConn defense whenever possible, they had enough offense when it mattered.

Michigan entered this season with just 34% of its minutes from returning players. And it wasn’t always clear that this new approach — three bigs on the court at once — was going to work. But Cadeau, the first player Michigan added in the portal last spring, saw the potential.

“I just saw so much talent around me since day one. Just like a unique set of talent, like three bigs at the same time, switching 1 through 4,” he said. “I knew it would be a mismatch nightmare for every single team that we played, and it was this year.”

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