Two things happened in the second of the two Final Four games. Arizona was no match for Michigan, and Yaxel Lendeborg hardly played due to injury. Lendeborg only logged 14 minutes of action in the Wolverines' 91-73 blowout of the Wildcats. Michigan will take on the UConn Huskies in the national championship on Monday night. Dusty May played with fire by putting Lendeborg back out there.
May did later reveal that Lendeborg's injured ankle and knee will not keep him out of the title bout.
Dusty May told reporters that all imaging came back clean on Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg (knee, ankle) and he's expected to play in Monday night's national title game against UConn.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 5, 2026
Lendeborg only logged 14 minutes on Saturday against Arizona.
This comes in the wake of May having the audacity to scout the Illinois vs. UConn game hours before tipoff of Michigan's Final Four game with Arizona. Michigan is not a team lacking confidence. They are brimming with it because of who its head coach and star player are. While UConn may prove to be no match for them, the last two teams to beat Tennessee in the Elite Eight fell during the national title...
Michigan is an insanely talented team, but May is really tempting fate with some of his shenanigans.
Dusty May and Yaxel Lendeborg will need to keep their on the main prize
We can throw records out the window at this point. All season long, Michigan has been the better team over UConn. That being said, one of these programs regularly wins national championships, while the other only has one of note on their resume. May might be a star head coach in his own right, but Dan Hurley has already won two national championships since taking over the Huskies program.
Nobody gave UConn much of a chance to beat Duke in the Elite Eight, but the Huskies overcame a massive deficit to stun the Blue Devils. Half of the state of Illinois was in attendance at Lucas Oil Stadium to see the Fighting Illini back in the Final Four for the first time in 21 years. It was the Huskies who moved on and sent Brad Underwood's team packing. Simply put, May cannot overlook Hurley...
In the end, it may not matter. Michigan may prove to be too much for UConn to handle. Even if Lendeborg is only at 50 percent, that is more than good enough to propel the Wolverines to a national title. That being said, May needs to keep his guys in line and focus on the task at hand. 40 minutes stand between Michigan and a national championship. Now is not the time go and be cute.
Arizona may have proven to be fraudulent in the end, but Michigan has to respect UConn a great deal.