It's great that Michigan basketball is back in the national championship game. But if the Wolverines want to win it, they will have to reverse two daunting trends.
One is a trend every Michigan basketball fan knows well. The Wolverines have lost four straight games in the national title round (1992, 1993, 2013 and 2018).
As dominant as Michigan looked, that gives Monday's game a foreboding feeling all by itself. Then, when you consider that UConn is 6-0 all-time in national championship games, it's just another reason to worry about Dan Hurley's squad on Monday night.
UConn will be formidable for Michigan in national title game
Anyone thinking that Monday will be a cake walk, like Saturday turned into, is crazy. UConn is a different beast. The Huskies were down 19 points against Duke, a team that beat Michigan by five on a neutral court, and came back to win.
They embody the "heart of a champion." In a video game, it will be like playing the souped-up final boss, with just one chance. If Michigan loses, there is no reset button.
This current Michigan team has no connection to the four others. The Huskies do to the title teams that won in 2023 and 2024. Hurley knows what it takes to win these games more than any other current coach, and if he keeps winning at the current pace, he's going to start being in the same conversation as coaches like John Wooden.
His NCAA Tournament record is similar to Wooden's. The Wizard of Westwood won 84 percent of his NCAA Tournament games. Hurley has won 80 percent. He's aiming for a third national title and compared it to a "life and death struggle," in the post-game press conference.
Michigan is the better team, but particularly with Yaxel's status up in the air, in terms of actual availability, it will take everything this Michigan has left in the tank, and then some. Dusty May said Michigan will have its "hands full."
Nothing could be more prophetic.