Villanova 79, Michigan 62
Turns out rise-up threes are difficult to guard. [Bryan Fuller]
Someone finally solved Michigan's defense.
It took Villanova's historically great offense and Donte DiVincenzo's all-timer of a game. After a slow start, the Wildcats overwhelmed Michigan, going 17-for-30 inside the arc, 10-for-27 from beyond it, and grabbing 12 offensive rebounds. When they missed shots, they followed them. When they pulled up for three, they struck the fear of God into your heart. They were so good they didn't even need double-digit points from Jalen Brunson, the national player of the year, to take home their second national title in three years.
The team that wasn't supposed to be here looked, unfortunately, like they weren't supposed to be here. For the fifth time in six tournament games, Michigan's offense looked out of sorts, and they couldn't afford that against Nova. The Wolverines shot a woeful 3-for-23 from beyond the arc. Moe Wagner scored 11 quick points, then only five the rest of the way, looking increasingly frustrated by his misses and fouls. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman tried to carry the team in his final collegiate game, only for his 23 points to go for naught. No other Michigan player reached double digits until Zavier Simpson's layup with under four minutes to play.
Mood. [Fuller]
Thus capped an unbelievable run for a Michigan team unlike any we've seen since John Beilein's arrival. They came one game short of a most improbable national title with a couple transfers and freshmen added to the leftovers from last year's similarly improbable run to the Sweet Sixteen. Depending on NBA Draft decisions, this team may only lose Abdur-Rahkman and Duncan Robinson, and they bring in arguably the most talented recruiting class Beilein has landed. Even if Wagner (or, less likely, Charles Matthews) goes pro, they will be loaded for another deep postseason run.
Tonight went as many expected, and every missed opportunity at a national championship stings. We got a lot more out of this team than anyone imagined, though. The heads may hang tonight, but this group will stand tall forever, and this may well be the precursor to something even greater.
[Hit THE JUMP for the more photos box score.]
All photos from San Antonio by Bryan Fuller. All photos from the Crisler Center by Marc-Gregor Campredon.
I think tired legs and minds contributed to those.
I think the scary thing is - Villanova could conceivably have every guy on that team back next year.
Not a single guy that played significant minutes was a senior.
3-23 from three with a lot of those being open looks. needed to make those. if they made 1/3 of them its a different game. i thought the team looked tired, especially Wagner. the LCU game may have took more out of them than anyone knew. its not like Nova's studs were lighting it up either, but they had DD to pull them out of the fire. his block on Matthews was one of the most impressive plays I have seen. UM had no one to turn to like that. Great run, great season, and i'm sick of hearing about the easy path bullshit/ didn't belong. teams can only play who is in front of them.
Agreed, i thought for the most part the defense played well, they hit their open and contested shots. the wild card was DD going berzerker.
Best part of this final 4 was discovering the homer teamcast broadcasts. I watched that for both games. so much better than watching the national guys slobber on LCU and Nova.
I wanted to watch the national for some reason, probably because I like Raftery so much. But Nantz and Hill of course have some past beef w Michigan. And Nantz was getting a bit giddy for Nova and I had to change it.
It was indeed a fun, exhausting, great run.
As for the championship game, I was most frustrated at halftime with the officiating. Nova got away with way too much and while I'm not even sure that was goaltending, I think it was a foul when he stabs his arm on the follow through.
But, for the entirety of the game I see the issues in this order:
1. Defensive rebounding
2. Shooting (and related lack of confidence by Simpson and Mathews in their shot when they are open -- probably for good reason)
3. Officiating
4. Defensive pressure - at times not enough harassing, back court pressue letting Nova set up plays such as easy cuts to the basket.
5. Duncan didn't get six points
Remember the "What would be considered success this season?" thread?
The consensus was a Sweet Sixteen.
I'd say cutting down Final Four nets and a National Championship game checks that box.
So-called "sixth man" Divincenzo (he played 37 minutes!) scored 31 with assists and blocked shots, while our sixth man went scoreless --- a real downer game for Duncan. That maybe wasn't the only big difference in the game, but it sure was one of them.
That's a lesson for us. That's how you win a National Championship.
Somebody has to step up and play out of their minds with an all-time performance.
That's what it takes . . . your best performance ever as a team, not one of your worst like 3/23 on threes.
Spike had it for a while in 2013, but it was not sustained.
We needed to play a near perfect game, we needed to shoot like we did against A&M. We didn't.
'Nova was beatable, but not by us without hot shooting from 3 land.
Dunc with only three attempts wasn't going to cut it.
Great season boys, thumped sparty twice, B2B B10 Champs, another deep tourny run and were on the door-step.
Thanks Dunc, MAAR and Mo, best of luck in your next challenge.
Lets take this show on ice, GO BLUE
We also lost to flat out the best team in the Tournament.
So, it would’ve been nice to steal a game, but my head is held high.
Go Blue.
Especially considering we were a miracle-play away from not even being a Sweet 16 team, I'm super proud of this team for getting this far.
Does anybody else have a CBB hangover?
I mean a real, physical hangover with all the symptoms.
I know I do.
I did in fact suffer from the March Madness this year. Didn't really sleep last night, my mind couldn't turn off.
Morning after even though we lost by 17, I still feel like there's a world where we win that game. In a best of 7, we probably take a game from them. If Nova missed 2 or 3 more 3's and we make 2 or 3 more 3's, it's a totally different game.
It was possible.
We lost by 17. Had we hit 9/23 on threes (39%) instead of 3/23 (13%) that could have done it. That's basically 6 shots.
We did have a lot of open uncontested looks (at least 6 of them), but we were not hitting them.
But Nova also missed some open looks. A lot of their guys actually shot poorly, even though basically their entire team is made up of great shooters. Brunson had a couple that were halfway down and rimmed out.
And honestly, they could have won by more. We outscored them in garbage time after they had pushed their lead past 20. It's not quite as simple as just adding six made three-pointers to our total and saying it could have been 80-79.
In the first half I was frustrated, feeling like our cold shooting was causing it to slip away, but in the second it became pretty clear to me that they were just the better team. They didn't even shoot particularly well by their own standards (they were below their season averages for both 2PT and 3PT%) and won going away.
In college, good offenses win more often than good defenses.
They seemed to have figured out the defense side, hopefully Yaklich sticks around for a bit.
The team makeup looks good for next season, depending on what Wagner and Mattews do, but maybe a little young. The offense should pick up. They may need to find a guard who can shoot good.
Think about what this team achieved this year... Nobody expected them to repeat in the Big 10 championship and certainly not get to the NCAA championship game. Such a great accomplishment!! Couldn't be prouder of these guys and the coaching staff.
Awesome job Michigan!!
If Brunson tried to play that way in a pickup game, someone would eventually take his head off. But becakse he is the POY, the refs protect him. It's pretty pathetic.
Michigan did a great job of shutting him down. They just couldn't shoot, and Italian dude went non-linear.
Of reviews Ace.
Fun team to watch.
Go Blue.
Michigan lost that game because they missed so many 3's and free throws. But modern officiating drives me nuts. The first few trips for Villanova with Brunson lowering his shoulder and knocking the stationary defender back had me screaming at the TV. There was no thought of an offensive foul call. That's what the game has "evolved" to. The announcers even raved over how "strong" Brunson was. How has basketball turned into this? It started years ago with NBA guys "backing down" in the post. Knock the defender back, knock him back some more, score. It's ridiculous. It is not how the game is supposed to be.
I'll stop the rant now. It's tough to be an old man in a changed world.
Regardless of the disappointment of last night, the Michigan team had a great season. Last night, Michigan could not shoot and was not going to win that game shooting like that. But what a great season overall! I was saying it a couple of years ago and I'll say it again: John Beilein could go 0-30 and I would still want him as coach of this team. College basketball is dirty, dirty business. People may be finally waking up to this after this year. But Beilein has found success while staying out of the cesspool. I am so proud of him and this team. Thanks for the great run. Thanks for a team we can be proud of.
I lost a lot of respect for Brunson last night. I thought he not only whined the entire game but he's a dirty player. Eveytime he drove the basket he made room for his shot with a shoulder shove like a fullback plowing for a touchdown. Then he was throwing heymaker elbows while backing down Zavier multiple times and did not get called once for it that I can recall. Brunson then starts crying again after Moe barely grazes his face while taking it to the hole, after this guy has shouldered and elbowed Z every time down the court.
I though he played a dirty game and I'm glad he ended up having a shitty night but I would trade him going for 50 if it meant we were Natonal Champions.
Amazing season men! Go Blue!!
Agree and a LOT of flopping all night by Nova -- I can't stand that acting; like they were shot.
... he did get called for a foul for clearing out with his elbow. And he logged eight fewer minutes than Bridges because he picked up his fourth foul with 11 minutes to go in the game and didn't play much from that point forward.
Hard not to respect Divincenzo. He had one of those out-of-body experiences that a player sometimes has--what are you going to do?
But Brunson--he is a garbage player. He had NO game. Committed an offensive foul EVERY TIME DOWN THE COURT, usually MULTIPLE offensive fouls per possession. He lowered his shoulder into the defender on EVERY drive and then threw elbows at the head. EVERY DRIVE. It was absurd. He's a garbage, dirty player, and for him to be POY is an embarassment to college basketball.
I hope he goes pro and finds out what happens when he tries to throw those elbows at someone in the NBA. That won't last long.
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