UConn vs Michigan (Championship)

[Candyman]

The man issue this tournament is the scoring droughts. Happened against every team. Tonight happened in first half for 4 plus and 2nd half for 5 plus. Duke it was like 5 minutes. We do that against Michigan and it’s over. They can score in bunches.

 

[aceboon]

OK seriously this time. UConn can win this one.

Michigan does play three bigs to start the game but they actually don’t play all three together a ton.

Against Duke Yaxel played 38 minutes but Johnson only played 28 and Mara 22. So about 10 minutes of overlap give or take. Purdue game was similar.

The biggest thing is they have two in at all times. And they will crash the glass. UConn needs to stay out of foul trouble and crash the defensive glass.

They don’t get a ton of steals, but they have a good block rate with Mara. Hes long but he can play soft at times. He might shoot over Reed but we need to have Reed keep him from posting too close with his strength and lower center of gravity, stay down and get rebounds. If Mara gets to rim running, that’s a problem but Reed can’t foul on a late contest.

Johnson is the bigger concern as he is the type of big Karaban has problem with. But he also isn’t the most mobile, and he may have to chase Karaban.

I’m not sure how they defend Karaban. Duke and Illinois put a tall guard/wing on him and defending Silas with a big. I could see them starting with Yaxel on Silas for this reason, to rest his ankle a bit.

If they do that though, it means Johnson has to chase one of Ball/Mullins/Karaban. For them, a healthy Yaxel would be ideal to defend Karaban but he’s not. Again that’s only for the time all three bigs are in. Their defense will probably shift as they shift to their two big lineups.

Slow the pace, get back in transition, play foul and mistake free and rebound the defensive glass and make their bigs run in circles when they play defense. That’s all UConn can do and that might be enough.

Karaban will defend himself if he can't make open 3s. He's very critical here, Johnson is very athletic but even at his size he's not gonna want to deal with movement for 35+ minutes and extend that far off the line, AK is going to have to cash in on open 3s.

 

[superjohn]

Tough matchup. The Yaxel injury, and the short prep give us a punchers chance.

Talked to some young Michigan fans at the end of the night. Nothing but respect, they know it will be a battle.

 

[Leebo]

Unsurprisingly, no shortage of Michigan fans basically acting like they've already won. Guess they didn't notice the MSU, Duke, and Illinois fans who felt the same way...

 

[caw]

I will say, when UConn has played top teams this year they have excelled. Filtering by Q1 on torvik has UConn as #4 in the country. Michigan is still #1 with Duke #2 and Zona #3.

 

[Flipside]

Final Four halftime meetup with my old classmate from Duke/Fuqua and his kids

 

[temery]

The man issue this tournament is the scoring droughts.

God, I hope prankster doesn't see this.

 

[Lafayette]

Indeed pace will be key. Run them through the offensive sets and get us some open 3s on double pin downs etc.

They have one PG in Cadeau and he wasn’t amazing at UNC and can be limited by Silas. If Cadeau gets winded or into foul trouble they have no PG.

Mara plays like a 42 year old Edey. He can get winded just hustling down court. Slower reflexes mean foul trouble.

Targeting Cadeau and Mara will be key. That and pace. Good matchups.

 

[pepband99]

Someone needs to explain to me how this Michigan team is better than our 2023-2024 team.

I give KenPom a D+ in terms of accuracy and credibility.

They might not be - an easy explanation.

People just looking at the KenPom number are missing the point - the rating is +40something over the average basketball team that year.

It's just as likely, especially with the chalky tournament we've seen, that the "average team" is just getting worse over time.

 

[Nameless]

Can't believe I am agreeing with Ruff, but our chance in this game is to mimick what Duke did against them. Slow the tempo, play the game in the 60s/70s, and make it a halfcourt game.

We need to do this as well as not allow them to gobble up offensive boards. No second chances/extra possessions

 

[temery]

Final Four halftime meetup with my old classmate from Duke/Fuqua and his kids

View attachment 119302

View attachment 119301

I can't tell whether you have really good seats or really bad seats.

 

[Huskybass]

Let's beat their ass.

 

[Huskybass]

Unsurprisingly, no shortage of Michigan fans basically acting like they've already won. Guess they didn't notice the MSU, Duke, and Illinois fans who felt the same way...

They thought they could win. They could not.

 

[willie99]

Someone needs to explain to me how this Michigan team is better than our 2023-2024 team.

I give KenPom a D+ in terms of accuracy and credibility.

We are now 4-0 against teams KenPom still ranks ahead of us

Just as bad as Charles Barkley or Seth Davis

Oops, 4-1, forgot about AZ. But even then we were sans Reed & Mullins. Injuries are part of the game

4-1

But on a 4 game winning streak

 

[metsfan2323]

Purdue beat Michigan 3 weeks ago. There's your template.

 

[AreBee1969]

Never lose again.

 

[Mr. French]

Michigan has scared me all season long - the one team I didn’t want to see anywhere along the way. But if we gotta see them, now’s the time.

Hurley gave everyone the blueprint to putting together a roster that could win a title and May absolutely went to school on it. They’re terrifying,

We know. Everyone scared you. You talked about how “just not good” our team is, so we know.

 

[REB1094]

To be honest with you all I’m pretty scared. Mara doesn’t have Reed’s strength but 7’3 is 7’3. And a hobbled Yaxel is still one of the best players in America. Morez Johnson is a really good player with really good size as well

Have to play our A+ game. Can’t afford a bad night from three, can’t afford anyone picking up cheap fouls, and can’t afford a 5 minute cold spell with no points

Play the A+ game and we’re bringing home #7. Leave it all out there, let’s go!!!

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Maybe we should just forfeit. Michigan is so scary.

 

[Mr. French]

To be honest with you all I’m pretty scared. Mara doesn’t have Reed’s strength but 7’3 is 7’3. And a hobbled Yaxel is still one of the best players in America. Morez Johnson is a really good player with really good size as well

Have to play our A+ game. Can’t afford a bad night from three, can’t afford anyone picking up cheap fouls, and can’t afford a 5 minute cold spell with no points

Play the A+ game and we’re bringing home #7. Leave it all out there, let’s go!!!

Yaxel could hardly walk and AZ didn’t even test him. He admitted postgame he will be a corner shooter on Monday. He won’t be guarding anyone or going by anyone.

 

[Improviser]

So the "make your shots" strategy? Interesting.

If yes, then let it be Princeton vs. Georgtown.

 

[tzznandrew]

Someone needs to explain to me how this Michigan team is better than our 2023-2024 team.

I give KenPom a D+ in terms of accuracy and credibility.

It is efficiency relative to the other teams that year. It doesn't claim to say anything about comparison across years.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Yaxel with sprained MCL and ankle in the same leg! Who is he guarding?

 

[homunculus]

Michigan punches people in the mouth (sometimes multiple times) and gets a TON of mileage out of that. They’re berserkers. If Yaxel is hobbled, that changes things. Cadeau is small, though to me his biggest threat and problem for us is his incessant foul hunting and Oscar-worthy acting.

Michigan is like that dude in Gladiator who stood outside the gate swinging his spiked ball on a chain. Some poor unsuspecting souls got taken out before they knew what hit them. But so did spiky ball guy, eventually. Dan Hurley is not unsuspecting.

If there’s one thing that UConn has shown, it’s that we game plan well, and we can get punched in the mouth and keep fighting. I guess that’s two things.

 

[Mike9904111]

Yaxel is a beast for sure, but I love Reed and think he is gonna be just as much a problem for them as Yax will be for us.

We're due for a big offensive game. Something like 60+% from 3 would be nice lol.

 

[jibsey]

Yaxel could hardly walk and AZ didn’t even test him. He admitted postgame he will be a corner shooter on Monday. He won’t be guarding anyone or going by anyone.

We saw him make 3’s hobbled. Mara makes a lot dunks on passes above the rim and one thing that worries me is that Reed can’t lose him for a second by guarding other players up high.

 

[Edward Sargent]

We saw him make 3’s hobbled. Mara makes a lot dunks on passes above the rim and one thing that worries me is that Reed can’t lose him for a second by guarding other players up high.

He made two corner threes in the half. The biggest problem for him is guarding our movement offense. He won't be able to plant that leg

 

[Deepster]

At the end of the day, we have an army of former alums with a jewelry chest full of rings and we just played a game with the most magical ending ever seen.

They have the underachieving Fab Five in the house with the biggest choke job in the biggest moment possible on their side.

I like our chances.

 

[SLY63]

Didn't everyone say Illinois had one of the highest rated offenses ever based on some rating system?

It is more about matchups, and IMO we match up better against run and gun offensive teams and not good against grab, scratch, bite, claw teams (e.g. St. J)

 

[Mister P]

‘If there’s one thing that UConn has shown, it’s that we game plan well, and we can get punched in the mouth and keep fighting. I guess that’s two things.’

Luke’s last scouting report for UConn. He will put a great game plan together.
He’s going out as a champion.