UConn vs Michigan (Championship)

[Mike9904111]

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.

True, but a Zone can help with that quite a bit. We'll see what the staff comes out with. Im fine with giving them those swing 3 point attempts early on, especially if we rotate properly most will be contested even in a zone. They aren't an easy matchup for anyone. This will certainly be a battle.

 

[Scoe]

We'll need our bench but we can no longer go with a full bench at least not too long not in this game, their will be plenty of media timeouts to get rest.

Malachi and Stew will have a big role, Malachi can not get into foul trouble same with Silas. We need something out of Reibe just do something to annoy Mara. The thing is Reibe has missed point blank shots in back to back games, it would be nice if he scored 2 pts.

A healthier Silas and Stew is so crucial to this matchup, this will be a true chess match hopefully our staff has things saved for the 2nd half.

 

[Mr. French]

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.

Yeah he made 2 3s vs no defense up 20

 

[navery12]

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

Michigan was Mike Nardi's scout this week

 

[NH Husky]

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.

KenPom ShmenPalm.

Ain’t nothing like the real thing baby.

 

[Mister P]

Michigan was Mike Nardi's scout this week

My bad.
I thought he Nardi and Kmani had AZ and Luke had Michigan.
Luke’s still going out a champion

 

[HCCForever]

My bad.
I thought he Nardi and Kmani had AZ and Luke had Michigan.
Luke’s still going out a champion

My assumption is that the coaching staff would have attended the second game to scout as well even though Mike has the main duty.

BTW, it didn’t hurt Michigan that Dusty attended portions of the UConn game to check on his potential competition.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

Michigan was Mike Nardi's scout this week

curious, has Nardi done any of the other scouts in the tournament?

 

[Inyatkin]

Michigan is really good, no doubt, but an all-transfer starting lineup is like a wild card team winning the World Series. Legal, within the rules, but still a little off putting

 

[Mr. French]

I think our pressure on their guards and our rotations on D will make them much worse shooting than they were last night. We’re not giving up 15 straight wide open 3s. It just won’t happen.

If they make more tough shots and they make it tough on our O sets, good for them. But it won’t be a shooting drill like vs AZ.

Michigan is great when they jump out and intimidate. I can’t see that happening.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Michigan is really good, no doubt, but an all-transfer starting lineup is like a wild card team winning the World Series. Legal, within the rules, but still a little off putting

Not if your team is the wild card

 

[Alum86]

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.

It’s like they beat UNC. But they did not. Is TruTV gonna have them on as a dedicated channel again for the finals?
So we can hear all about black socks?

 

[UCLJ0211]

Michigan is good and all, but Mara is built like Gumby and their coach’s name sounds like he’s a p*rn star. Aside from that, ehh..they’re ok.

 

[jibsey]

I’m no expert statistician and I don’t follow the metrics as closely as any here so my question is Arizona’s defense was ranked 51st and ours is 11th, will that be significant? Zona just did not defend them well yesterday it seemed. The other thing is Michigans defense is in the 60’s. Don’t these stats have real bearing here?

 

[noelle]

I’m no expert statistician and I don’t follow the metrics as closely as any here so my question is Arizona’s defense was ranked 51st and ours is 11th, will that be significant? Zona just did not defend them well yesterday it seemed. The other thing is Michigans defense is in the 60’s. Don’t these stats have real bearing here?

why do you keep saying arizona's defense is 51st? they are #2 right now and have been top 5 all year.

the only thing with arizona you could say is that they were extremely poorly prepared and played like they were on vacation

 

[Deepster]

It’s like they beat UNC. But they did not. Is TruTV gonna have them on as a dedicated channel again for the finals?
So we can hear all about black socks?

Agreed. The media love for that team is hilarious. Isn’t the moral of the story that they failed and couldn’t get the job done? But yea. They wore baggy shorts and black socks. Cool.

 

[Leebo]

I’m no expert statistician and I don’t follow the metrics as closely as any here so my question is Arizona’s defense was ranked 51st and ours is 11th, will that be significant? Zona just did not defend them well yesterday it seemed. The other thing is Michigans defense is in the 60’s. Don’t these stats have real bearing here?

Where are you getting those numbers?

 

[cwh20]

Also, Wisconsin was right there with them as was Ohio State. I agree, this isn't the NBA. You just have to beat them once, but that's a very tall order.

Are they not in the Big10?

Go UConn!!

 

[CL82]

Maybe we should just forfeit. Michigan is so scary.

Well, we are doomed, so...

 

[That Guy]

Michigan is really good, no doubt, but an all-transfer starting lineup is like a wild card team winning the World Series. Legal, within the rules, but still a little off putting

It's only Dusty's 2nd season at Michigan so I don't blame him. Just about everyone transfers after a coach gets fired or leaves these days so he had to hit the portal hard if he wanted to be competitive ASAP.

 

[HW611]

Yaxel and Morez was the matchup I was worried about. It’s great to see Yaxel will pretty much be playing on one leg.

 

[HuskyFich]

Over and over again, we hear how good UConn is at dictating pace and forcing the opponent to play to their style of basketball.

This needs to happen on Monday for us to take the chip.

 

[DblCrossbar]

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.

On the counterpoint, UConn is a team that Michigan doesn’t want to see at this stage either. Not only the Hurley mystique, but style of play and the fact that UConn has kept B1G teams from scoring big is a thing. UConn loves the underdog role here. Michigan plays like a juggernaut, but if they can be frustrated enough, something Hurley and staff can unexploited, maybe it comes crashing down for big bloo.

A tall task indeed but UConn can use its depth to wear teams down. Yes the Huskies were up by 10 mid way through the second half, but Reibe, Smith, Ross, and Stewie were on the floor with Ball for 2-3 min, and were very serviceable, giving the majority of starters a key rest. After the 4:00 TV time out Illinois looked gassed, clunking shot after shot on the front rim. Michigan is more athletic, but there’s a chance to wear them down too if UConn get good minutes and contributions from their bench.

 

[HW611]

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

We should run the offense for whoever he is guarding. Wear his ass out defensively.

 

[tzznandrew]

Over and over again, we hear how good UConn is at dictating pace and forcing the opponent to play to their style of basketball.

This needs to happen on Monday for us to take the chip.

The good news is that it's a lot easier to slow a game down than to speed it up, in general (though St. John's worked us). The thing is, Michigan actually also runs sets and can play in the half court. It's not their strength, but they can do it, and if they get second chance points and some runouts, they'll get enough points even playing at our pace.

 

[jibsey]

Where are you getting those numbers?

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current team Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

UConn at 11. Yesterday page 2 was available and showed Zona at around 51 and Michigan at about 67 but for some reason it won’t load that page 2 today.

Here’s another;

2025-26 Men's College Basketball Team Opponent Stat Leaders - ESPN

ESPN is the place for NCAAM stats! Find a list of the Opponent team stat leaders for the 2025-26 NCAAM Regular Season.

www.espn.com

 

[Leebo]

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current team Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

UConn at 11. Yesterday page 2 was available and showed Zona at around 51 and Michigan at about 67 but for some reason it won’t load that page 2 today.

So just raw opponent points per game.

Almost everyone uses tempo free stats to talk about this stuff, where for instance Michigan is #1 and Arizona is #2 on kenpom defensive efficiency.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Not sure if previously mentioned

National Championship crew:
James Breeding, Jeff Anderson, Kipp Kissinger, Alternate TBD

 

[upstater]

UConn has 8 straight wins against the B1G.

7 straight in the NCAA tournament.

 

[jibsey]

So just raw opponent points per game.

Almost everyone uses tempo free stats to talk about this stuff, where for instance Michigan is #1 and Arizona is #2 on kenpom defensive efficiency.

This chart shows them better than UConn but yesterdays eye test on Zona’s D was not good.

NCAA Basketball Stats - NCAA BB Team Defensive Efficiency | TeamRankings.com

NCAA Basketball defensive efficiency, by team.

www.teamrankings.com