NCAA Championship Final Breakdown: Louisville Cardinals vs. Michigan Wolverines

NCAA National Championship Final

Louisville Cardinals (34-5, 14-4 Big East) vs. Michigan Wolverines (31-7, 12-6 Big Ten)

Louisville head coach, Rick Pitino, is going after his second NCAA Championship, just days after being informed that he will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.

Pitino's first championship came at Kentucky, when the Wildcats captured the 1996 title with a 76-67 win over Syracuse.

This year's Louisville squad has some remnants of that '96 championship team, in terms of speed and size, though the Kentucky team was arguably a superior offensive force, with the likes of Tony Delk, Antoine Walker and Walter McCarty, while this Louisville group relies heavily on pressure defense and the skills of their backcourt duo, Peyton Siva and the electrifying Russ Smith, who is averaging a cool 25 points per game in Louisville's five tourney wins.

Another advantage Louisville may have over the Wolverines is their size in the front court and rebounding prowess. Gorgui Deing and Chane Behanan can dominate the paint, along with reserve, Montrezl Harrell, who should get ample floor time, as he did in the Cardinals' ripping, 72-68, win over Wichita State in the national semifinal, the four-point victory the closest any team has come to beating Louisville through five rounds. Deing is also a fearless shot-blocker, which will make Michigan's penetration a daunting task.

The Cardinals enter the fray riding a 15-game winning streak dating back to February 9 and are favored by 3 1/2 points over Michigan.

Louisville has won two national titles, in 1980 and 1986. Tis is their 38th tournament appearance, ninth time in the Final Four. The Cardinals have a 64-40 record in the NCAA tournament.

For the Wolverines, it's their first trip to the championship game since 1993, when Steve Fisher guided the "Fab Five" to their second straight title game loss (77-71 to North Carolina) and their first championship appearance under head coach John Beilein, who is in his first Final Four as a coach. The youngest team in the tournament field, Michigan has surpassed all expectations, but is loaded with hoops-pedigree talent in the likes of Glenn Robinson III, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jon Horford.

Michigan won their only national championship in 1989, when the Wolverines topped Seton Hall, 80-79, in overtime. It is their 23rd tourney appearance, with a 43-22 record and their sixth time in the Final Four.

Point guard, Trey Burke, who is expected to be named the national player of the year, will have most of the responsibility for breaking the Louisville press and getting the ball into the lane or out to the wings for three-point shooters, Hardaway and Nik Stauskas. A tireless performer, Burke has played 35 or more minutes in each of Michigan's five tournament games, totaling 35 assists, with a high of 10 in the Wolverines' 87-85 overtime win against Kansas, the South region's #1 seed.

While the Wolverines have ample outside shooting, the difference-maker may be freshman Mitch McGary, who has emerged as a force in the paint throughout the tournament. Besides his inexperience, the problem for McGary is that he will be mostly alone amongst the Louisville trees in the low post. He'll need help from Robinson on the boards. Burke and Hardaway are also good rebounding guards, who will have to contribute.

Either team has a legitimate shot at the championship crown. It will be up to Louisville to disrupt Michigan's fast flow offense, while the Wolverines must guard against turnovers and domination in the paint by the Cardinals.

The match-up of point guards Siva and Burke should be a great game-within-the-game. The contest may come down to just how well Russ Smith performs, as he is likely the most dangerous player on the floor in a game loaded with future pros.

Trey Burke, Mitch McGary Send Jayhawks Packing as Michigan Advances

College Hoops Player of the Day for Friday, March 29, 2013

Michigan advanced to the Elite Eight with an 87-85 overtime victory over Kansas that contained some of the most exciting moments of the 2013 tournament.

Kansas held a first half lead of just six points on 19-for-28 (68%) shooting, but the Wolverines would not go away, even when the Jayhawks led by ten points with three minutes to play.

Mitch McGary had kept Michigan close by making just about every shot that presented itself, but as time became an issue, Trey Burke, who had spent much of the game feeding McGary in the post, took matters into his own hands, helping to erase the Kansas lead, scoring eight of Michigan's final nine points, including the game-tying 30-foot bomb with under five seconds left that sent the contest into overtime.

In the OT, Burke scored five points and McGary four, to outlast the Jayhawks and advance to Sunday's reional final match-up with Florida.

Michigan had five players in double figures. Burke and McGary accounted for 48 points between them. Burke scored all of his 23 in the second half and overtime, making 9 of 21 overall and going 4-for-11 from three-point range. He also added 10 assists.

McGary outdueled Kansas big man, seven-footer Jeff Withey, making 12 of 17 for a game-high 25 points, with 14 rebounds.

The rare duo double-double was a testament to Michigan's perseverance and commitment to excellence even when the chips were down.

Tournament Conference Scoreboard
Through games of 3/29

Conference (# of teams)	W-L	Winners (wins)
ACC (4)	6-3	Duke (3) Miami (2) North Carolina (1)
Atlantic 10 (5)	7-5	LaSalle (3) Butler (1) St. Louis (1) VCU (1) Temple (1)
Big 12 (6)	3-6	Iowa St. (1) Kansas (2)
Big East (8)	9-5	Marquette(3) Louisville (3) Syracuse (3)
Big Ten (7)	12-5	Mich. St. (2) Michigan (3) Indiana (2) Illinois (1) Ohio St. (3) Minnesota (1)
PAC-12 (5)	5-5	Oregon (2) Arizona (2) Cal (1)
SEC (4)	4-2	Mississippi (1) Florida (3)
Missouri Valley (2)	4-1	Wichita St. (3) Creighton (1)
Mountain West (5)	2-5	Colorado St. (1) San Diego St. (1)
WCC (2)	2-2	St. Mary's (1) Gonzaga (1)
Sun Belt (2)	0-2	--
All Others (19)	6-21	NC A&T (1) James Madison (1) Memphis (1) Harvard (1) Florida Gulf Coast (2)

Michigan's Trey Burke Makes Key Plays in Win over Spartans

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, March 3, 2013

After losing at Penn State on Wednesday, the Michigan Wolverines knew they'd need a much better, more focused effort to defeat #4 Michigan State when the Spartans came calling Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor.

Trailing by three at the half, Trey Burke and his Michigan teammates surged to a ten-=point lead with just over four minutes left to play, but saw the Spartans knaw into the lead and eventually tie the game at 56-all. Michigan State had the ball with the shot clock off and a chance to win when Burke came up with the play of the game - and maybe the season - stealing the rock from Spartan point guard Keith Appling at mid-court and taking it in for a go-ahead dunk with 22 seconds left.

Derrick Nix made one of two free throws with 8.8 seconds left to make it 58-57, and, after Mitch McGary missed the front end of a one-and-one, the spartans still had life with 4.7 seconds. As the Spartans tried to get a look, Burke again stole a pass as the clock went to all zeroes, the game over, victory assured, the final: 58-57.

A leader all season long, Burke ended with a game-high 21 points, eight assists, five steals four rebounds and a blocked shot.

The result left four teams in the Big Ten - Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin (a 69-56 loser to Purdue Sunday) - tied for second place at 11-5. They are all chasing 13-3 Indiana. The Hoosiers have their final two games Tuesday and Sunday, when they meet the Buckeyes at home and head out on the road to finish up at Michigan.

Michigan Hammers Illinois Behind Trey Burke's 26 Points

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, February 24, 2013

Battling in the Big Ten has become something akin to sumo wrestling at times this season, with heavyweights taking each other up and off the court in a manic scramble to the top spot in the standings.

Currently, top-ranked Indiana holds sway in the conference with a 12-2 mark, with Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State - all ranked - playing catch-up.

On Sunday, Trey Burke provided ample offense for the Wolverines to tear up overmatched Illinois - a solid team that despite a 7-8 record in the conference still stands a good chance of receiving an at-large invitation to the national tournament - with a game-high 26 points in a 71-58 laugher that didn't seem very funny when the Illini took a three-point lead into intermission.

Michigan scored 43 second half points, limiting Illinois to 27, to run away for the home win. Burke proved quite the marksman, making eight of 11 shots, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. He also nailed eight of 10 free throws and added eight assists while committing just one turnover.

The win left the 10-4 Wolverines two games back of the Hoosiers with one more crack at them in the regular season finale - a mark 10 home game.

Adding to the mix was Ohio State, which did its part to keep the Big Ten the most fascinating conference in the country, with a 68-60 win over Michigan State. The 10-5 Buckeyes have just three games left on their conference calendar, one of them a trip to Indiana on March 5.

Trey Burke, Glenn Robinson III Lead Michigan to Win at Penn St.

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, February 17, 2013

With #2 Duke losing to Maryland on Saturday, a few of the highly-ranked teams figure to move up when the new poll is released Monday.

For #3 Miami, their meteoric rise in the rankings nearly came to an abrupt halt at Clemson as one of the more defensive-oriented games of the season came down to the final seconds as Kenny Kadji nailed a long three-pointer with 36 seconds left to give the Hurricanes a 45-43 victory and keep their ACC record unblemished at 12-0.

#4 Michigan had an easier time of it, whipping the Penn State Nittany Lions, 79-71, behind Trey Burke's 29 points and Glenn Robinson III's double-double.

Burke, the Wolverine point guard, took matters more into his own hands, dishing just five assists, but hitting nine of 16 shots, including three 3-pointers. He was nearly flawless at the line, make eight of nine.

Robinson was perfect from the field, going 6-for-6, adding 9-for-11 from the stripe for 21 points to go with his 10 boards.

The win was important for Michigan, coming off consecutive road losses to Wisconsin and Michigan State. At 9-4, Michigan is tied with Wisconsin for third place in the Big Ten, behind co-leaders Indiana and Michigan State, both with 11-2 marks.

#1 Indiana Topped by Butler; Trey Burke Leads Michigan to 11-0 Mark

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, December 15, 2012

The pollsters seem to have a pretty good feel for which teams are the best in the nation as there were 17 games involving Top 25 teams and all of them except two won. Determining which team deserves to be numero uno is a topic which appears certain to be argued all the way to the Final Four.

Of those 17 Top 25 games, one involved two ranked teams, as the Florida Gators traveled west to tangle with the Arizona Wildcats, and a tangle is was, not decided until Mark Lyons' running floater with seven seconds left finished a furious final minute in which the #8 Wildcats rallied from a six=point deficit to down the #6 Gators, 65-64.

The only other game that came close to matching the intensity of that contest was earlier in the day, at Indiana, where the unranked - but always tenacious - Butler Bulldogs upset #1 Indiana in overtime, 88-86, when 5'11" walk-on, Andrew Barlow, scored on a spinning jumper in the lane with 2.4 seconds left in the extra frame.

Rotnei Clarke, the transferee from Arkansas, scored 19 points and was sensational at both ends of the floor, as was the Bulldogs' Roosevelt Jones, who had 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

The singular performance of the day belonged to #3 Michigan's blue chip point guard, Trey Burke, who teamed with Tim Hardaway Jr. to score 52 of the wolverines' points in an 81-66 victory at West Virginia.

Hardaway tied his season high with 25 points, burying four of eight from three-point range, but Burke topped all scorers with his own season high 27 points, on 12-for-16 shooting with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals, all without committing a single turnover in 38 minutes of floor time.

With the #1 team going down to a narrow defeat, one of the few inactives on the day, #2 Duke, should move up to take over the top spot in Monday's new poll, though Michigan will surely receive a solid number of #1 votes.

The Blue Devils are on an extended break, last seen December 8, ripping apart Temple, 90-67, and won't hit the hardwoods again until December 19, when they host Cornell at Cameron Indoor Arena.

The losses by Florida and Indiana drops the number of undefeated teams down to nine. Along with Duke and Michigan, the unbeaten squads are #4 Syracuse, #8 Arizona, #10 Illinois, #11 Cincinnati, #17 New Mexico and unranked Wyoming and Eastern Kentucky.

Michigan Improves to 6-0 on Trey Burke's Double-Double

College Hoops Player of the Day for Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge got underway Tuesday night with six games matching up teams from two of the nation's top conferences. Big Ten teams got off to a solid start, winning four of the games, including Indiana's one-sided, 83-59, win over North Carolina and Minnesota's 77-68 victory at Florida State.

One of the more intriguing set-ups was #18 North Carolina State traveling to Michigan to face the #3 Wolverines. The Wolf Pack came into the game at 4-1, following a devastating, 76-56, home loss to unranked Oklahoma State and a close call in an 82-80 win over NC-Asheville.

Host Michigan sported a 5-0 record at tip time, and, thanks to a big effort by point guard, Trey Burke, remained unbeaten at the buzzer, with a hard-fought, 79-72, victory.

Burke, a sophomore who averaged 14.8 points and 4.6 assists as a freshman, scored 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting, including three treys. He also established a new career high in assists, with 11, for his first career double-double. Burke, handling the ball on most of Michigan's possessions, did not commit a turnover in his 37 minutes of playing time.

Jared Sullinger, Trey Burke and Rob Wilson Each Score 30 in Big Ten Wins

College Hoops Players of the Day for Friday, March 9, 2012

Three players - all from the Big Ten - scored 30 points in Friday's tournament action, each richly deserving of Player of the Day honors, so as the number of teams in conference battles continues to be pared down, we salute their efforts.

In Michigan's 73-69 victory over stubborn Minnesota, whose NCAA tourney life was on the line, freshman guard Trey Burke continued to dazzle with his rapidly-developing skill set, scoring 30 points on 11 of 14 from the field with three 3-pointers.

Burke was on the money from start to finish. He scored 11 of Michigan's first 12 points and had seven of his career high effort in overtime, including the final dagger, a long-range three. The #10 Wolverines face #7 Ohio State in one of a pair of Big Ten semi-final games at 4:05 pm ET Saturday.

The Buckeyes rolled to an 88-71 quarter-final win over Purdue behind Jared Sullinger's 30 points and 12 rebounds, his third straight double-double and 14th of the season.

Sullinger nailed 12 of 17 shots, including a three-pointer and was 5-for-5 from the foul line. Three of his rebounds were on the offensive end and he had two assists and blocked three shots.

On the other side of the Big Ten bracket, #14 Wisconsin led the entire game in a 79-71 win over #15 Indiana. The unlikely scoring leader was senior Rob Wilson, who scored a career high 30 points on 11-for-16 shooting, including an amazing 7 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Wilson, primarily a bench-rider, had a previous high of just 11 points this season and throughout his career with the Badgers averaged 9.5 minutes and 2.6 points per game.

Wisconsin faces Michigan State in semi-final action at 1:40 pm Saturday.

NOTABLE: The Big East and Big 12, along with a number of smaller conferences will crown champions on Saturday, as Louisville matches up with Cincinnati at 9:00 pm ET inside Madison Square Garden. Prior to that contest, #5 Missouri will battle #12 Baylor for the Big 12 title at 6:00 pm ET. The 27-6 Bears lost both regular season meetings with the Mizzou, losing by a point at home and by 15 at Missouri.

Trey Burke Is Lights Out for Michigan in Win over Minnesota; Pitt Loses Third Straight

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Michigan Wolverines are hoping to get back to the kind of quality team that was a regular at the NVAA tournament, but they've only been to the tournament twice since 1998 - in 2009 and 2011 - both times being beaten in the second round.

This season's vintage of Wolverine basketball may make a better showing, especially if they begin shooting the ball better. In Sunday's 61-56 win over Minnesota, the Wolverines shot just 38.5% from the field, but were bailed out by Trey Burke's sharpshooting.

The 6'1" freshman guard scored a game high and career-best 27 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including going 2-for-2 from outside the 3-point line and making 9 of 11 free throws. While Burke was efficient, the rest of the Michigan squad sot a combined 12-for-41 for the game, making just 4 of 18 3-point attempts and hitting 6 of 12 from the foul line.

The Wolverines, ranked 18th in the latest AP poll, won their seventh straight, improving to 12-2 and 2-0 in the Big Ten. Their next two games are both against ranked opponents. Michigan travels to Indiana on January 5 and then returns home for a meeting with Wisconsin on January 8.

NOTABLE: Once a top 10 team, the Pittsburgh Panthers have hit a rough spot in their schedule, losing their last three straight, including Sunday's 66-63 loss to 13-2 Cincinnati. The two previous losses were to Wagner and Notre Dame, after the Panthers had won nine straight and were cruising with an 11-1 record. Now, at 11-4, he Panthers are in danger of falling out of the Top 25.