Maize and Blue Blood: Michigan Ends the Big Ten’s National Title Drought

Michigan is back on top! In this live post-game reaction, host Steve Hartman breaks down the Wolverines' 69-63 victory over UConn to claim the 2026 National Championship. It was a gritty, defensive battle that saw Michigan overcome poor shooting with size, physicality, and clutch late-game execution.

We dive into how Dusty May led Michigan to their first title since 1989 and secured the Big Ten’s first national championship since 2000. Steve analyzes the key moments and players that defined this historic night, including:

• Clutch Under Pressure: Freshman McKenney's "stones" in the final minutes, hitting a critical three-pointer and icing the game at the free-throw line.
• The MOP: Elliott Cadeau controlling the game to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
• Interior Dominance: How Michigan's size, led by 7'3" Aday Mara, stifled UConn’s offense and forced them into tough shots.
• The Coaching Matchup: Comparing Dusty May’s calm, prepared sideline demeanor to Danny Hurley’s high-energy theatrics.
• A "Minnesota Flavor": Celebrating local champions Will Tschetter (Stewartville) and Gianna Kneepkens (Duluth Marshall).
• Legacy and Dynasty: Assessing UConn's impressive run and the legend of Braylon Mullins' tournament-defining shot against Duke.

Finally, we look ahead to the immediate future of college basketball as the transfer portal opens officially tomorrow.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Bag in, back in and bag again. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to the Splash City Basketball Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hartman, and today's episode is my live reaction post-national championship game. I recorded last evening, Monday, April 6th, after Michigan wins the title 69-63 over Yukon. We have a Minnesotan winning the men's college basketball championship in um Will Cheddar from Stewartville, Minnesota. And we have a women's national champion from Minnesota and Gianna Nepkins from Duluth Marshall. So congratulations to them. Get a little Minnesota flavor in the national title game for both the men and the women. I spent about 25 minutes post-game last night just kind of talking about how Michigan did it, what kind of champion they are, how good UConn still is despite losing and how they got there. So take a listen today. Also, please give us a follow. Follow on Facebook and Instagram and Blue Sky. Subscribe on YouTube, leave a review, leave some comments if you have thoughts on the content. And then also, of course, wherever you get your podcast, please subscribe and leave a review there as well. Helps me out trying to continue to improve the podcast as we go. Lastly, you know, just want to say this is a heck of a college basketball season. I said it a little bit last night. You'll hear it later in this episode. But just a really fun season, fun to follow from the start to finish. Michigan dominates the players' era festival. You see a lot of big time matchups early in the year, which we don't always get in in um sports, especially college sports, but um we're seeing more of that now. And uh my only hope is that we get more mid-major matchups with high majors, you know, the St. Louis's and BCU's, and this year it was Miami, but you know, can we get more of those games against um the Michigans and Yukons and Floridas and Dukes and stuff? So um should be a you know, should be a nice, nice way to wrap up the year. Uh the Big Ten gets their first title since 2000. Michigan gets their first title since 1989, and the Glenn Rice, Ramiro Robinson squad. Just an all-around, I thought, a fitting end to the season. You had um, you know, one of the teams that was probably the best team all year in Michigan against a team who has been the best program for the last, you know, 37 years, 27 years. 27 years since 99, really. Um, and it was uh it was great coaching matchup. I thought UConn and Dan Hurley did everything they had to do. And they just don't have uh they didn't have the shooting or the pieces this year, I didn't think, um, to win it. They almost proved me wrong, but uh they get it, they get uh runner-up in a season where um they didn't win the Big East regular season or tournament title. Um, and they shocked the world beating Duke, and Braylon Mullen's shot will go down as one of the all-time greatest NCAA tournament shots of all time. But uh let's talk about the game. Let's talk about how Michigan wins the national title, and with that, let's get into it. All right, we have a national champion. Michigan wins their first title since 1989, defeating UConn tonight in a really, I mean, not a great, not a well-played game, but they get it done um showing the versatility and the ability of Michigan to win in so many different ways. Um, really impressive game tonight for the Wolverines. Um, UConn showed up, man. Like Danny Hurley can get his team to play so hard, they execute so well, they just continue to fight and battle and scrap. And um, you know, credit to them. Like, again, I'm not the biggest Dan Hurley fan as far as personality, but you have to respect and appreciate, if you're a basketball fan, their ability to, you know, win however they need to. Two years ago, they were by far the they were the Michigan two years ago. They were big, they were talented, Stefan Castle, Donovan Klingon, um, and they just kind of manhandled people. Now, this year, they weren't quite that talented, they were good.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Um, but you know, against Duke, found a way. Illinois found a way. And tonight, they were close. Six points, six points away.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So I just wanted to kind of do a little bit of a live live stream here, just as quick reaction to the game. Um, we still haven't seen one shiny moment, so I'm trying to keep that uh on the back burner here as well. But um couple takeaways. I said pregame they needed UConn needed solo ball, Alex Caravan, and uh Braylon Mullens to play really well tonight to make some threes. And um looking at the final numbers for the three-point shooting, I mean, neither team shot well, of course. Uh, but Mullins was four for 17, Caravan was five for 14, and Soloball was four for 10. They combined for 22, 39 points. Um, you know, the point total is not bad, but percentage-wise, just not efficient enough. Yukon finishes nine for 33, which was significantly better than Michigan's two for 15. But I will give credit here. At halftime, I said Michigan needs to stop shooting threes um and get the ball inside. And they didn't shoot as many threes in the second half. The big sec the big sequence of the game was Yukon gets the steal. They were trying, uh Michigan was trying to get the ball to a dime Mara, the high post. Um, McKinney turns it over. I think it was McKenney. Yukon has a break two on one, and McKinney forces a tough shot. Michigan rebounds, goes the other way, kind of a little bit of a scramble. Morez Johnson kind of fumbles a tough catch, gets it to uh Gale in the corner. Gale drives the paint, kicks to McKinney, shot fake, one dribble, hits a three. Five-point swing right there, and that was huge. It could have been a four-point game, and instead it turned into um an a nine-point game, I think. So just a huge swing there. Uh, and that I feel like you know, you weren't really comfortable if you're a Yukon fan or sorry, a Michigan fan until probably that last foul where McKenney's shooting free throws. And how about how about him? Just stepping to the free throw line, making free throw, like not even touching rim, just ripping the cords, end of a game, freshman, national championship game. Like that was clutch. McKenney played, you know, again, didn't shoot it great. I questioned a lot of his um his shot selection in this game, but you know, he hit that nice little step back shot uh at the top of the key, just inside the three-point line. And then he um hits that three at the end so and makes two free throws. Uh, really nice game from him. Thought he was huge. Defensively, Michigan just can do so much when you don't have to help in the paint. And they solo defended uh Terrace Reed all night, and you know, when you can do that, Yukon just didn't have enough around him to to punish Michigan for that. So, um, you know, you can't teach size, there's not much you can do. A Dimar is seven foot three, and uh, you know, again, Terrace Reed's a great player, but Michigan was willing to to guard him one-on-one, and I think that was the right choice. I mean, Terrace Reid, four for twelve, and he doesn't take a shot outside of twelve feet. So that just shows you that Michigan's length and size was was the recipe. It's the difference in the game. Like UConn's not able to get easy shots, they're not able to get um you know any anything at the rim.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So that was the biggest biggest thing defensively. So um, you know, it wasn't pretty. I mean, both teams combined to shoot, but really, I mean hold on. I got the I gotta pull the stats up here.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

But Michigan was two for 15 from three, they got all rebounded by seven, including giving up 20 offensive rebounds, and they won the game. I think if if you were if you were Dusty May and you said, hey, we're gonna shoot 38% from the field and 13% from three and you're gonna win the game, I think you'd have been shocked.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

No doubt about it. That's uh that's a gutty performance, but they made up for it at the free throw line 25 for 28. Again, you know, I'm sure there's gonna be some disagreements on the whistle tonight, but I think Michigan's physicality and size and strength caused Yukon to foul, which you know, credit Michigan. They made the free throws.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So it's it's you know it's funny though, going back to the beginning of the year, I think about like those games out the players era tournament when Michigan was just throttling people early in the year. And I feel like this was the way with Baylor when they won their title, UConn when they won their two titles. You're kind of like early in the year, like how much does that really mean in terms of who's the best team? But at the end of the day, those teams are really good, and they're really good at the end of the year, too.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

And so Michigan looked like the best team in November, and here they are cutting down the nets as the best team during the season. Duke beat this team, Arizona looked like one of the best teams, but Michigan's top-to-bottom full um, they didn't pass the ball.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

I mean, they didn't get a ton of assists. The semifinals I thought were all about the teams that moved the ball. Uh, when you looked at the assist numbers, Michigan and Yukon just completely blew Arizona and Illinois out of the water in terms of assists to field goals made. But in this game, you know, Michigan had to win a different way, and they they did it. Um they used their size, their interior defense was huge. Um their switching, I thought, was pretty good. They had a few moments where they gave up some some pretty good looks where you're a little nervous about it, but um I'm probably burying the lead a little bit here. Michigan wins the Big Ten's first national title since 2000. So the wasn't, according to Ken Pom, the best league in the country all year, but um top top end, right? You got Michigan, you had Illinois in the final four. You'd have the final four teams were Big Ten teams, half the Elite Eight teams were Big Ten, half the Sweet Six Team, Michigan State, Purdue, you had a really good top end of the Big Ten. And at the beginning of the year, we did a Big Ten preview show, and I said, if not this year, when? Because the Big Ten is loaded. And they get it done. So I think the Big Ten conference breathes a sigh of relief. Um, you know, that football, they've won the last three national titles. They get the Big Ten, or the the Big Ten gets a basketball national title this year. Is that a product of 18 teams, coast to coast, all the money, all the Big Ten network money, all that, the new contracts. Um, or is it just one of those things where there are swings, right? Like last year it was the SEC, this year it's the Big Ten.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Um but as a big as someone who resides in Big Ten country, it's nice to feel that uh title coming back to the Big Ten.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Um couple other things, you know. The the Danny Hurley's appeal at the end kind of had to do it, right? Like if you win that, you get the ball. Um, maybe you get free throws, so you have a chance, but kind of a desp desperation move there. Um, you know, Roddy Gale had some huge plays, and a lot of times these big games, you know, Johnson, Lendeborg, and Mara. Mara didn't even have that good of a game. I do think they should have gone to him more in the second half. He was four for seven. Um, but Cadill played really well. Um, Namari Burnett didn't make a three. Um, so you know, I it's it's crazy, but like Michigan didn't even play very well, I would say, in this game. They played okay, they played hard. Um, but UConn was able to kind of play it at their pace, and Michigan showed that they can win however you want. You want to play fast, you want to play slow, you want to, you know, shoot a lot of threes, you want to, you know, run it run around, run tons of screens, run, run off stuff. Um, and they were able to do it. So it kind of culminates uh I would say, and I'll probably talk more about this later, but just a really overall fun college basketball season. I know, and I and I've talked about this in other episodes, there is a lot of things that need to be fixed about college basketball, but when you combine the part of the better play is the older players. So the NCAA was like, hey, we're gonna NIL, we're gonna, you're gonna play, pay players, are gonna stay longer, so they're gonna be older. And what ends up happening is you have some really old veteran, almost, I mean, at this point, professional teams, right? Like they're paid, they're um 22, 23, 50, 60-year guys, and you get some outstanding basketball. Bottom line, the basketball is is pretty good at the high end, and then combine that with an extremely talented freshman class, including AJ DeBanza, Darren Peterson, Darius A. Cuff Jr., Cam Cameron Boozer, Kingston Flemings, um, Keaton Waggler. And I mean, the list goes on and on. Um, it just to me, this was a this was a really fun college basketball season to watch and enjoy from start to finish. You know, there was more ranked versus ranked opponents early in the year. The conference season was good. Um, it felt like a three-team race all year between Duke and Arizona and Michigan. Florida entered the race late. UConn, despite not winning the Big East regular season or tournament title, they're in the mix. Third national title game in four years. You kind of have your new like quasi-dynasty that um is polarizing with Danny Hurley. Um, but you know, Alex Caravan, three title games in four years, two national titles. Um, what a career for him. One of my favorite college players to watch in the last five years, to be honest. Um Terrace Reed, I remember watching him at Michigan and thinking, like, I don't know. He's fine. He's just he's kind of a big body, and then these guys just develop and they get better. And you see them, you know, maybe it's frustrating to see them at a different school, but it's still as a as a fan to watch players continue to improve their game. He became one of the best players in in the entire tournament this year. Um and same with you know, Michigan, like a lot of transfers. Cadeau, Burnett, Lendaborg, Mara, Merez Johnson, all these guys transferred in. Um, and as much as that, like, yeah, you got a big budget at Michigan, you can afford these types of things, but you still gotta get them to play together. You still gotta get them to um, you know, find cohesiveness. Uh, obviously it doesn't work for everybody. You know, you look at teams like Kentucky, um, it didn't doesn't didn't work well for them this year. Um, you know, there's there's lots of examples of that. But uh, you know, um, I really enjoyed the season, really enjoyed talking about the season. We'll we'll probably do a I'll probably do a recap here at some point. Um, and we'll talk more off season, transfer portal, all that good stuff. Um, we're tomorrow the transfer portal opens officially and teams will start signing guys, so it'll be it'll be wild. But uh for now it's it's all about Michigan. It's all about their season. Um really, really impressive season for Michigan and Dusty May.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

And, you know, by all accounts, just he seems to be just a really well-mannered coach.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Um, and and you know, you styles, whatever, like the the yelling, the the theatrics, Danny Hurley's trying to get the crowd in it. That might be your cup of tea. Dusty Mays might be your cup of tea because he's pretty pretty calm, pretty reserved on the sideline. I'm just talking about how he uh took Florida Atlantic to a Final Four. He has now taken um Michigan to the national championship, and he does it with uh, you know, different types.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Like he obviously likes big guys, but his you can tell he does a lot of the work uh before the game starts.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

And that that's one thing I remember hearing about coaching was uh so much of coaching, 90% of it is done before the game starts. You make your adjustments, you do your halftime adjustments, maybe at the end of the game, your you know, substitutions and things you do to to impact the game if it's close. But 90% of that you have to have to have done that before. You have to have practiced that. It has to be second nature. You have to, you know, you have to have prepared your team. And it just seems to me like be the way he responds on the sideline indicates to me that he feels his team is prepared. His team has what they need to win a close game, to win a track meet, to grind it out, to get rebounds, to get stops, to uh, you know, make free throws.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

And um It's just it's really impressive.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Great team. I'm uh sometimes in college basketball specifically, where it's a one-game, uh one and done, um, you don't always get the best team that throughout the year. Um, but I think in this season, um, Michigan is a truly deserving champion of college basketball. So um hope you enjoyed following it with me. Well, like I said, we'll do a recap, we'll do some transfer stuff in the in the coming days and we'll break it all down. But just as this game wraps up, and I'm still waiting for the one shiny moment, I don't know if I can I don't know if I can hang on. It's a school night, it's a work night. It's 10 55 Central.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

We're grinding through it, but um that Braylon Mullins shot against Duke will go down in history.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Um, a couple upsets, but a lot of good games. Final four wasn't a great game, championship game wasn't a well-played game, at least not a well shot game. Shot making was left a lot to be desired, but it was close. It was compelling. You have Danny Hurley in the Yukon dynasty, you have the Big Ten seeking their first title, you have Lendeborg who's playing on like half a leg, and um Elliott Cadeaux kind of um cast off from UNC similar numbers this year to what he had in North Carolina, but um people just viewed this season differently, obviously because of Michigan's success. And Cadeaux is named most outstanding player, and um you know he definitely controls the game. Uh for young point guards out there, people aspiring to be a point guard, controlling the game is your number one job. And it could mean scoring, could mean facilitating, could mean pressuring the ball, it could mean drawing fouls, and um Cadeau did all that tonight. So he's uh well well earned. Um obviously if UConn won, it was gonna be probably Terrace Reed for the numbers he was putting up. Another double-double tonight, but um, yeah, it was just uh when the when the second half started, I kind of thought Michigan was gonna run away with it. They got to that point where it was all right, floodgates are starting to open. Cadell finally hits that three, and you feel like, all right, can Yukon answer? And they do. And they kept it close. I mean, I don't know what you'd expect other than that from from UConn at this point, and Danny Hurley. Um, you know, they'll that'll be an interesting team. You got Terrace Reid, you got Caravan gone, um Soloball's a junior, Mullins is a freshman. You got some pieces there.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Um and uh oh Danny Hurley's getting interviewed right now, so we'll see what what what he has to say. Talks about fouls uh is immediately kind of what I expected. Yeah, make more shots. I mean, both teams still, to be honest, like nobody shot well. I d Michigan didn't shoot great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, UConn just they battle, man.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Like they killed them on the glass. One thing about Michigan, and we were talking about this, uh, you know, when Michig Michigan switches so much, you get these big guys trying to block out these small guys at the three-point line, and what happens is Braylon Mullins gets a put back, caravan's getting rebounds, you know, Ross is getting in there and mixing it up, and Malachi Smith is getting in there and mixing it up. So the switching will take away that initial action, but you still got to block guys out and go get the rebound. And you know, that was could have been a big swing, and I kind of kept waiting for that big kick out off the rebound to a three for Yukon. And to Michigan's credit, they either covered it up or maybe luckily got Yukon to miss, but um.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Yep, so UConn uh coach Danny Hurley just gave his interview.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Some of you might be ahead of me here, but yeah, that that play there were they're showing it again on TV where UConn got the steal and McKinney, you know, made that kind of a not block, but he got in the way enough, and then they he hustles down and gets that gets that kick out three. I mean, that was then pushed the lead to nine with a minute fifty. Just stones from a freshman.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Finished with nine points. Huge tonight. Huge.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

So there's a lot of moments like that where it's like things just can switch so fast in basketball because you're on one end, you get the two, it's down to four, the other go the other way in, or go to the other end, and it's nine. I mean, it's just huge. So wild stuff, great season. Congrats to Michigan. All right, that's the show for today. Again, thank you all for listening. Uh, it's been a heck of a college basketball season. I've enjoyed it. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you've enjoyed listening to me talk about it. And um, we'll have plenty more to come in the uh weeks ahead. We got lots of Timberwolves talk. We'll be we'll be really focused on the Wolves for the next hopefully couple months if they can make a little playoff push here. Um, they got to get healthy, they got to get right. Um, they have a um road game against the Pacers this evening. Um kind of locked into that sixth spot, but right now it's looking like the Lakers losing Luca and Austin Reeves could fall out of the third spot, and uh they actually have. So the Nuggets are now on third. So that as if the playoffs ended today, the Timberwolves would be at the Nuggets in the first round. So uh interesting matchup there, a little history there. Lots lots of storylines gonna be fun to talk about. So stick with me, stick with the program here over the next few months, few weeks, and we'll have plenty of wolves talk coming ahead. Thanks again. This has been the Splash City basketball podcast.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Back in them, back in and back again. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah, yeah.