4 Takeaways From Michigan's NCAA Men's National Championship Game Win
📖 Full Retelling
As maize and blue confetti rained down from the rafters at Lucas Oil Stadium, Michigan senior Yaxel Lendeborg held up a sign. On a yellow background, written in navy blue letters, the message read: "SHOCK THE WORLD, BOYS. GO BLUE!" It was a fitting image for a small-town kid from Pennsauken, New Jersey, who dreamed of playing on college basketball’s biggest stage. A lightly recruited prospect who began his career at Arizona Western Community College, Lendeborg went on to spend two years at UAB before ultimately bypassing the NBA Draft to take a chance on Dusty May and the Michigan Wolverines. Lendeborg — who played through obvious pain in Monday night's national championship game after suffering a sprained MCL and a rolled ankle in the Final Four win over Arizona — developed into a first-team All-American under May. He became the driving force behind one of the most dominant national championship runs in recent memory, which concluded with a 69-63 victory over UConn. "We’re the hardest-playing team in basketball," Lendeborg said after the game, flanked by teammates in a celebratory gathering. "We are the best team in college basketball, and we want to be one of the greats ever." Shock the world. … Mission accomplished. Here are four takeaways from Michigan’s national championship victory. 1. Michigan showcases suffocating defense on college basketball's biggest stage Michigan entered Monday night's national championship game having put together one of the most impressive offensive runs through five games in NCAA Tournament history. The Wolverines scored 90 or more points in every game in the Big Dance, including an emphatic 91-73 win over Arizona in the Final Four — a matchup many viewed as the de facto national title game. Their closest contest was a 13-point win over fourth-seeded Alabama that, in hindsight, wasn’t even as close as the final score suggested. But the story in the title game wasn’t Michigan’s high-flying offense. It was the defense. And it was, simp
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As maize and blue confetti rained down from the rafters at Lucas Oil Stadium, Michigan senior Yaxel Lendeborg held up a sign. On a yellow background, written in navy blue letters, the message read: "SHOCK THE WORLD, BOYS. GO BLUE!" It was a fitting image for a small-town kid from Pennsauken, New Jersey, who dreamed of playing on college basketball’s biggest stage. A lightly recruited prospect who began his career at Arizona Western Community College, Lendeborg went on to spend two years at UAB before ultimately bypassing the NBA Draft to take a chance on Dusty May and the Michigan Wolverines. Lendeborg — who played through obvious pain in Monday night's national championship game after suffering a sprained MCL and a rolled ankle in the Final Four win over Arizona — developed into a first-team All-American under May. He became the driving force behind one of the most dominant national championship runs in recent memory, which concluded with a 69-63 victory over UConn. "We’re the hardest-playing team in basketball," Lendeborg said after the game, flanked by teammates in a celebratory gathering. "We are the best team in college basketball, and we want to be one of the greats ever." Shock the world. … Mission accomplished. Here are four takeaways from Michigan’s national championship victory. 1. Michigan showcases suffocating defense on college basketball's biggest stage Michigan entered Monday night's national championship game having put together one of the most impressive offensive runs through five games in NCAA Tournament history. The Wolverines scored 90 or more points in every game in the Big Dance, including an emphatic 91-73 win over Arizona in the Final Four — a matchup many viewed as the de facto national title game. Their closest contest was a 13-point win over fourth-seeded Alabama that, in hindsight, wasn’t even as close as the final score suggested. But the story in the title game wasn’t Michigan’s high-flying offense. It was the defense. And it was, simp
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