- 18 hours ago
Shan, RJ, and Bobby recapped Michigan winning the National Championship over UConn in a gritty March Madness final. They broke down the defensive slugfest, and highlighted Elliot Cadeau’s heroics in the second half that secured the Wolverines' first title since 1989.
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00:00We have a national champion as the Michigan Wolverines control in the second half, UConn and Dan Hurley.
00:09Yeah, that's the way to put it. They just controlled it.
00:12Like the game was never in doubt, but was never like a blowout either.
00:19It was always between like 6 and 11 the entire second half, it felt like.
00:24You know, I never really felt like UConn was threatening.
00:26There was two spots. There was one spot where they were down six, they had a turnover, and it could
00:32have cut it to four, but a block, and then a three, and now a six-point game is a
00:36nine-point game, but it could have been a four.
00:38That was a big spot. I think it was like six minutes to go, seven minutes to go, something like
00:41that.
00:41And then at the very end, where it was...
00:45It was a bank three.
00:46Yep, and they missed the free throws.
00:48Missed free throws, missed three, 67-63 with 13 seconds left.
00:53Yeah, they had like a Duke chance at the end, like similar to where it's like, well, I mean, I
00:59guess if some stuff happens here at the end, they could get it, but I don't know.
01:02Early on, I definitely did feel like the game was playing into like the first 10 to 15 minutes.
01:08I felt like it was playing into UConn, but I mean, Michigan, they're just, they're really, really good defensively.
01:14They're really long. They're really athletic.
01:16That was, but it was just an ugly game.
01:18It was a bunch of just brick shots.
01:20It was a court full of Angel Reese's.
01:24Raff even mentioned like how tight the left rim was, you know, which it's like, all right, how, you know,
01:35that's why I hate where they put them in these giant football stadiums.
01:39Because, you know, if you played it like in Indianapolis at where the Pacers play, I mean, those rims are
01:43broken in, they're normal.
01:45And this one, you get a loose rim on the right and a tight rim on the left, and it's
01:49like, well, what are you doing?
01:49How the hell does Raftery know whether the shot is contributed to a tight rim?
01:51I think he noticed it from the Saturday game.
01:54I think he knows from Saturday.
01:55It was 33-29 at half, both teams starting 7 of 19 shooting.
02:01And Dan Hurley, in the interview, said, just interesting, with a powerhouse, a two-time champ like UConn and a
02:08two-seed, they're like, yeah, we got to muck this up.
02:10We don't have the talent, and we don't have the firepower to keep up.
02:15And early on, it was playing into their hands.
02:19Michigan shooting 37% in the game.
02:23Normally, they're a 51% shooting team.
02:25They missed their first eight threes.
02:27They came in scoring the second most tournament points ever at that point in time.
02:34The lowest scoring half they had had was 47, and they were 14 short of that last night.
02:38Yeah, and, I mean, look, for UConn to win this game, they had to have two things.
02:41They had to hit their threes, and they had to have a pretty loose whistle.
02:47And they didn't hit their threes, especially the second half, and they didn't have a loose whistle.
02:52And that was just not going to play in their hands.
02:54Like they said, they wanted to muck it up.
02:56They needed to play physical, and they needed to be able to play physical without getting into foul trouble.
03:02They weren't able to do that.
03:03And then Michigan had that little 10-4 spurt to end the half, and that put them up four at
03:10halftime.
03:11And then you come out, and you're like, all right, they're not going to be as sloppy.
03:14Yes, they were.
03:15Six of the nine first possessions were turnovers.
03:18Six out of nine.
03:1938-31.
03:21Michigan is up 11, finally, after their first three of the night.
03:24And UConn starts the half 0 for 8 from 3, like Michigan was in the first half.
03:31Yeah, UConn made some of their shots early.
03:34Like they were making stuff from the perimeter early.
03:36But it just was, it turned ugly after about the first 15 minutes of the game.
03:42Because they were, I think they started the game like 5 of 11.
03:44I was just looking at it here.
03:45They finished 9 of 33.
03:47Which is like, how do you like brick that bad?
03:50But again, Michigan was 2 for 15 from 3.
03:52Like this was just a brutal, tons of turnovers.
03:55Tons of missed shots.
03:56With second chance opportunities that were then missed.
03:59Like, I mean, it was just an ugly, ugly national championship.
04:02But I was, I still think you have to give credit to as little as I want to Dan Hurley
04:07and this run they made.
04:09Because I just, I don't think this is the, this was not a team that I thought was good
04:12enough to get here.
04:13They're not on the level of Michigan.
04:14It's not even close.
04:15Like, Michigan, like you said, they made two threes.
04:18Like, they had one three-pointer from their entire starting five.
04:20And their best player was banged up as he told us at halftime.
04:23Let's actually hear from the winning coach.
04:25I want to begin by thanking last year's team at Michigan.
04:31We came up a little bit short, but those guys laid the foundation, established an identity
04:35for us, and also helped attract these guys to come in and chase this, this dream together.
04:43And secondly, I want to thank our FAU guys, the team and staff that really, really, this
04:49is one time I'm making it about me, that really helped us grow together.
04:53And that was the first time I'd been with a group that was truly sacrificial, where we
04:58were about each other.
04:59And because of that, we all improved so much.
05:02And this team's done the same thing.
05:03It's, when you bring a group this talented together, and they decide from the beginning
05:08that they're going to do it this way, and they never waver, and they never change, that's
05:12probably the most uncommon thing in athletics now.
05:15And it's a tribute to their character, but also those in their circles around them.
05:21Their coaches, their parents, their mentors, they allowed these guys to give themselves
05:27up for the group, and it's never guaranteed, but for these guys to cut down the nets after
05:33all they sacrificed is pretty special.
05:35This was, this Michigan team, you're a big fan of the Ken Palm ratings.
05:40Big fan.
05:41The net ratings, which is the offensive and defensive rating, and then the difference between the
05:46two of them.
05:46This is in the history of Ken Palm's entire analysis.
05:50This Michigan basketball team finishes the year the second highest net rating of all time
05:54behind 99 Duke.
05:55Wow.
05:57They're good, man.
05:58They had five transfers.
06:00Vegas had them winning it at the beginning of the tournament.
06:03Yeah, they had five transfers in, so it's like the first all-transfer team ever.
06:09You know, right?
06:10They're doing it the new school sort of way.
06:12They, you know, they get Lindenburg from UAB.
06:15The Trans Five, you might say.
06:16The Trans Five.
06:17They get Mara from UCLA and Johnson from Illinois.
06:22I mean, they get guys from everywhere, right?
06:23And this is kind of how you've got to build your roster.
06:26The Trans Five.
06:27I'm just thinking of the Fab Five shorts compared to a B shirt to me.
06:32Roll it up.
06:34Roll it up above the thigh.
06:37No socks to like.
06:38Different socks.
06:39Yeah, but man, it's so, like, you know you're that much better when, like you said,
06:44your best player is a shell of himself, and, you know, he's the only guy you got
06:49in your starting five that's going to touch the lottery and, you know.
06:54Control the entire game, basically.
06:56Yeah, and you're not even really risking.
06:58It was never really in the second half, outside of one kind of heartbeat,
07:03you were never really in doubt.
07:05Bobby and I were Team Michigan just because we were anti-Dan Hurley.
07:10At the end, I did find myself saying, all right, let's see if UConn can pull something
07:14off here, pull off some type of miracle.
07:16But I think, ultimately, Bob, I'm happy that Dan Hurley lost.
07:21I did not want that to happen, especially after the Duke BS.
07:24Yeah, he, I didn't want him to get any more credit.
07:28I mean, we were talking about it yesterday.
07:30Three titles in four years, that would have put him, would have been Hurley, Wooden, and Rupp.
07:36That's it.
07:36Those are the only three that would have ever done it.
07:38Oh.
07:39And his antics during the game of the facial expressions did not make me change my mind.
07:43No, hell no.
07:44And see, look, here's the thing.
07:45I wonder, because we've heard about this before.
07:47I don't know the game beneath the game kind of really high-level, cerebral look at basketball.
07:58But you hear LeBron and others, and people talk about it, just be like, he's so brilliant
08:04offensively, like what he does and the way that he looks at the game of basketball.
08:08And it's frustrating that instead I just look at him and I go, like, what a moron every
08:13time I see him.
08:13And I just actively root for him.
08:15I, growing up, I did not think it was possible, and UConn was never as bad as Duke to me
08:20growing
08:20up.
08:20But growing up, I never wanted UConn to win, other than when they played Duke in 99 or
08:25whatever it was.
08:25But that was one of those teams where it's just like, no, I don't want UConn to win.
08:28Come on, give me somebody else.
08:30I didn't think I could dislike them more as time went on, but Dan Hurley has done that
08:34for me.
08:35I was sitting here actively rooting for a Michigan program that feels like, typically you'd
08:39be like, oh, an all-transfer team, like, it's not even like a, there's nothing
08:43about this team that feels legitimate or college-y at all.
08:47And yet, here I was the whole time just going, yeah, Michigan.
08:49I want Michigan to whoop them.
08:50I struggled last night because I hate both programs.
08:53I hate Michigan.
08:54I hate UConn.
08:55I have so much hate in my heart for both of them.
08:58UConn hate really stems from Geno.
09:00I didn't like how he treated Pat Summitt at the end.
09:02I didn't care for that.
09:03He was a bully.
09:04I always thought that a man coaching women's sports, he had a bully attitude to him.
09:09You know, he bullied Pat Summitt.
09:11I didn't appreciate that.
09:11He bullied Don Staley.
09:12Billy Don Staley.
09:13I didn't appreciate that.
09:14You know, as Candace Parker said, he showed his true colors.
09:17But, you know, I hated Dan.
09:19I hate Dan.
09:20But Dan's going to be the guy that I've hated my entire life, and then as he stays long
09:24enough, I start to respect how good he is, and I come around like I did for Tom Brady.
09:30Like, I hated him my whole life.
09:31That was Kobe for me.
09:32Yeah, it's like he stayed long enough.
09:33I'm like, all right, fine.
09:34I give.
09:34I give.
09:35I give.
09:35And I'm going to do the same thing with Dan Hurley.
09:36Let's see if Dan Hurley made excuses and whined and cried about the refs.
09:40That's not the reason why we lost the game.
09:43Obviously, you know, plus 13 at the free throw line, plus 12 in attempts.
09:48I just thought that the first half, you know, foul trouble, you know, really, I thought we
09:55were, you know, positioned if we didn't have that foul trouble to potentially go into the
10:00halftime with a lead.
10:02You go in with a lead, you know, and they make a run, you're down five instead of 11.
10:09You know, but we also, too, you know, a problem for our team has been in this undisciplined fouling,
10:14you know, at times.
10:15But, you know, it's hard to ref that game.
10:18We both played so hard.
10:19I mean, that's not an easy, you know, game to officiate.
10:23And, you know, if I could have those three guys ref, you know, every game the rest of my
10:28career, I would sleep well at night.
10:31Oh, my gosh.
10:32This is why this makes it a lot to headbutt people, because he's just like...
10:35He'll kiss a butt.
10:36Oh, my gosh.
10:37I do think, you know, we talk about college football and what rules they need to change.
10:40I do wonder about if they should change the five fouls to six in college basketball, because
10:45if you get a guy with two fouls, I mean, it changes their total game in college basketball.
10:51It changes everything.
10:52And if they get two fouls the first, like, five minutes of the first half, like Yaxwell had
10:57against...
10:58Haven't we seen enough change?
10:59We have.
11:00We have.
11:01I'm just saying, if you're going to change the one foot down in college...
11:04Yeah, but the game's eight minutes shorter.
11:06Oh, it is.
11:07I can't give you the same amount of fouls with eight minutes left.
11:11I get it.
11:12I understand.
11:13I understand.
11:14It does change the game a lot.
11:16But I also, like Bobby said, we've seen enough change.
11:19Peyton Russell picked, I believe, the national champion, the only one on the show to do it.
11:26Mm-mm.
11:26No?
11:27That's why he lost.
11:28He picked Arizona.
11:29Arizona beating Michigan.
11:30Michigan beating Arizona in the final four is what cinched him finishing last.
11:33I thought you were talking about the Odyssey bracket, Sean, which I finished third place.
11:36Oh, okay.
11:36Oh, so you filled out a different bracket for the station.
11:39It worked.
11:39It paid off, kind of.
11:41Kind of.
11:41Yeah, okay, so that's where I was at.
11:43I think I came in fourth, and I was like, oh, Peyton picked Michigan, and he's still going
11:46to end up last on the morning show for the radio bet payoff?
11:49That's done and over?
11:50That's done and over.
11:50Peyton loses.
11:51Now we've got to figure out what to do about Drake Toll.
11:54Drake Toll.
11:55We have to get Drake Toll's permission.
11:56Yeah.
11:57I did.
11:57I did tell Peyton yesterday.
11:58I was like, hey, you know, in the future.
12:00Or maybe we just do it and change five to six like was done to us and don't tell anybody.
12:04Or Peyton just has to do that solo hosting until seven, and then we don't come in until
12:09seven.
12:10That counts.
12:11Hold on, hold on, hold on.
12:12No, but I did tell Peyton yesterday.
12:14I was like, hey, it was the first time I've ever seen Peyton hesitant.
12:17I was like, hey, next year, though, we can put it up for where, like, if Choppy loses,
12:21he has to run the board.
12:23And he goes, huh, maybe a segment, not the whole first hour.
12:26Hey, Peyton, what ended up costing you?
12:29Everything, really.
12:30Look, I mean, I tried to go as much as I could against or with RJ's, you know, rules and
12:34everything, but I picked Arizona.
12:36That was the no-no.
12:37The West Time zone person.
12:38So, you know, if I just picked Michigan over Arizona, you know, I could have done that.
12:41I had Duke in the championship.
12:43And I think if Duke would have won that game against UConn, I think I would have won the
12:47Odyssey bracket, actually, if I was doing the points right.
12:50But, I mean, obviously, the first day, Bobby talked about it for a while there.
12:54That Thursday, I went, I think, 500, 9-9.
12:57Can't do that.
12:58Can't have those mistakes.
12:59No, you can't.
12:59You won't have to defeat it the next day, so that was good.
13:01Yeah.
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