INDIANAPOLIS — It will all be worth it, they said.
Cinderella may be harder to find but the knights and dragons will battle into the night, they said.
Less chaos in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, in this age of power teams stockpiling talent, would mean classics galore when the stockpilers faced each other in the later rounds. That’s what they said. OK, that’s what a lot of us said.
But this just wasn’t a very good NCAA Tournament. It floundered at the finish. It did not befit the season that led up to it, a season that delivered one of the best freshman classes of all time, new stars, new powerhouse teams, tremendous nonleague matchups, prolific offenses and high fan interest.
The best thing the tournament delivered was a spectacular champion. The Michigan Wolverines cranked out a 69-63 win over Connecticut on Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium — the first six-point “blowout” in championship game history.
Seriously, even when Alex Karaban attempted a deep triple to cut it to a single point with seconds left … the game never felt as if it were in the balance. The shot never looked like it had a chance. Just as UConn never looked like it had a chance to actually overtake a much better team.
Dusty May’s Wolverines finish 37-3 and will be discussed among the best men’s college basketball teams of all time. Just like Dan Hurley’s UConn team of two years ago. So I guess we can start by blaming the Huskies, because their dominance was a big part of both of those Final Fours going 0-for-3 in the search for great games.
But Michigan played no role in the Huskies handling Illinois Saturday. The 2024 Huskies played no role in Purdue pummeling NC State. Sometimes we just get stinkers. I wouldn’t call it a trend, either. Mid-majors having their rosters raided and having less of a chance to do special things in March, that’s a trend.
This was just a bad draw. Because, again, the 2025-26 season was spectacular, a “one-and-done” throwback with national player of the year Cameron Boozer, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Darius Acuff and many others flashing copious talent before taking it to the next level — making it feel more like the 2010s. We were reminded, as was usually the case then, that older teams still have the edge over those reliant on youth.
We thought Michigan vs. Arizona would be great on Saturday. Instead, it was a Michigan romp — an old team loaded with seniors crushing a young one, with two of the Wildcats’ top three players still freshmen. That’s when the reality of an underwhelming postseason hit home.
To quote a text from an Athletic editor’s family member to the editor Monday night, the texter granted anonymity because this person had no idea that the text might become public fodder: “This game is poop like the others.”
No argument. But remember: A year ago, Florida and Auburn played a semifinal in San Antonio that was better than any of the three in Indy. Houston’s win over Duke and loss to Florida in the title game were heartstoppers. We’ll have those again.
Michigan and UConn both shot under 40 percent from the field in the national title game. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
Also, a bad NCAA Tournament is still better than most things. It’s kind of like bad ice cream. Bad tacos. Bad John Cusack movies. You’re still going to consume. And let’s be real, you’ll be back for more.
This tournament, by the way, produced one of the great shots the event has seen in UConn freshman guard Braylon Mullins’ stunner to beat Duke.
The Vanderbilt-Nebraska game was a thriller and nearly ended on another shot of eternal vintage. Kentucky had one of those to take Santa Clara to overtime. Iowa upset Florida in the surprise of the tournament. St. John’s got Kansas at the buzzer. High Point outlasted Wisconsin in a thriller, and their student radio was even better than the Panthers’ basketball.
It’s just too bad it had to end this way. In this era of soaring offensive efficiency and skill, the Huskies and Wolverines combined to shoot 11 for 48 (22.9 percent) from 3-point range. That’s a smidge better than the worst combined 3-point showing in a championship game, 22.7 percent between UConn and Butler in 2011.
The Huskies won that game 53-41 and many who watched nearly lost permanent control of their faces because they cringed for more than two hours straight. That was in the early days of raised courts in full football stadiums, and though data over the years has varied on shooting success in those venues, it was hard to watch Monday night and not think the unfamiliar depth perception played a role.
Between that and the fact roughly 80 percent of the 70,720 fans in attendance had terrible views of the game, it sure would be nice to see the Final Four played in an actual basketball venue again. Or at least in a stadium that is curtained off with portable stands, providing a much higher percentage of quality seats.
The revenue at stake guarantees that it won’t happen. But at least the basketball we saw all season suggests better Final Fours ahead.